Schoolchildren across England and Wales missed more than 15 million hours of tuition during June’s extreme heat, a new investigation has shown. The report, compiled by the investigative outlet DeSmog, found that soaring temperatures forced the closure or early shutdown of more than 1,700 schools, leaving at least 760,000 pupils without lessons. Direct closures accounted for roughly 5.9 million lost hours, while heat‑related absences in schools that stayed open added another 9.5 million hours to the tally. The findings have sparked fresh warnings about widening educational inequality and prompted calls for urgent funding to future‑proof school buildings against increasingly frequent climate extremes.
Widespread closures and soaring absence rates
The June heatwave saw indoor classroom temperatures climb beyond 40 °C, creating conditions that many staff described as “unbearable”. In the worst‑affected regions of southern England, pupil absence rates doubled the usual annual average, while in Wales the figure rose above 36 %. Teachers reported that extreme heat made effective instruction almost impossible, with several incidents of students suffering heat exhaustion and dehydration requiring assistance. The DeSmog analysis highlighted that at least 760,000 children missed lessons altogether, a figure that reflects both full closures and partial shutdowns where opening hours were truncated.
Impact on disadvantaged pupils and expert warnings
Education specialists have warned that heat‑induced school disruptions threaten to deepen existing attainment gaps, particularly for children from low‑income families. Charlotte O’Regan, schools engagement lead at the Sutton Trust, cautioned that the pandemic had already widened disparities and that weather‑related closures risk compounding the problem. “School closures can put students in the most deprived areas at a disadvantage, and heat‑related closures risk doing the same,” Ms O’Regan said. “Not only are these pupils less likely to have costly cooling systems in their home, but they also often have insufficient resources at home to support their learning.” She added that state‑funded schools face severe budget constraints when trying to adapt classrooms for extreme weather. “While some schools or parent organisations are able to pay to ensure that their environments are suitable for study, we know that state school leaders are already having to face difficult decisions when it comes to funding,” Ms O’Regan said. “We saw a significant widening of the attainment gap during the pandemic, and we have to make sure that the weather doesn’t become yet another barrier holding back those worst off.” The Department for Education defended the response, insisting that schools had managed to keep learning going despite the heat. “Hot weather can be a struggle, but schools did a fantastic job keeping children learning safely during this summer’s heatwave,” the spokesperson said. “Schools put measures in place, so they remained the best place for children to be, even during a heatwave – because every day in school counts,” they added. “Where schools remained open, nine in ten pupils attended as normal, as teachers pulled out all the stops to keep classrooms cool and children learning.”
Calls for funding and climate projections for future disruption
Campaign groups and teaching unions have urged ministers to allocate additional resources for infrastructure upgrades, such as improved ventilation, thermal shading, and building retrofits, to reduce the likelihood of future heat‑related closures. Climate scientists caution that the disruptions observed this summer are likely to become the new normal as global warming intensifies natural climate cycles. The emerging El Niño pattern is expected to push UK summer temperatures higher, turning 35 °C+ events from rare occurrences into routine experiences. With much of the country’s school stock dating back several decades and largely lacking climate‑resilient features, experts warn that without substantial structural modifications, heatwaves will cause recurring, multi‑week interruptions to the academic calendar each year.
Why it Matters
The loss of 15 million teaching hours is not merely a statistical footnote; it represents a tangible setback for a generation of learners, especially those already facing socioeconomic challenges. When schools close because of extreme heat, the children who rely most heavily on structured environments for both education and basic services such as meals and pastoral support are the first to fall behind. The financial strain on state schools to implement cooling and ventilation measures threatens to widen the gap between well‑funded independent institutions and under‑resourced public schools, potentially entrenching inequality for years to come. Moreover, the projected rise in temperature extremes means that without decisive policy action and investment in resilient school infrastructure, the academic calendar will be increasingly disrupted, undermining educational standards across the nation. Addressing these challenges now is essential to safeguard both current and future cohorts from the escalating impacts of climate change on learning.
