Headteacher laughs off 'airy fairy snowflakes' after keeping school open during heatwave - 'We got on with it in 1976!'

A headteacher has laughed off "airy fairy snowflakes" after keeping his school open during the sweltering June heatwave.

Alun Ebenezer, who leads Caldicot School in Monmouthshire, kept his doors open despite attendance dropping to just 33 per cent on one of the hottest days of the year.

More than 300 schools across England and Wales closed or switched their schedules during the extreme heat event, which triggered a rare red alert across swathes of the UK.

"This country would never win a war again," Mr Ebenezer scoffed.

"We try to be empathetic with people in the Middle East, Ukraine and war-torn countries and yet when the temperature rises in this country, we all get a bit snowflakey."

Mr Ebenezer acknowledged that other schools faced different circumstances, including younger pupils and buildings less suited to heat.

However, he argued that school remained the safest place for disadvantaged children.

"The idea that everyone is at home in air-conditioned houses is rubbish," he said.

"Lots of them would be in stuffy cramped conditions where mam and dad have to go to work and they are left to sort themselves out and they are going to go out, run around, get sun-burnt, not going to hydrate, so I think the safest place for our children is in school."

The school adapted to the toasty climes by allowing PE kit and bringing in an ice-cream van.

"The last two days [of the heatwave] in Caldicot, they did not learn much about Macbeth or oxbow lakes," Mr Ebenezer said.

"What they learned was a hidden curriculum - resilience, getting on with it and pushing through."

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Chris Parry, head of Lewis School in Pengam, took a different approach by shutting up shop for two days.

His decision followed risk assessments which identified safety concerns, particularly in older parts of the building with poor ventilation.

"Our job, really, is to develop that resilience with pupils, but also to create that safe and safe environment for them to work in," he said.

Staff attempted to keep pupils hydrated and in shaded areas before conditions worsened but, as warnings escalated, Mr Parry and governors chose closure as the safest option.

Parents backed the decision, and pupils received guidance on staying safe at home.

Education unions have subsequently urged the Government to invest more in school infrastructure.

Laura Doel from NAHT Cymru said school bosses should "think carefully" about keeping pupils and staff safe, stressing that many older buildings were "ill-equipped to deal with extremes of temperature".

She described closures as a "last resort" and called on Labour to "act more urgently" to upgrade facilities suited for the warmer weather.

Claire Armitstead from ASCL Cymru insisted that headteachers were best placed to make decisions about opening during extreme weather.

The Welsh Government, meanwhile, confirmed it was working with local authorities and had recently announced funding for school maintenance.

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