Footscray High School students forced to endure extreme heat in classrooms amid busted aircons

Students forced to sit in classrooms with broken airconditioners at Footscray High School have been shown little sympathy from staff, instead told to bring a water bottle to beat the heat.

The hottest week of the year so far has seen students at some schools sweltering in 36-degree classrooms and told to bring water bottles to cool them down.

A range of schools have been forced to close due to bushfire risks and parents are expressing concern about young kids being sent out to play in 35-degree playgrounds.

At Footscray High School’s Kinnear campus, the airconditioning has not been working since late January and the school has been forced to buy pedestal fans to help students and staff cope.

A student from the school said that on Monday the classroom was 35 degrees inside – “somehow hotter inside the campus than outside”

“Today no classroom was cool enough for students to actually learn and stay hydrated so five classes ended up in the VCE study centre where there was air conditioning feeding from the open doors of the teachers offices,” the student said.

Students have been told to bring water bottles to school in a means to help cope with Victoria’s extreme heat conditions. Picture: supplied

Tiny fans are being used to cool classrooms to combat sweltering conditions battering parts of the state on Tuesday. Picture: supplied

“The VCE area wasn’t air conditioned, it was getting the overflow of the teachers’ cold offices. It was a squeeze getting five classes in there; and the other classes just had to continue suffering,” the student said.

The school is in the middle of an upgrade by the Victorian Schools Building Authority which is understood to have affected the air conditioning in the teaching areas, but not the staff offices.

On Tuesday the student said she counted “about ten fans in the entire school”.

A letter from the campus principal Vicki Tentzoglidis admitted the school’s air conditioning was “currently not working to its full capacity”. She said portable fans “have been placed strategically” around the school and advised students to “bring a water bottle to class”.

At other schools there is no air conditioning in sustainable buildings, leading to parents sharing complaints on social media about the fact that they are “extremely hot in summer and freezing in winter”.

Other parent groups have been forced to crowd-fund to pay for air conditioning.

According to Education Department policy, schools aren’t required to close during extreme heat but must have strategies in place to manage risks.

Schools must be equipped with large industrial fans and ensure indoor spaces have open doors, windows or air conditioning access during warm periods.

Parents at Point Cook P-9 College are calling on the school to change its extreme heat policy. Picture: Ellen Smith

Meanwhile parents at Point Cook P-9 College are calling on the school to change its extreme heat policy, after students were “sent outside for their lunch in scorching 35C” temperature.

“The result was a painful headache that my daughter had to endure. This experience is not unique to her; many children at Point Cook College P9 have suffered similar discomforts,” an online petition reads.

“Lowering the threshold temperature in the school policy from 35° to 30° can significantly reduce risks associated with heat stroke among students during hot days.”

A similar sentiment was echoed by parents on social media, who called for the department of education to amend its extreme heat policy to enforce schools to have a “hot day timetable” when temperatures meet a certain threshold.

“(My son) went outside for recess and lunch. It was unbearable in the classroom with very little aircon. He is in grade 3. He didn’t cope and I collected him early today,” one parent said.

“I would think anything over 35C and they shouldn’t be out in the heat,” another parent added.