3 handy ways to keep school kids cool in summer

When you keep school kids cool in summer, you help them stay safe, comfortable and focused on learning.

Achieving this boils down to three things:

• Protecting them from the sun
• Keeping them cool
• Encouraging them to stay hydrated

Common sense is super-important for helping keep school kids cool in summer. But, you also need to make sure your school has all the right kit.

Let’s take a look at why keeping kids cool is a must, and what equipment your school needs to get started.

Why is it so important to keep school kids cool in summer?

Your students’ health and safety is priority number one. When you fine-tune your approach, you can massively reduce their risk of getting sunburn or sunstroke, or becoming dehydrated.

You’ll also find things get a whole lot easier in the classroom. When they’re not affected by heat, your students will be more attentive. They won’t get distracted as often and will be less likely to become disruptive.

Don’t believe us? There’s all sorts of research that shows how classroom temperature has a direct impact on student attainment.

How can schools keep kids cool and protected?

Here are three of our fave ways to keep school kids school in summer, and the equipment you’ll need to get up and running:

1) Provide shade from the sun

Your students will want to make the most of the good weather at break times. You might even want to venture out of the classroom and host a few lessons in the great outdoors.

Did you know kids can get sunburn in as little as 15 minutes? Protect your students from direct sunlight and help them return full of energy by making sure there are lots of shaded areas in your outdoor spaces.

Trees and buildings will give them some cover. But, a colourful, perfectly positioned playground canopy is the most effective way to provide them with the protection they need.

2) Give them several hydration options

When kids are concentrating on lessons or break-time hijinks, chances are they’ll forget about staying properly hydrated.

In fact, children only typically drink around 25% of the fluids they should be consuming during the school day, and 1 in 20 drink nothing at all.

So, you need to give regular reminders and offer as many ways to get a cool drink as you can. Thankfully, you’ve got loads of options:

• Install water coolers in hallways and other shared spaces.
• Place refrigerating vending machines in a couple of locations around your school.
• Get commercial refrigerators for your canteen to store healthy drinks.

By keeping your kids hydrated, they’ll stay focused and it will help them avoid sunstroke.

3) Keep heat sources to a minimum

Even when the central heating’s off, lighting, computers and all sorts of other things can make your classrooms feel stuffy.

Science hats on! Did you know that incandescent (traditional) light bulbs are just 2.1% efficient? In plain English, that means that just under 98% of energy used is turned into heat rather than light.

When you multiply that across a whole school, the amount of heat produced by incandescent light bulbs alone quickly adds up.

To compare, LED lighting has an epic 90% efficiency rate. So, switching to LED lighting won’t just save your school a wad of cash, it’ll also help keep your classrooms cool!

Use these handy tips to keep school kids cool in summer and look forward to a happier, more productive term.

Keep your class cool and attentive this summer; talk to the friendly Utility Rentals team today!