On the hottest afternoon of the summer, one primary school teacher in England watched her pupils lie flat on the floor, clutching water bottles and calling for their parents. "There was no learning," she said, "just surviving the best we could." It was not a scene from a developing country with no infrastructure — it was a modern British classroom, where the thermometer had climbed past 40°C. Western Europe recorded its hottest June ever this year, and Britain has now entered its third heatwave of 2022, with temperatures peaking at 35°C and the heat expected to persist for at least ten days.

The crisis is partly architectural. A large proportion of UK school buildings are old, poorly insulated, and surrounded by concrete playgrounds or artificial grass that amplifies radiated heat. Many have extensive glazing but little shade. Unlike schools in consistently hot countries — where ceiling fans, controlled ventilation, and shading rules make high temperatures manageable — British buildings were engineered for a cooler climate that is rapidly disappearing.

Without air conditioning, teachers have improvised: wet paper towels pressed onto younger children, trays of cold water slid under desks for pupils to rest their feet in, lights switched off while classes cluster in whichever room catches the least sun. The government's official climate advisers warned in May that the country was "built for a climate that no longer exists," and recommended that air conditioning be installed across all schools within 25 years. Critics argue that timeline is dangerously slow. Some teachers have already bought personal fans and window shades out of their own salaries rather than wait for institutional solutions.