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A record-breaking heatwave across Europe forced more than 1,000 UK schools to shut or shorten classes as aging buildings without air conditioning became dangerously hot. Experts warn Britain's schools are ill-equipped for rising temperatures caused by climate change, calling for urgent investment in cooling measures, infrastructure upgrades and long-term adaptation.

London: Like hundreds of other schools across the UK, the Welsh school where Mark Morris teaches was forced to close its gates during Europe's latest record-smashing heat wave.

With no air conditioning or fans, and intense sunlight coming in from windows that don't open very far — some don't even open at all — Morris said it would have been impossible to conduct his design and technology classes when the mercury hit a record 35.9 degrees Celsius (96.6 Fahrenheit) in Wales.

“Even in a normal summer, the heat on those south-facing windows becomes unbearable,” said Morris, who teaches high school children things like woodworking and food preparation. “If there's anything that you need to turn the oven on, you can forget about it. There's no way anybody could carry on.” More than 1,000 UK schools closed for days or sent children home early in late June, when temperature records were toppled across Europe, disrupting learning and impacting the wider economy as working parents scrambled to find childcare.

Experts say the school closures have exposed how unprepared Britain is in coping with what climate scientists call a “new normal” of more intense and regular heat waves, with aging and poorly funded public infrastructure like schools, hospitals and care homes among the worst affected. Air conditioning is uncommon, and the insides of buildings often become suffocatingly hot because of poor ventilation.