NEU’s Daniel Kebede says earlier start times and longer summer breaks may be needed to help pupils and teachers

Schools should consider changing start and finish times, reordering holidays and moving exams from the summer months in an effort to adapt to the UK’s increasingly severe heatwaves, according to the leader of the country’s biggest education union.

Daniel Kebede, the general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said this summer’s repeated bouts of extreme heat had a devastating impact on teachers and pupils, as classroom temperatures topped 40C and hundreds of thousands of young people were sent home.