Loud Music from school, what are the rules?

Sunshinesally

Almost every lunchtime (unless wet play) a nearby school plays very loud music for an hour. I can hear the songs from inside my house. This started about a year ago.
It is affecting my health (very bad health so I sometimes need to rest in the day)
My husbands sleep (shift work)
When son was on study leave it affected his revision scedule. Both my teens have study leaving coming up.
I've tried wearing ear defenders but they hurt my head, I can't have the windows open, and I can still hear it with them shut anyway. I am dreading the summer.
The local council say they they work with "outdated law" that says it's only how it would affect a "typical 9-5 worker". Which makes me feel discriminated against.
this also means it will affect which careers my teenagers can take if they cant do shift work (one wants to be a police officer) I've tried talking to the school but they are not interested. Imagine if I started playing loud music during their exam periods?
I've tried looking at the law but I can't understand it.
Please can anyone offer any advice as it's really getting me down :-(

onomatopoeia99

Sunshinesally said:

I've tried looking at the law but I can't understand it.

A solicitor will be best placed to offer legal advice, as they have years of training in understanding statute law and knowing which laws are relevant, they pay a fortune in professional indemnity insurance and have access to relevant case law that will guide how statute is interpreted.  

Clive_Woody

Have you tried writing to the chair of the governors? Raising your concerns to them might encourage the school to turn down their music. Alternatively a letter to your local MP might help.

WeAreGhosts

I agree with the above ^. 
I'd also try and record the music from your home.

Norman_Castle

Presumably "wet play" is for young children. Why does the school think music is needed? Children need to learn to socialise, doing this just adds pointless background noise. Music doesn't need to be loud to be enjoyed, it certainly shouldn't be disturbing neighbouring properties. Are other neighbours bothered by it?

If the school fail to turn it down after being contacted try environmental health.

littleboo

As already mentioned, write to the head and chair of governors, invite them to visit your property one lunchtime while its happening.

[Deleted User]

 The council deal with loud noise and generally unless it's antisocial hours they're not interested even if you do work nights 

neilmcl

Define "loud" to you and what sort of music are they playing. I would doubt that music played over a tannoy at a school at lunchtime would constitute a public nuisance.

giraffe69

You might also try the local press. The school won't want bad publicity. The suggestion of writing to the Chair of Governors is a good one and likely to bring at leas to some consideration of the problem (not guaranteed to be the solution you want, though)

Paula_Smith

There is  a free sound meter app which I have used. 
It does not do logging (but there may be other versions that do) but should give you some idea of how loud the music is related to the background noise at other times of day.
You can also get sound meters that do logging for under £30.
We had a neighbour complain about my sons rock band practising in our (soundproofed upto a point) shed so I did some logging to get a better idea of how bad the problem was. Fortunately the neighbour never made an official complaint, but our logs would be able to show that most of the time the band was no more noisy than the general neighbourhood.
Local school playtime was much louder.
You may find this useful:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/noise-nuisances-how-councils-deal-with-complaints

Paula_Smith

Also check your local council web site for more specific information.