Snow and school closures.

It’s a problem.

DD uses her days off [she teaches three days a week] to do marking and lesson plans, but she's not been able to do that on the past two snow days because she's been looking after everyone elses children so the mothers can get to work.

socks with bare knees.
Knee-length socks with garters
But we did have liberty bodices which kept us warm.

We used to make wonderful ice slides in the playground. It's a wonder no-one fell over and broke their wrist/ankel/leg/arm/whatever.

ankle?

Chairman of governors and head teacher make the decision about 6am, with advice from site manager (caretaker). It is nothing to do with teachers.
Ice on school site, distance pupils are travelling, availability/not of school/local buses, problems with local A roads, proportion of staff unable to get to school etc are taken into consideration.
Some secondary schools will call in exam pupils if possible.

Most teachers I know have been putting work onto school intranet for pupils to do at home.
Lastly, if a pupil miss a week for holiday, their class carries on regardless. If the whole class misses the lesson, the teacher will incorporate what they all missed into subsequent lessons.

If children could bloody well get into a school close to where they live it wouldn’t be a problem would it? As it stands they often can’t through no fault of anyone but the stupid system that allows parents to travel 20 mile plus to primary schools just to ensure they get into “the” best secondary school (where children are bussed in) .

The whole system stinks!

My youngest granddaughter's head has asked the parents to turn up with snow shovels on Sunday afternoon to clear the playground so it is safe for kids to go to school on Monday.
She must know something the rest of us don't.
My son has been round here today to clear a path of footdeep snow for me, so I can get to the bins.
Snow drifts up to the armpits round here.

The whole system doesn't stink. Sometimes it works.
All the schools in Heaton have been open all the time because the pupils and staff live in the area.
Even schools like Slaley have been open because the staff live in the village.
It's not the system; it's the safety.

The pupils at my grandaughter's school have been asked to write poems about the snow and put them on the school twitter account.
Some really good ones on there, and it adds to the excitement for them.

I don't think most people took the weather warnings seriously this time and were caught out. My DD1 is a teacher (Midlothian) and her council closed the schools on Wednesday am early via Twitter and local radio. By 1.30pm the snow was horrendous - Red warnings and people being sent home from work taking several hours to do a half hour journey. If the schools had not been closed many children would not have been collected till early evening for some the next morning . Public transport was badly affected - people may have seen on FB the Lothian bus driver (lady) swerving the bus to miss a sliding car. DD2 was made to go to work NHS by her manager for 2 hours, sent home at 1.30pm, we had to walk for 1 1/2 miles to escort her home to our house in a blizzard at 36 weeks pregnant having slipped and twisted her ankle because the buses terminated at Tesco 3 miles from her home. The snow started on Wednesday and today Saturday we still cannot get our cars out the street and it is still snowing. So please don't blame schools - protection of children is important and they are not a child minding service - and I have to admit weather forecasters did get it right this time!

DD2 has stayed with us till late Friday and has been collected on foot by her fiancé and doggies to walk the 1 ½ miles home as it looks like it may be some time till the streets are able to be negotiated by ordinary cars. Glad to say she is safely home and hope baby waits another couple of weeks at least to decide to make an entrance! I would like to thank all the local people who have helped push cars, dig out cars, clear pavements and roads and the health centre entrance, collect prescriptions for people , take health service staff to work, bring bread and milk from further afield to neighbours and all other help voluntarily given. You are all stars and it is so encouraging to see the community pulling together.

None of the schools in our part of Lancashire have closed though to be fair we have not had weather as bad as reported in the rest of the country. My DGC found it very exciting as we have rarely had any snow in recent years.

I don't think schools closed at all when I was a child in Cumbria. I went to a secondary school 4 miles away and had to take a bus. I remember one time (probably 1963) the bus did not turn up so we walked there. We didn't have normal lessons though there were quite a few teachers. We were allowed to leave early to walk home! There was no communication then to tell us schools were closed. No phones, texts or emails.

We lived in a small village and actually loved battling to our small primary school in the snow. The teacher came in by bus every day from about 8 miles away. I only now wonder how she managed to turn up every day!! Good old Mrs Matthews!

Elfen Safety where briefly, rarely, snowy high schools are concerned, maryeliza54, is very much more an ass-covering exercise than a matter of common sense, or otherwise parents would not have lost a day's pay.

Parents don't have to lose a day's pay. It should be allowed for in the contract.

That’s a joke !

My DD works for a huge multinational company and no work equals no pay . The last few days have been hell for her and it’s taken twice /three times as long to get to and from work Her partner works for a large NE based manufacturer and it’s the same for him. The real world of work isn’t quite as kind as you think it might be .

It's not me thinking it.
Employment lawyers say it.

Time off, but not necessarily paid, I think?

It’s just another school bashing opportunity for some isn’t it?

The two main reasons why schools close is
1) the chance that snow will come down thickly during school hours and make the journey back home dangerous for both pupils and staff.
2) teachers who live a distance away might be unable to get in and therefore staffing levels will be dangerously low.

No one can predict exactly how much snow there might be so sometimes the Headteacher has to err on the side of caution, mainly because the moaners would be the very first to create if anything went wrong.

It is not law !

We sent all of our employees home at lunch time on Wednesday when it was apparent the weather was getting worse . We haven’t seen them since although DH and I have made it in ( later than usual) everyday . It is NOT law but we will pay them . I have never, ever docked anyone’s pay in my life . Bigger companies who’s staff are often just numbers are not quite so generous though.

My eldest granddaughters school closed because the buses bringing children in from miles away couldn’t get through . My granddaughter (who only got in on appeal) walks the very short distance there and back .

Gillybob try looking at it from the school’s perspective. They are held responsible for their pupils’ safety.

I am and I have OldMeg I am just trying to make the point that when schools close the teachers still get paid . The parents who cannot go to work often do not .

So it’s all about the teachers getting paid? Have you any idea how much unpaid overtime teachers do already ?

What about those days during their ‘holidays’ when they come in voluntarily to do work?