Not a moan or rant, but I assume there is a reason schools shut when it snows.
As every workplace in sight around here has a full compliment of staff it can't be the problem of getting in.
Is it some H&S reason.

Temperature? In the building I mean.

I think extra care has to be taken when their are kids are involved.

Plus teachers are all workshy fops who are not happy with the 3 months off a year they get anyways 😉

When I was a kid our school didn't close once, even in the worst of the snow. Now they close it at the merest hint of snow.

As a workshy fop I think it's fair to say that schools generally shut because SNOW IS FUN and kids should be out playing in it. I was devastated at half 7 this morning when I found mhy school wasn't closing – was all set for making snowmen with my baby daughter.

It's only state schools that shut. Publc schools carry on – you can't close down a school when the kids are already there..!

Though we did have the longest running snowball fights at school as a result of being there all the time… 😀

Nice one andywarner. That's my sort of attitude. 😆 at the grumpy old men

I used to bunk off school if there was snow anyway so it didn't bother me if it was open 🙂

My wife had to make the decision this morning it really is quite complex:

You have to decide by 6.30am as you have to let the school buss companies know whether to do the pick ups or not.

You have to have an eye on the Weather forecast – not just if the pupils can get in safely in the morning but the likelyhood of getting them home safely in the evening.

You have to guess how many teachers and support staff will make it (more than you think – they are not all slackers) into work and how many children. Then you work out if this is a safe ratio of pupils to teachers.

Then you make a judgement call on how likely it is that the pupils at home will be home alone and potentially unsafe.

Then you check if the heating is working.

Then you make the decision.

My wife is not the head of the school but she makes the decision jointly with the facilities manager (caretaker) as she is normally the first person to arrive on the premises each day.

My Wife is the ———

Catering Manager!! (Not – I repeat NOT a Dinner Lady).

so the cook & the caretaker maker the decision? 😉

How do the schools let the parents now that the school is closed?

I went to 4 schools and none were ever closed – 3 were fee paying if that's relevant?!

Yes – and this morning, the last day of term, the last working day before christmas, with three inches of pure white snow ready for hundreds of excited children to play in it they decided that the school was

OPEN!!!

they put it out on the radio and send emails and texts to all those whose relevant details they have.

The message goes out on local radio – you have to give them a special codeword – a bit like when the IRA used to give warnings of bombs.

I don't understand this "check the heating" thing. Just because there's snow, that doesn't make it the coldest day of the year. If your kids aren't at school and both parents work, who is supposed to be looking after them?

You have to have an eye on the Weather forecast – not just if the pupils can get in safely in the morning but the likelyhood of getting them home safely in the evening.

You have to guess how many teachers and support staff will make it (more than you think – they are not all slackers) into work and how many children. Then you work out if this is a safe ratio of pupils to teachers.

Then you make a judgement call on how likely it is that the pupils at home will be home alone and potentially unsafe.

Then you check if the heating is working.

Surely you could write an Excel spreadsheet that would do all that for you? 😀

SNOW DAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😀

I was devastated at half 7 this morning when I found my school wasn't closing

Don't take this personally, but the use of this word is really starting to grate here. Just how could you describe your feelings if something really bad happened. Or are we all living on a plateau of devastated feelings?

Yes goon i was fully DEVO'D mate. DEVASTATED DEVASTATED DEVASTATED! As you probably know my friend language meaning and nuance changes over time. If not we'd all be communicating through grunts and bodily gestures. "Devastated" does not have the same gravity as it did 10 years ago. If you spoke to a Victorian about intercourse in front of a microwave they'd think you were referring to a conversation you had on a quiet beach Language is a fluid and constantly changing "thing" 😀

I think teachers like to live at a reasonable distance from the school where they teach, just so they can get a break from the kids! So while most kids can get themselves to my daughter's school on foot, the staff may have problems. Especially as the roads jam up with people driving like idiots. So you get a school-full of kids and hardly anyone to control them….

That said, her school isn't closed today, but not too DEVASTATED as is last day of term!

I'm sat here at my teacher's desk. looking out at big snowflakes falling. I'm beyond devastated…

what headfirst said

Surpirsed no-one else has posted this yet, is linking the Dailymash getting passe?

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/angry-parents-forced-to-spend-six-hours-tobogganing-200902041556/

The heating thing is well past its sell by date, it's cold all winter.
Teachers and pupils have a responsibility to get to school. I can understand some issues with teachers living some distance away, but don't the kids live nearby i.e catchment areas.
I have no facts, but it seems like the schools are affraid of something, and my fear is that it's of litigation?

Pah, didn't get snow days. As kids, if there was heavy rain at night we'd pray we'd get a Black Rainstorm Warning or a Typhoon 8 in the morning and not have to go to school. Not as fun staying indoors all day but at least it wasn't bloody freezing like in this country!

When I was a kid, we used to get a bus into town for school. Schools never closed for snow then either…until one year when all the kids from out of town were stuck at school as the buses couldn't get through. We all had to spend the night with friends or teachers (can you imagine the risk assessments that would require now?)

Since then, they shut the schools at the first sight of snow.

nothing to do with the last day of term?

Lazy feckkers!

As said above, you have to know that you'll have enough staff to cover the minimum staff_pupil ratio. You have to know that the kids will be able to get home as well as get to school. You have to make that decision very early.

If your kids aren't at school and both parents work, who is supposed to be looking after them?

You? What with them being your kids and all?

Lazy feckkers!

You're just jealous 😉

Here are some reasons:

a) Bad weather: too many people who can't drive their 4×4's are definitely a H&S risk to children… In a rural area its difficult call.
b) Heating not working (coz the janny forgot to order the oil… genuine that one)
c) no water. thats closed a couple of schools round these parts in the last month or two.

I'm also pretty sure that when I were t'lad a young feller down the way who lived 1/2 mile up a farm track from the main road (i.e. the bus drop off point) didn't make it home through the snow and was found frozen to death 250 yards from his house. The worst can happen…

+1 for miketually (lol)

So the staff can go out and play on their bikes 😛

Workshy fop here. My school is open, every other secondary in the borough is closed. Why? Who knows. I live 25 miles away and after taking an hour to get 4 miles gave up and am sat at home with hot chocolate. By the time i'd have got in the day would be finished (end of term assembly at 11) and that would be it.

Most of the time for us the school shuts because of staff travel problems. We have no buses, most kids are local and walk but staff often live up to 30+ miles away which makes things different. No way I'm living even close to the catchment!

At the end of the day it's the head's decision alone.

You're just jealous

Extremely!

Last day of term – my kids were gutted they couldn't give their cards or homemade fudge to the teachers. Sad scenes.

Have we done the "What tyres for a workshy teacher who gets to play in the snow all day?" bit yet??? I might be interested 😉

It's the heads decision, as chair of govs mine let's me in on the proccess out of curtesy. Oldgit, not once did we think about litigation. I tend to think the h&s card is a media invention rather than a real world worry

my wifes school is shut as few teachers can get to school – the head having to abandon his car last night after a 6th form evening may have had an influence.

my daugghters is open but only in the creche form – most teachers are very local.

teachers love snow days.

Posties in my bit of Ipswich decided to go home at 8:30, thinking that H&S had given them a free day. RM regard them as owing 5 hours work 🙂
Us casuals sorted at a high rate and finished all the work on hand before close of play.

I thought I read about some councils worrying if someone slips in the playground they could/might sue the council?

It was in a newspaper so it must be true! 😉