Schhols closed again

Crash Hamster wrote (see)

If I were organising things, parents would be free to not send their children to school on snowy days, but it would also be their responsibility to sort out childcare. If they sent them to school, they would be secure in the knowlege that the children would be in school to the normal finishing time.

There would be no uncertainty. as to whether or not schools were open.

so if it snowed and it came to home time and the teachers clocked off...........and the parents couldn't get there to pick them up.....what is your recommendations.......

just put them on the pavement infront of the school and lock up and go home....

But that could happen in good weather if someone was in an accident.

To be honest seren you are starting to sound a bit wacky now.

I agree it is h&s gone mad but when you get stories like this it is hardly surprising local schools etc are reluctant to do anything but close.

http://www.thompsons.law.co.uk/ltext/PILR-winter-spring07-slipping.htm

Max.....maybe its just around here but in a couple of hours the conditions can change from good driving to everything being gridlocked and people abandoning cars.........most children travel by bus to school.....

if the kids are in school and it starts to snow....what does a head do.just say leave it till hometime..by which time the buses are refusing to travel and they then have 300 young kids from 3 to 11 stuck in the school with parents stuck either in their homes or   in a car trying to get home from work.......or trying to wlak to school for their kids...they can't let young children try to walk home.....

even if the head can organise the buses to come earlier.how can thye ensure that there is someone on the bus stop to meet the kids....

I can just see why when there is snow and ice and the threat of more snow it is easier and safer all around not to opebn the school.....

evgen in comp......9/10ths of my sons school live more than 3 miles away.....many over 10......yes just let the kids all walk home in blizzard conditions.......

 its only a few days every few years....

 i might sound waky but if people really think that tehir own school is just being lazy and pulling a fast one ... why not go down there and discuss it and find out the real reasons.......if the school is just being lazy ( hard to believe ).then do something to change it.....

just blanket condeming all schools for looking out for kids safety I think is wacky

Priceless!!!!!!

Seren - did they really build a school which is over 3 miles away from 90% of the likely intake?
Weird planning. I can only assume you live somewhere very remote.
A cursory glance at the BBC website shows that many of the schools closed are in more built up areas.
I have no real gripe about school closures, better to be well planned. For example my girls' school closed Friday (they advised us all on Thursday ahead of the weather), then set out 2 days worth of work, just in case today was still bad (its not, they're back in).
That said, there is nothing to stop teachers attending and doing the stuff that they normally do on the 'training' days that usually delay the start of new terms or during half term when they are 'working', and actually get a day or two off during the holidays.

No not remote....semi populated........Its just the only one of its type for the whole borough ... buildinga second one now that should shorten the travellings distance for many...

I read the title of this thread with just a touch of irony!

This thread is worth reading just for the ignorant sweeping statements. Not everyone can be a public sector hero like me and, when confronted by a snow drift where a roundabout used to be and a Police officer saying the road is closed simply drove home and jumped on my cyclo-cross bike and rode 14 miles through the snow. Another 'lazy' public sector hero sadly died not far from me http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/Postman-dies-trying-free-van-stuck-Exmoor-snow/story-17928935-detail/story.html . Some people go the extra mile...some don't....some can't. It is not a public/private sector divide. Round here many students travel 25 miles to school up and down some serious gradients. Best snow story I have heard was a woman who delivered all of her 'meals on wheels' in an ordinary van; only to find that the old people had assumed she would not make it and had broken out the emergency rations! She even delivered meals to a town that was so cut off that the RAF had to be called to take a person to hospital. She said, "I saw them, I wondered what they were doing!". What happened? After delivering all the meals safely she slipped and broke her leg walking back up her driveway...

Gee Raff wrote (see)

I read the title of this thread with just a touch of irony!

Yep.... I thought that too!

Boys school finally re-opned today. So eldest son managed to miss the bus, so I took him in by car anyway. Kids

SideBurn wrote (see)

This thread is worth reading just for the ignorant sweeping statements.

some of the non-teacher contributions have been interesting as well.

I'm a high school teacher and have never worked in a school that shut for a 'snow day' although I know many do.  A few years ago, when I first got my current job I was commuting from North Norfolk to Cambridgeshire each day whilst waiting for the sale of my new house (much closer to work!) to go through and when it snowed I simply got up at 3am (instead of 4:15) to leave for work to ensure I got there safely and on time.  Not everybody had the same attitude and I was rather annoyed at those that stayed at home due to 'unsafe conditions' when they lived within 10 minute drives of the school!

And, as has already been mentioned, a lot does rely on bus companies.  Yesterday, several schools were shut in our area, but not our school.  The bus company let the school know that morning that it would not be running, meaning nearly 1000 kids would not have their usual bus journey to school.  Several parents of children that walk to school/drive their child to school did not send their children in in the morning anyway, and of those that did, nearly half had been in to collect their child by lunchtime.  My last lesson of the day had six students in!

there was a good article in the Times today, saying we're all partially to blame as if an accident occurs we'll happily sue the school, so when little billy falls and breaks his wrist its the schools fault, not just an accident. (Who do these people sue if he slips walking down his garden path?) 
Has some merit, perhaps more so with the conditions on approach roads...I've seen the way some cars are driven when there isn't ice....

thats what my sons headmaster was saying when the boys complained that they were noallowed out in the snow and ice at break times........

lots of maoning about teachers but haven't seen any moaning about the royal mail......

no post here since last thursday..........and we are not in a remote or rural village....

I wouldn't moan about the post because our postman delivered every day, even last Friday.

He wasn't exactly early, but considering it's a rural round and he must have to negotiate lots of snowy drives, he did fantastically well. Top marks to Gervaise.

The blanket response was that the south wales valleys are too dangerous to post too....since last friday......

never known it before,.and on Monday every single school was open so not sure why the post can't when the buses are running and even the schools are opening 

I think that's poor, Seren. Typical modern British conflating of 'it's dangerous' with 'it requires a little more care than usual'.

Our postman is a top bloke; friendly, efficient and reliable (and he really is called Gervaise; I've never met another Gervaise, which gives him added kudos.)

An interesting observation: During bad snow yesterday, the only two people who tried to get to work  in my part of the village were the two public employees, the other non-retired folks decided to ' work from home'. ..

Three vehicles abandoned on our road. one was dug out...

On a seperate note completely. I threw away the mould the other day and aloowed the kids to have a massive snowball fight for ten mins.  injuries: nil, playgrounds clear of snow for free : one