Schools closed or opening late due to ice

[ZappyDays]

I don’t remember this being a thing when I was at school. School closures due to snow, yes, but ice, never. Correct me if I’m wrong!

I suppose if roads are icy and not gritted, it’s difficult and dangerous for people to travel.

I remember it happening in the 90s.

I was in school in the 80s and it was definitely a thing. Snow is actually easier to drive in than ice.

Back then though where I lived anyway everything got gritted really well. Now it’s main roads only. We currently can’t get up our lane. It’s a sheet of ice. I think that’s down to cost.

But I think there is also a greater likelihood that people will live further from school, therefore unable to walk. Both our schools are open from 11am. We will walk one of them in (it’s about a 20 minute walk along a main road, no footpath but doable with an adult). The other is a 15 drive away, it would take all day to walk! No buses running today. I will attempt it in a bit, but currently can’t get out of the drive because nothing has been gritted.

Got a message on the school messaging app just as I dropped the kids off that the roads were very dangerous and to leave dropping the kids a few hours if you hadn’t left yet.

Our school is rural - one way was fine the other way was a solid sheet of ice. Ice is more dangerous than snow.

I am remember my kids school closing in the 00s for ice, it is dangerous people drive more these days they shouldn't feel they need to rush to get somewhere for 8.30/9

When my children’s school was shut it was often a council wide thing as the school lunches were unable to be delivered. No lunch = no school.

Or if there were too many teachers unable to come in and it made the adult child ratio too low. At one point one of their teachers was driving 90 minutes, or if they were rural and were snowed in etc.

And as a pp said side roads are not gritted.

Back then though where I lived anyway everything got gritted really well. Now it’s main roads only. We currently can’t get up our lane. It’s a sheet of ice. I think that’s down to cost.

It’s weird because I bet lost economic productivity probably costs more now than just fully gritting all the roads. They should start fully funding it again.

It’s pathetic, the way this country always shuts down for ice and snow. The magic money tree exists for war and lockdown, but there’s never any money for basics, such as gritting roads.

It makes more sense to close due to ice than snow in my opinion. Ice is far more dangerous to walk and drive in.

Its pathetic, up here the kids just aren’t allowed on the playground if its a ice rink they are still expected to go to school. Just shows the south can’t cope with a little bit of bad weather!

I think you’ll find that the vast majority of main roads have been gritted but that’s not always the answer. Most local councils use their bin wagon drivers to drive the gritters overnight - they get paid a bloody fortune!

I get your point, but nothing is shutting down a bit of delay and caution isn't shutting down. Sometimes it is safer not to go from A to B

When my secondary used to close due to ice, it was because the school site itself was so large with lots of separate buildings (acres of land. Buildings all far away from each other. Would have to walk miles from English to maths for example) and the paths had all turned into ice rinks and the site itself was too large to grit and keep the paths free from ice so it wasn't safe for kids to actually be in school. It wasn't about transport to the school but the icy conditions on the paths at the school itself.

Would have been different if it was one big building that didn't involve having to go outside to get to other classes.

25 years ago our rural unclassified road was gritted, now it is only the main routes, the closest of which is a mile away. And in towns bin if the residential areas are gritted so this morning they are sheets of ice.
No good having the a roads and dual carriageways clear if you can't safely leave your estate.
And also I imagine teachers and pupils both travel from further, especially in rural areas, so there isn't the option of walking.
Wouldn't put my kid on a school bus this morning even if it was running.

It wasnt, never missed a day if school due to snow. Nurses still have to go to work so why can't teachers and children?

My children go to a rural country school about 20 mins drive away. They opened normal time yesterday and the drive there was interesting. Didn't go above 10mph the entire journey. Late opening today which I'm very thankful for.

I think for the relatively few times we have inclement weather ,there is a lot of worry about a few days missed Surely it is better to be safe .I personally dont drive in the snow at all .I appreciate some people have no choice but its best kept at a minimum level I think

Our school used to close for ice in the 90s and early 00s. Rural primary, with a steep downhill section just before, and the road was definitely not gritted!

Luckily it's not bad enough to close schools here. However, the local headmistress believes in showing children resilience, so never closes the school.

Re: snow, she takes the attitude if she can spend 50 mins driving from a country village, up the motorway and through out town, then staff and pupils can get to school!

I was at school in the 60s/70s, we just trudged to school. No school closures. Winters were much worse then. Kids are so soft these days.

I remember our primary school shutting for ice in the early 90s. They started doing it after a parent lost control on the hill outside slid all the way down, and the car went through a shop window! So bloody lucky there wasn't anyone walking on the hill at the time, no pavements and one car wide.

My primary school, in the middle of the city, closed a couple of times due to ice. That was in the 1970s. Even though most pupils lived only streets away. My grammar school never EVER closed - ice, snow, World War Three, alien invasion. I remember listening to the list of schools that were closed on the radio, desperately hoping mine would be there. But no. Duffle coat on. Two mile walk of death🤣

In those days, plenty of people didn't have central heating. So there was less of an incentive to stay home - indoors was not much warmer than outdoors.