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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

School Closure

61 replies

Dexterrocks · 30/11/2010 21:42

Am I being unreasonable to be annoyed that my dcs school plans to open tomorrow when every other school in our area is shut?
The school was closed on Thursday due to heavy snow.

The snow worsened overnight and into Friday morning but the school remained open, only to shut at 10am. This caused absolute chaos as children were put on buses and were going to be sent home when their parents were not at home to receive them. Other parents were already at work and had to drive home in treacherous conditions to collect their children.
The snow has continued for the following 4 days and is now above my knees.
The school was shut on Monday and Tuesday and the weather has only continued to get worse.
We walked to the shop, near the school, today for milk and the pavements were impassable. I had to walk on the road with a 6 year old, diving into huge banks of snow higher than his head, every time a car came along.
I realised too late that I had been foolish to take a child that age into those conditions. It is one thing sledging in a snowy field - it is quite another negotiating the road networks.
Surely the roads will only be busier before 9am tomorrow?
Am I being silly or does this strike everyone else as a rather rash decision?

OP posts:
mummytime · 01/12/2010 08:49

I just wish DCs school would decide earlier, every other school around here decided to be closed last night. DCs school decided at 7:15, DD leaves for school at 7:25. I was googling if the bus was still running, as if it wasn't I'd keep them home (its hard to tell what the conditions are like 200 yrds down hill from here, when its impassable except on foot here it could be okay down hill).

Mowiol · 01/12/2010 08:51

Teachers are expected to get to the nearest school if safe to do so to offer support in case any children turn up. At least in my LA and others round about anyway.

In reality, if the nearest school involves a hazardous journey on foot or by car then it's safer to stay at home doing marking, development work, planning etc.

Yesterday there were people having to walk on the road here (not pupils as school was shut, just people in general) and it really wasn't safe.

The pavements were piled high with snow and parts of the road were all rutted with ice/snow.

I'm fed up of it now!!

nancy75 · 01/12/2010 08:52

Dansmommy
"Nancy: 'even if the school is closed it gets marked down as a days abscence'. No it doesn't"

Actually it did at dd's school last year, the day the school closed was the only day she had off and it was marked as abscence for all the kids.

Hulababy · 01/12/2010 10:46

Mowiol = that is not the case in my LEA

nannynobblystockingnobs · 01/12/2010 11:04

Our school is closed because a lot of the teachers can't get in. The A1 has been closed off right outside town due to an accident, there have been more accidents on main feeder roads, motorway traffic is being sent through town and it's like that Doctor Who episode where they are trapped on the motorway for decades. Plus it has not stopped snowing.

Teachermumof3 · 01/12/2010 11:12

Teachers are expected to get to the nearest school if safe to do so to offer support in case any children turn up.

Not now we've got CRB checks, Mowiol. I couldn't even help out at my own children's school without getting a separate CRB check; the fact that I taught at a Primary 2 miles away was irrelevant!

backwardpossom · 01/12/2010 11:27

We got a forwarded memo from our authority via the headteacher last week to say that we should offer our services to local schools and that, if we do, we've to phone our school to let them know where we're working. I am in Scotland though, so I wonder if that makes a difference.

I work in a different authority to the one I live in though, so I don't really know where I stand in terms of going to my local school (it's shut anyway though!).

Original poster
Dexterrocks · 01/12/2010 12:47

Our school shut in the end so no scary journey up to school walking on the road while cars slide all over the place. Hurrah! We had already decided not to take them up as it just wasn't safe. Thank goodness they saw sense as it is pelting down again.

OP posts:
Mowiol · 01/12/2010 14:12

backwardpossom and hulababy - our LA policy IS that those of us who can offer support at our nearest school should do so.
We have all done Disclosure checks - this may just be a difference here in Scotland.
Disclosure (our version of CRB) is also issued to supply teachers who go from school to school.
It's obviously differences around UK.

Mowiol · 01/12/2010 14:15

OOPS - that should be teachermumof3 and not backwardpossum who is saying the same as me Blush

ItalianLady · 01/12/2010 14:17

Ours is the only school open in the area. We have about a foot of snow in places. I will be getting ready soon to go and get the kids from school. My 2 youngest cried the whole way there saying they wanted to go home. I felt rubbish about that.

Hulababy · 01/12/2010 14:36

Mowiol - think they are looking into it as a possibility in our area for the future.

Mowiol · 01/12/2010 14:49

Makes sense to me that if you can get to your nearest school and produce a valid Disclosure/CRB certificate then that should be the policy.

All the schools in my LA and the neighbouring ones (and half of the rest of Scotland too!!) are shut though so I have no option but to work from home. Mind you my marking and planning are now sorted and some resource development too!

backwardpossom · 01/12/2010 16:03

I hope you were doing some CfE development now, Mowiol... Wink

borderslass · 01/12/2010 16:05

I refused to send DD2 in but several of her friends have said the head was not happy about staff and pupils being in due to conditions despite the fact it's up to him to open or not.

Mowiol · 01/12/2010 16:10

Indeed - Grin

Actually I'm going a bit stir-crazy now!!

pantomimecow · 01/12/2010 17:35

Seeker- Don't you think people ever slip and break bones in snow???

seeker · 02/12/2010 06:27

"Don't you think people ever slip and break bones in snow???'

Yes, they do. But I have never heard of a child doing this on the walk to school.

Wet leaves are pretty slippery tpp - should schools be closed in Autumn?

mummytime · 02/12/2010 06:41

On the way home from school on Wednesday, cars on the road were sliding allover the place. It was decidedly dangerous for pedestrians on the pavement, as the cars were out of control and could easily have run into someone on the pavement. This doesn't happen with autumn leaves. I expect the big DCs school to open tomorrow if we don't get any more snow (they only decided this morning not to open). Little DC will probably not be going anyway as she has a very nasty cold, and I don't see the point in making her traipse through snow drifts.

BTW the record I've heard of is a local teacher who took 21 hours to get home, including abandoning their car somewhere.

penguin73 · 02/12/2010 06:59

There was a whole thread about what teachers should do last year - go out and clear the roads apparently!!! There is a difference between the disclosure system in Scotland and CRBs in England, which normally are only valid for the issuing school. Last year we were expected to set work on-line then 'teach from home' providing students with on-line advice and guidance and be on-line to reply to e-mail questions within 10 mins of them being sent by students. We also had to provide proof of all the other work done (eg planning, rewriting policies etc) and were given loads of spurious paperwork to do so the Head/LEA could be sure we weren't enjoying ourselves out making snowmen. Being in school would have been the better option!

BrandyButterPie · 02/12/2010 07:04

Seeker- if I tried to walk my 3 year old (she is due to start school in september, the nursery class is her age) to the school that is usually 5 minutes down the road (the school bus drops off outside our house) I would lose her in the drifts. We could walk half the way on the road (if we dug out way out of our drive) , the rest of it hasn't been ploughed so we would have to take shovels and/or skiing equipment to physically get to the school. It is at least up to her knees, in places (mostly where it has previously been ploughed) it would be over her head (although admittedly we can see these places, sometimes they form a bit of a wall), and we are in a normal suburb in the North East, and that school is practically next door.

So, yes, walking can be dangerous. Plus I am a non-pregnant, healthy, young mum - I wouldn't be expecting pregnant women, older grandmothers or anyone with a disability to go out in these conditions. Not to mention the small children and younger siblings.

BrandyButterPie · 02/12/2010 07:06

Tbh, I think there should be a lot more online work setting anyway, then ill children could work from home. Can't be all that hard to at the very least upload thw worksheets used in class.

Hopelesslydisorganised · 02/12/2010 07:10

I would imagine if teachers DID walk into the nearest school to "offer their services" that somewhere on MN would be a thread "Loads of strangers turned up at my DS's school - AIBU in thinking they could be ANYONE"?

I think the right decision has been made in areas of heavy snow. My DS is going stir crazy but LOVES being off school - today a snowman methinks. I will be going to work but exDH is going to care for DS today.

Goblinchild · 02/12/2010 07:12

Planning and resourcing a week's lessons usually takes me 3-4 hours at the weekend.
I think that's what I'll do today instead, and then I'll assess and mark work.

HowsTheSerenity · 02/12/2010 07:20

I am annoyed that the eldest DC school is closed due to 'extreme weather conditions'. We have about an inch of snow!!!!!!!!!