To not understand the school's logic

[spotsdots]

It started snowing this morning as we were heading to school. When we got to school there was no mention of school closure. At 11.30am the next of kin called me and said the school send a message about school closure. I called the school to find out when they will close the school, they told me to check parentmail or school website regurlaly for the updates. At 12.35 I get another call from next of kin saying she got a message saying school will be closed at 1.30pm

AIBU to not understand (a) what difference will it make whether the children stay upto 1.30pm or 3.15pm (the usual time). Afterall, pupils should be indoors during that time.

(b) Why wasn't I told they were closing at 1.30pm when I called them?

We're in a surrey town too, but given there's been about 2inches of snow this morning and it's getting worse, it makes sense to let pupils go early.

If the weather is bad then anyone is within their rights to say they have to go, especially if they are relying on public transport which may stop running.

Some employers might kick up about it but it's tough. Do they expect people to put their own safety at risk to get to and from work?

YABU. There are a number of factors to consider and this decision is not made lightly.
At my school, most of the pupils ar ebrought in by local authority transport, so it needs to be considered that if the weather gets worse, how safe it would be to get those buses down un-gritted side roads to get the children home safely, that staff may need to leave early to ensure thyey can get home on public transport safely and before theings stop running and the school doesn't fall out of ratio, etc.
Things can also change very quickly. It is a hard decision to make and they probably hadn't decided at the time you called them.
I got a message from my ds's school saying that the afternoon nursery would be closed today due to weather (ds2 goes in afternoon). I called the school to ask about the rest of the school (ds1 is in year 1) and was told the rest of the school would remain open til 3:15.
I told them that I had to collect ds2 from the private nursery which shares site with the scool so could I get ds1 at the same time and withing 5 minutes of putting the phone down, I got atext saying the whole school would close at 1.
It's a difficult decision, and it wouldn't have been taken lightly. the senior leadership and head teacher at the school would have felt under a lot of pressure to make the right decision and organise collection safely and efficiently

I completely understand it, the school has to think about how safe it is for parents getting to the school and then travelling home with their DCs and also the same for the teachers

Our primary opened from 9-noon and I was so grateful. I got into work, did the urgent stuff and left at 11am. The school texted to say that they were closing at noon but the children would be looked after if you couldn't get them that early.

I have to drive in, so told work I was leaving at 11am. Otherwise I faced being snowed into the carpark. Didn't see the boss volunteering to drive everyone home, so he can't moan if people go early for their own safety.