Workmates and snow!

[ACSlater]

It isn't even snowing here yet but people are already saying they can't come in tomorrow because they need to stay at home to look after their 32 year old! Drives me up the wall!!!

AIBU to think they should have a contingency plan?!!!

I'm virtually at the point of saying "fine, don't come in but don't bitch at me because you haven't been paid".

The schools shut because the teachers can't get in

Not in my area. Teachers go to their nearest school and walk if necessary to keep the schools open. There's a database of where every teacher lives and they know what school to go to in the event of bad weather. They receive a text in the morning to let them know to go.

It rarely snows in most of the UK to any significant.

I take it you dont live in Scotland then!

I live in a village in Ayrshire and work in Glasgow, weve had travel chaos since Friday here with snow although eventually Ive made it to work, albeit very late. 4 years ago was the worst ever.

It's utterly ridiculous how unprepared the UK is for snow.

Lots and lots of European countries get a shitload of snow. Even the ones who don't get that much at least prepare for it.

Snow tyres, chains for buses, winter service so that the roads are cleared. For schools to close because of snow is unheard of.

In the UK, three flakes and everyone gets the vapours and shuts up shop. It's pathetic.

I'm hoping it does snow so I don't have to go in tomorrow but I bought some work home with me to get on with.

Tbh I could get public transport to work but the kids school shuts at the first flake so I expect I'll have to stay with them anyway.

Our school never closes for snow. The other year we had about 1 1/2ft of the damn stuff but school was still open and so I had to traipse off to work (usually 30 minute walk but double that in the snow). Only 2 staff members didn't make it in and they live quite a way out where there was even more snow.

The company are entitled to ask them to make the time up elsewhere or take a day's unpaid leave. There's no obligation to grant a day's leave.

The thing is, we might get (at most) one snow incident per year which causes disruption on a wide scale. That's just not worth the infrastructure investment that some other cities might make in Europe or the States.

I just know I'm going to be expected the late shift tomorrow to cover those that won't come in. I'm planning on legging it out of the door at 5pm and not looking back!

No is a complete sentence

I take it you dont live in Scotland then!

We've got 5" of the stuff and it's frozen now. I remember that winter, we had snow from November until February.

Thank the lord we don't have to do that in my LEA fabulous!!

I can't get out if it snows hard anyway because of where I live, at the top o a very steep hill that gets closed off and used by the village kids as a sleigh run!! It is great fun for them. It's only a few days every few years.

I don't see what all the fuss is about.

Schools close purely for safety reasons.
The head and site manager (caretaker) have a duty to ensure the site is completely safe for children (and staff) and will make that call before school is due to open.
If the site was declared safe and open, then a child injured themselves on icy patches etc, well you can guess the outcome of that! Schools and local authorities cannot take that risk.

In addition, staff often work a good drive away from their school, if just a couple don't make it in this affects the adult to child ratio and would therefore be a safeguarding issue.

Its the law and all that.

I was supposed to have a social worker visit me at home last week.

She called a few hours before and said "I won't be able to come to you because of the weather".

We're on the South Coast and have no snow. It was a bit windy but as far as I know she wasn't planning on getting here via tightrope or hang-glider.

Princess where I live gets roughly the same amount as the UK. None so far this year, none last year, quite a lot the year before.

And yet they still make the investment. It's better than all the work days lost because of a few flakes of frozen water....

Our school needs to be very careful about snow because the children come in from miles around on buses. Once they are at school, it's difficult to get them home again if it starts snowing very badly, so we have to make the decision fairly sharpish. At times, it has been the bus companies who have deemed it too dangerous to bring the children, rather than the school being unwilling or unable to deliver a day's teaching.

I doubt parents would be overly impressed if we were too pigheaded to close, and students were unable to get home.

Yep, think we've ticked all the snowy weather cliches already on this thread, so move along everyone. Nothing more to see.

shattered why can't the kids take snow boots and salopettes etc into school so they can be prepared to go out in the snow? They might slip on ice, but to be honest this year on the play ground alone we've had a broken arm, broken wrist, a couple of head injuries that have necessitated hospital and untold numbers of bumps and bruises.

I don't see why an injury on ice is treated any differently.

Er, forwarding, because many families can't afford to kit their kids out in snow boots and salopettes every year on the off-chance it snows. And even if they did, they'd highly likely not bring them. We have kids turning up to school all through January in thin jackets and shoes with holes in the soles. And we're in quite an affluent area.

One year, we had 1-2" of snow and most of us managed to make it in to work, however one of the team 'couldn't even get to the end of the road'.

The road that the big boss drove along to get to work and actually passed said colleagues house...

That went down like a sack of shit

My child has a ski suit second hand which cost a tenner and snow boots from a cheapy shop which cost about £12. It's not expensive.

In fact, our school does ask parents to send in appropriate clothing on snowy days. Last time we had a decent amount to play in, we took all those properly attired outside to build snowmen etc... whilst those with no coats/boots stayed indoors to play. Yep, you've guessed it - a load of complaints about their children having been "excluded" from the outdoor fun.

So, £22 for one child. I'm thinking of a child in my class who's one of three, with parents well below the poverty line. If his mother had £66 to spare, I'm pretty sure she wouldn't be spending it on skiwear.

The thing is, we might get (at most) one snow incident per year which causes disruption on a wide scale. That's just not worth the infrastructure investment that some other cities might make in Europe or the States

I agree Princess. I'm sure many people, like the Daily Fail, would be bitching if each council spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on snow ploughs and the like that were used once every three years.
And as for schools, people know they get fined if they shut don't you?
It's a hard choice for a head teacher to have to make about opening or not. If they open then they are asking teachers to take a risk by coming in. They are also saying that the building and grounds are safe for children.
The head has to make this choice at 7am when they often live many miles from the school.
The last day when my school opened even when others shut only 50% of the children actually turned up.

My school never shuts for snow. In fact, a couple of years back we were the only school in the county to be open, and were "mentioned in dispatches." Even when the boiler broke last year, the kids were told to bring extra jumpers. Didn't stop a couple of parents bitching on FB recently that the HT shuts "at the drop of a hat."

£22 on a winter coat and boots which she has worn all winter since it got properly cold. Plus the trousers she wears to the park or on her bike at the weekend as an extra layer.

We haven't been dossing it in Chamonix as yet.