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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think that 8.35 am is too late for a secondary school to give notice if they are open or not!

96 replies

Beehivesandhoney · 28/02/2018 22:19

It's snowing really heavily outside.
Dds school because of its type and the area. has a catchment area which is huge. Some kids are 25 miles away. Many are 5-7 miles away. Most do two buses.

Two days ago when the snow wasn't as bad they announced they were open at 8.30am they were still open. They are expected to be there for 8.50am so most will have already set off well before that.

Aibu to think that most secondary schools have people in earlier than that?
What time does your school let you know?

Dd has two buses. One out of the village and then the main one. So if she gets stuck we are knackered.

OP posts:

MaisyPops · 28/02/2018 22:54

Two days ago when the snow wasn't as bad they announced they were open at 8.30am they were still open. They are expected to be there for 8.50am so most will have already set off well before that.
That's not an announcement. School is open unless you are told otherwise.

They sent a reminder / clarification probably in case there were people thinking it might be.

I don't see the issue.

'Place doesn't declare that they are following the same opening hours as they so every day.'

Now if they'd announced they were closing at 8:35 THEN you'd have a point (unless it was an emergency like the boiler going)

My school was closed today. Tomorrow we will get up like a normal day. Unless we are told otherwise school is open as normal.

steff13 · 28/02/2018 22:55

Here if they make the call in the morning, they do it before the buses have to leave the bus garage. The high school kids start at 7:15, so they usually announce it by 5:30.

steff13 · 28/02/2018 22:55

So, in conclusion, yes that's too late. YANBU.

LoniceraJaponica · 28/02/2018 22:55

"I would have thought at secondary school a pupil would be able to manage themselves in this situation without parental involvement?"

Not necessarily. DD's school is in a rural market town, also with a large catchment area where the only way to get to and from school is the dedicated school bus. Public service buses are few and far between.

Fortunately her school is better organised and we knew at 6.30 this morning that the school was closed. One of the local radio stations puts the school closures up on their website. The school also tweeted it. I never got a text from school. Their latest tweet is that unless it snows again the school will be open tomorrow. They will update via Twitter by 6.15 am.

We are in a similar situation as you are expatinscotland. I love the assumption that town dwellers make about public transport in rural areas

BitOutOfPractice · 28/02/2018 22:57

Schools can't win though can they? Damned if they open. Damned if they close. The situation changes pretty quickly. They have so make the best decision they can, knowing that whatever they do they'll piss half of the parents off

Gwenhwyfar · 28/02/2018 22:58

"Plenty of rural and semi-rural places rely a lot on 'parental involvement' because the route involves multiple buses that run on very limited schedules, "

I don't understand this. If you live in a rural area, your bus is a school bus, not public transport bus so if the school is closed the same school bus would take you home.
OP's daughter seems to be taking two public buses. Why isn't there a school bus if she lives in a rural area?

Thehogfather · 28/02/2018 22:58

Not many near me either talkin. But no reason from school she couldn't find a bus running to one or walk. Even very rural secondaries aren't surrounded by 8 miles of field.

And tbh no reason an able bodied teen can't walk 5/6 miles at 9am. Maybe not all the way home if the route isn't safe, but certainly far enough to find a main road or small town etc.

Ethelswith · 28/02/2018 22:58

Pupils need to start getting on coaches at about 07:30 (depending on which route and how far along it they are). So school says it will announce no later than 07:00.

Which must mean someone alert and on site by about 06:30? And head and someone who knows how to work the website, parent post, text alert, twitter system and how to change the main ansaphone message.

Muchtoomuchtodo · 28/02/2018 22:59

We knew by 2.30pm that schools in our county will be closed tomorrow and Friday.

Willow2017 · 28/02/2018 23:00

But, I would expect her to be capable of finding a roundabout route home, or the nearest shopping centre/ library etc to wait till the buses were running by y7.

There isnt actually a bus timetable at a bus stop my kids would have to wait at. There is no 'shopping centre' with anyplace open at that time for 7 miles so i suppose i should tell my kid to walk along the A1 for 7 miles in blizzard conditions. Or maybe just stand at the bus stop for over an hour waiting for a bus home twiddling his frozen thumbs. Genius.

Pinkprincess1978 · 28/02/2018 23:01

I work in a secondary school. Teaching staff don't have to be in until 8.30 so no they might not know much before then that they won't have enough staff to function.

Thankfully today we got the text at 6.40 and also 4pm for tomorrow so I'm able to work from home 😀

Willow2017 · 28/02/2018 23:04

OP's daughter seems to be taking two public buses. Why isn't there a school bus if she lives in a rural area

Because if you live 100 yards inside the milage zone you dont get a bus you have to get a service bus or parents have to take you if there is no bus going your way . Even if you live out on a country road where it is too dangerous for kids to walk you dont get a bus.

corythatwas · 28/02/2018 23:05

"I don't understand this. If you live in a rural area, your bus is a school bus, not public transport bus so if the school is closed the same school bus would take you home."

The same school bus won't be hired to wait around until pupils find out if school is open and then travel back the same route: it will be on hire from the bus company to do that one journey in the morning and then, most likely, to do another route for some other purpose.

Gwenhwyfar · 28/02/2018 23:09

"The same school bus won't be hired to wait around until pupils find out if school is open and then travel back the same route: it will be on hire from the bus company to do that one journey in the morning and then, most likely, to do another route for some other purpose."

I'm very surprised to hear that, but I can only go on what things were like in my youth and children were much more independent then.
If it started snowing, we went home early. The school buses came to get us. There's no other way we could have gone home and you can't wait till going home time if there's a risk of serious snow.

Gwenhwyfar · 28/02/2018 23:10

"Because if you live 100 yards inside the milage zone you dont get a bus you have to get a service bus or parents have to take you if there is no bus going your way ."

So she doesn't live too far away and can walk home then.

Snowysky20009 · 28/02/2018 23:10

We knew at 6pm that they are closed tomorrow. Last snow in november, they told us 6am on the day.

LizzieSiddal · 28/02/2018 23:13

I wouldn’t send her in. Snow, 2 buses there and back and horrendously low temperatures are not a good mix.

Willow2017 · 28/02/2018 23:14

And tbh no reason an able bodied teen can't walk 5/6 miles at 9am. Maybe not all the way home if the route isn't safe, but certainly far enough to find a main road or small town etc.
And what if there is nothin to do in said town at that time in the morning. There are no cafes open then in our nearest town. Some kids live 10+ miles along an A road what are they to do? To get home my kids would have to walk 2 miles on a meandering country road in the snow in school shoes and thin school trousers. We dont all have convenient cafes and shopping centres within walking distance or live near enough the school to walk home in snow without proper clothing.

expatinscotland · 28/02/2018 23:19

"I don't understand this. If you live in a rural area, your bus is a school bus, not public transport bus so if the school is closed the same school bus would take you home."

Erm, nope. It's a public transport bus out here. Not possible for some of the ones it brings in to walk home at all. No pavement or verges on dodgy A-roads. Not 5 or 6 miles, either. Try again trying to push your agenda .

LoniceraJaponica · 28/02/2018 23:19

"I don't understand this. If you live in a rural area, your bus is a school bus, not public transport bus so if the school is closed the same school bus would take you home."

No. The buses that are scheduled to take pupils to school are then used on other routes. They don't sit around all day until 2.50 pm or earlier if necessary waiting for the pupils from that school to take them home again. It just isn't economically viable.

Quite frankly, I'm surprised that you are surprised that school buses wouldn't hang around all day not earning the bus company any money. That is a very naïve outlook. We have already had one bus company go into liquidation round here. Some students have had to find another school or rely on parents to take them to school because there is so little profit to be made in running the school buses.

"Even very rural secondaries aren't surrounded by 8 miles of field. "

No, but some students really do live in pretty remote areas, so they may have a bit of town to walk through then 8 miles of field

"And tbh no reason an able bodied teen can't walk 5/6 miles at 9am."

Would you want to walk 5 or 6 miles in unsuitable clothing and footwear with a heavy school bag in a raging blizzard, and then sit in damp clothes with wet feet all day? I wouldn't. There isn't enough room in the school lockers to store outerwear suited to this kind of weather so the students tend not to wear snow boots and thick jackets as they have to lug them around with them all day.

TattyTShirt · 28/02/2018 23:19

YANBU DD's school lets us know at 8.30am if school is closed. DD is on the school bus at 8am. DD's school is the drivers first drop off. How can DD get home when school is closed - school is 17 miles away! We live in a rural area and I have to be in work by 8am so I cant respond to "Mum.... school is closed. Can you come and pick me up?"

Penguinsandpandas · 28/02/2018 23:19

We didn't get any announcement so went on website and it said open. I would always assume its open unless told otherwise.

We got told at 1.30pm that the heating had broken down at the start if the day so children had spent the day in coats but could we collect them at 2pm as almost all public transport wasn't working. They haven't been able to fix heating and thankfully its closed tomorrow.

tabulahrasa · 28/02/2018 23:20

If you know it’s snowing heavily and you know public transport is likely to be unreliable...

Why are you waiting for the school to tell you if it’s safe for your child to get there or not? If you don’t live in walking distance to the school, that’s a parental decision, surely?

TattyTShirt · 28/02/2018 23:21

Thankfully school let us know the night before if school is to be closed.

LoniceraJaponica · 28/02/2018 23:21

Oh, and the café comment - in my experience most students would barely have enough money on them to buy a hot drink.

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