To think 'snow days' are pathetic

[Toddlerteaplease]

I understand if you live very rurally and genuinely can't get out. But snow in cities is rarely that bad. NHS staff don't take days off for a bit of snow. Last time we had severe snow. Not one person on my entire unit missed work. Even though schools were closed.

Can't recall school ever being closed due to snow and certainly no central heating there either. A couple of radiators in the room, if lucky they worked. Not so many teachers drove to school, used public transport or walked. Think that is the big change nowadays, the widespread of staff needing to drive in. At work one year snow was so bad with ice couldn't use car so colleague who lived nearby a d I met up and walked just under 3 miles into work. Left early and trudged in, same going home. Would do it again if I had to.

Re: Teachers who live far away from school also blame parents and their badly behaved kids - have heard horror stories on here of parents commenting on what a teacher has in their trolley when shopping to their face and also putting in complaints to the school that their child was subjected to the horror of seeing their teacher buying wine on a Friday night. I've heard of teachers having their houses egged because they had dared to tell off precious children who have never heard the word no at home … I would love to teach at my local school, but the potential stress that goes with it is not worth it - I'd rather have a 30 minute commute!

I think some people, like the OP, need to think of the wider picture. The amount of snow that falls can be drastically different from town to town. Your town might have only got a little but the town 10 minutes down the road could have got a lot. Smaller roads in villages don't always get gritted making it almost impossible to get out. A bloke used to work with didn't drive and the road his bus went was quite steep and got stuck half way up so had to turn back and it was too far for him to walk. Some teachers don't live close to the school that they work in. Their twin half an hour away could have had double the snow that where their school got. Not everyone has got someone to look after their children if the school or nursery closed so they need to take the day off. They might have been able to get in but who's going to take care of their kids? When we had the beast from the east, my husband was able to drive me in (we loved 20 mins up the road) but I have colleagues who lives 40 mins away and they couldn't get in because they had double the snow. My husband worked in their areas and even he said the snow was awful and he used to live in the Highlands.

Our scho is tucked away on an estate. Three ways to get to it. An alley way off the main road then down a cul de sac, a little foot bridge or a road. Road is quite narrow, not heavily used and no way does it get gritted. School is then down a slope.

So you can imagine what a couple of inches could do especially if you add in drifts or half melted then refroze.

My estate is all little cul de sacs etc, tends to half melt then refreeze so turns into an utter ice rink.

Between these two areas are main roads that can be fully cleared.

Doesn't make it easier to get off my estate or anywhere near school

Can't recall school ever being closed due to snow

I can't either but it's scary to think of the lack of H&S back then. We walked to school from being 5, with all our friends, nobody had a car.
We didn't have ratios or laws about how warm schools have to be. We didn't have heating to break and with outdoor toilets the pipes would freeze and burst, but school went on regardless.

Including staff there’s about 2,100 people at the school l work in.
All trail wet snow in, then all change lessons, etc etc. The floors and stairs become very very wet and slippy. Then people slip over and we are into H and S issues.

I once saw someone on here suggesting each child changed their shoes at the door to stop this😂

Well there’s 2 entrances to our school ( because that is about Safeguarding) and one is quite small. I’d love to see 2000 people changing their shoes at the same time

The only time I’ve been unable to get into work because of snow was in the 80’s when I lived in London, zone three and worked in zone one. No trains, no buses, taxi dispatcher laughed when I rang and said all the drivers were still digging their vehicles out. Boss suggested my boyfriend drove me in. He refused point blank.
It’s one reason why since then, I’ve only had jobs I can walk to.
I missed work due to snow last year as although I could get in none of the key holders could. I’m too lowly to have a key (or prep the tills or make any decisions or cash up). Everyone (except the salaried manager) lost money.

And I had a medical appointment cancelled on me as the practitioner couldn’t get in from 70 miles away.

Can't recall school ever being closed due to snow or having to have a child seat or wearing a seat belt in the back of my parents van.

I agree, there wasn't any health and safety back then. Never mind no car seats, most cars didn't have seatbelts for the rear seats either.

When I was a teacher there was a rumour that on snowy days you were supposed to report to your nearest school rather than the school you were working at so that schools could stay open - obviously with dbs etc etc they couldn't do this easily but it would mean schools could stay open. I'm community nhs and we would be expected to travel to our nearest base in bad weather or make up the time if unable to get to work

former secondary school gov here, both my DDs have left and gone to uni. We used to bloody LOVE snow days! That unexpected feeling of not having to go to school or even get dressed, the extra hours in the day etc. Good for mental health I say. (and yyy to all pp about the reasons schools have to close due to H&S and buses not being able to run etc).

I'd suggest that if the UK tried to copy other countries who are used to deep snow that there'd be even more accidents. Here in Sweden we easily have more than a foot of snow in a night, but we have snow ploughs that work all night long, and gritters who catch up in the early hours. If the UK leased ploughs and gritters it still wouldn't be done in time for all the extra roads they have, plus the roads are either in bad shape or old cobbledy things etc that are useless to a plough without causing more damage and expense. The costs would mount when people drove and ran as though the roads and pavements were safe when only a layer of slow was removed, and then where would the blame and ultimately the claims fall?

Britain just doesn't have enough snowfall to warrant a full scale operation over the winter.

Can anyone say how this affects their income? Is a snow day a compensated day at work? Surely they wouldn't whip it off your annual leave or make you work overtime?

Can anyone say how this affects their income? Is a snow day a compensated day at work? Surely they wouldn't whip it off your annual leave or make you work overtime?
I work for the NHS snow days come out if annual leave or as unpaid.

School closed for DC after one of the school buses (empty, on its way to first pick up) locked up and slid all the way down a hill. From 7am that morning the road was blocked by the bus and reopened at 11am.

Perfectly reasonable I think OP.

I think the problem is many people are averse to just wrapping up and walking anywhere. There are comments above from people complaining about walking for an hour. That's the distance I walk to work every day, both ways.

If you wear warm clothes walking in the snow is not going to kill you. You'll doubtless get there far more quickly and safely than in the car.

That's the distance I walk to work every day, both ways
With small children or class room materials in tow or just by yourself? Ones a bit different from the other isnt it?

If I don't work I don't get paid. Snow days aren't good for me. Fortunately I can get to work on foot whatever the weather and can bring my dd with me and hide her quietly in a corner!

Many pupils may be local and can walk to school agreed. Teachers often commute to school and can't always.
The condition of the school site is an issue -cutbacks nearly everywhere (staffing) means that the site isn't gritted/safe for 1000s of excited high school pupils.
Food deliveries are often delayed = no food available.
School buses can be cancelled.
Depends where you live, where staff live, how big the school is, rural or town.
What is possible for some isn't always possible for all.

There are comments above from people complaining about walking for an hour. That's the distance I walk to work every day, both ways.
With children in tow?

There are comments above from people complaining about walking for an hour. That's the distance I walk to work every day, both ways

With whom or what though?

DS is coming 4, it's a 15 / 20 minute walk if he's in the pushchair. If he isn't it's more like a 30/40 minute walk. If the floor was dodgy I've either got to get a heavy pushchair through ice and snow or he's got to walk it and I'd carry his o2 on my back. He can't work continuously for more than say 20 minutes without a pick up. I suspect in cold and snow they'd be more like 10/15 minutes. So now I'm carrying my nearly 4 Yr old in my arms plus his o2 cylinder and school bags. Given the commute times I'd actually need 2 cylinders. Given the ice I'd have to stand still until he got his breath (actually fairly quick) but it would still mean 4 stops now making our journey over an hour with a small child on o2 with chronic lung disease. No.

Pushchair is better, I can wrap him up, but the panels on it to carry the o2 are quite low and I'm not sure how it would fare in actual snow.

The bus is an option if it turns up on time but the cut through is an alley or an extra stop and then down a not well travelled hill.

It isn't as simole as going off for a walk on your own. Not everyone's cir instances are the same.

I found my diary from 1979.

We missed 6 weeks of school in Jan and Feb.!

Snow days, caretaker strikes, broken heating😂we had a ball!!!

Still managed to get a degree

I was also going to quote 1979! It was my O' Level year and we were forever being sent home if we even got to school in the first place (Kent).

HelenaDove I was told to make up my hours in 2008 and put under pressure by my employer to take on the 'red alert' and 15 mile commute to work. That was under a labour government. I don't think you can really bring this one back to the 'evil tories'.

I didn't mind the snow day as we are surrounded by hills here and had 4-5 inches of snow. Unless you have a vehicle built for dealing with that it's just madness to even attempt it. Both DS's schools are within walking distance but that doesn't mean the teachers are and I wouldn't expect them to drive in conditions that I wouldn't attempt.

On Thursday my DN broke his foot slipping on some black ice on one of the school paths so it's not just the driving part, often large secondary schools are hard to make safe for people walking arount them.

DD's primary school closed in the snow last year (for two days) because although the roads were gritted and relatively clear, the pavements were treacherous and lots of the pupils live locally and walk. Plus the outside areas around school were also very icy. Teachers who mostly drive got in fine, but it was much more difficult for families.

We'd had ice, then snow, which melted making more ice when the weather changed again.

I've seen extremes of snow in just one small city. We lived quite high up above the town centre and had a foot of snow. I didn't go in the first day as DD's nursery was also closed. By day two, childcare sorted, I walked the 3 miles into work wearing snow boots. My boss didn't understand it at all, she had maybe 2cm where she lived nearer the sea. I sent her a photo when I got home of my car looking like a giant marshmallow on the driveway (it was totally covered). I walked to/from work for the rest of the week as very few buses were running and they were packed. Boss drove easily between work and home as her roads weren't affected.