The end of snow days at school

[avenueq]

Now that digital learning has been established snow days are never going to be a thing again are they? The bliss of waking up and realising that school will be closed... playing in the snow then home for a hot chocolate...
Shame!!

When I was a kid we had to go to school, snow or not. It was brilliant! Snowball fights on the way, putting soggy boots next to the radiator, in Primary we were allowed snowball fights that the teacher set up..happy days

This was in England 80’s & 90’s

When we lived in the middle east, rain used to shut the school - and we would switch to online learning (they called it virtual school) for a couple of days. It's nothing that isnt already done elsewhere in the world.

Snow days had not been heard of when I was at school. I remember struggling home 2 miles in a blizzard when the bus I was on going to school got stuck at the bottom of a hill. I never thought not to at least try to get there, and the school never closed.

There might be digital teaching, but digital learning is not a thing for so many children.

Snow days are complex as its weighing up the condition of the school site, where the staff come from and the children transporting in and out at the end of the day.
Around here, you can predict which teachers will struggle most from where they live.

Sometimes it might be that teachers getting in on one side of the hill can make it, but the teachers on the other side can't.

That's why the calls are often last minute.

You might now have more flexibility if you're a bit short-staffed and have a body to put in a classroom and the regular teacher videos in. It's more useful if the disruption continues for multiple days which is uncommon in most areas.

Snow days weren’t a thing when I was in school - but then commuting wasn’t really either, it was much more common for teachers to be able to walk to work if they needed to.

We've had snow this month. Both times our primary announced a snow day and gave the kids new work: 'share a photo of you playing in the snow'. For one of them the secondary school had to send home the teachers because the snow was so bad (teachers are still in school teaching the key worker kids and video linked to the kids at home) so a couple of lessons were missed while they travelled home.

Those saying snow days weren't a thing when you were at school...how long ago are we talking?
Dh and I were reminiscing about the snow days at our schools growing up, and we're 50 and 51.

I think that when there is the occasional day of snow meaning school closure in the future, it seems unlikely that the whole remote learning set up will kick in for 1 or 2 days, surely.

I don't think we've had a single snow day in the 10 years I've been working in education ( London boroughs). So nothing to miss here!

Again though from the teachers viewpoint, not all have the tech at home usually. They've borrowed or been loaned it from school for now but a one off, unexpected event for a day or two might catch some out. Snow days are a hassle for parents due to childcare, not lost learning time and online lessons wouldn't really address that.

@HazeyJaneII

Those saying snow days weren't a thing when you were at school...how long ago are we talking? Dh and I were reminiscing about the snow days at our schools growing up, and we're 50 and 51.

I think that when there is the occasional day of snow meaning school closure in the future, it seems unlikely that the whole remote learning set up will kick in for 1 or 2 days, surely.

Well I’m 43...

Never had a snow day, ever.

In secondary school, some pupils who lived really rurally wouldn’t make it in - but only a couple of teachers couldn’t so school was open and you were expected in if your bus wasn’t cancelled or if you didn’t live far enough away to have a bus.

@HazeyJaneII I’m 43 too

Didn't take long for the ridiculous 'The Alps, The North Pole, Greenland doesn't grind to a halt' post to appear FFS.

Ha ha. Yes. Suppose do. Until they get back.

Thought this was going to be a thread about climate change.

DD had two snow days other week. She's key worker child so at school still. Snow too bad so had days off. Her learning things were at school so she couldn't have done online learning anyway. I believe the teachers were teaching online from school anyway so if they can't get in they can't even do online for the kids at home.

For the previous poster regarding UK's reaction to snow Vs like Canada. I'd expect Canada to be more equipped to deal with snow as it's the norm, ie. Better cars. My DH's Focus doesn't fair well in snow.

@Parker231

My Canadian in laws laugh at the UK’s reaction to snow. One flake of snow and U.K. schools close. In Canada you get up and go to school and work.

Because the roads are cleared and people have snow tyres as already explained above. The councils here don't spend the money on this because it isn't necessary every year. Can you imagine the complaints about snow ploughs standing idle for three years waiting for it to snow?

Those saying snow days weren't a thing when you were at school...how long ago are we talking?
Dh and I were reminiscing about the snow days at our schools growing up, and we're 50 and 51.
We had snow days in the winter of 1963. Otherwise, both teachers and children tended to walk to more local schools then so it wasn't as difficult to get in.

More recently, I (teacher) used to walk into school when it snowed, it took over an hour and more than likely I would find out it was closed as I arrived. Some teachers didn't make it, it depends entirely on the route they had to travel. I totally understood why a teacher who had to negotiate untreated roads on a suburban estate to take their small children to the childminder before even setting off on the journey to school might not get there.

My DD, also a teacher, once drove her children to their village school to find a note on the gate saying it was closed (helpful!) and had to take them with her on a difficult journey to her own job at a different village school only to find that was also closed.

In Iceland we don’t have snow days but we have had wind days (well not many but one at least). I would be sad if they became “work from home” days!

My primary school had outdoor toilets that would regularly freeze in winter, so we'd get a day off even if it was just a bit parky.

This was in the late 80s and it seems ridiculous that was a thing.

Local schools used to close for snow several times a winter when my DSs were there ( last one left two years ago ) the little lanes out to the villages don't get cleared so no-one could get in.
There were massive snowball fights with all the village kids out on the Green - it was brilliant!

@IwanttobeMrTumble

When I was a kid we had to go to school, snow or not. It was brilliant! Snowball fights on the way, putting soggy boots next to the radiator, in Primary we were allowed snowball fights that the teacher set up..happy days

Same here! Only allowed in the playground at playtime if you had wellies and gloves otherwise it was school as usual.

I intend to email our Head and inform him that, due to adverse weather conditions, home school will not be open tomorrow.

Most secondary schools use Teams or Google Classroom the good old snow day is a thing of the past. My kids used to love snow days . Now schools can flip to online learning it is something else to blame on COVID

@GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal

I intend to email our Head and inform him that, due to adverse weather conditions, home school will not be open tomorrow.

😂