That schools should close tomorrow where it is snowyy...

[SunshineAndSummer]

I feel like we should be prepared for days where it'll be difficult for teachers and some children to get into school due to bad weather, so online learning can take place instead!

It's horrendous here. Cars had to be abandoned or were in non moving lines for hours. Thick thick snow literally up to the top of my wellies and roads not been gritted or any chance of being so due to the jams. Roads out of where i live all closed I've never seen anything like it.
I work in a school and was relieved when it closed. The head tried so hard to stay open. My daughters school is closed too as many staff can't get to it due to the road closures.
Sometimes it can't be helped.

No snow here! Seems to be mainly the south and north but nothing between.

@JRHartley72 What happened when you were at school? We used the find that on average the same percentage of staff and kids cold get in, so the ratios were fine, but obviously normal lessons couldn't happen, so we did fun stuff. It really isn't a big deal. If you can get your child into school then that's great - take them in. If you can't, well you can't. The school can't change that whether the school is open or not. You will just have to work something out that suits your family. Having to factor in online schooling would just make your life more complicated.

@Ledkr where are you?

Snow days will be a thing of the past. DS’s school have said if they can’t get in to be ready for remote lessons at start of school day

Good. One thing Covid did was make schools and pupils able to work remotely. No need for a day off at all

It’s safer for a lot of kids to be at school. It offers sanctuary, a hot meal, a consistent day. You’re coming from a privileged position if you can say just close schools. And no, not all children have access to on-line learning. School is the best place to be. They should stay open.

Absolutely

In over ten years of teaching I have only ever had one snow day. Heads are loathe to do it and will typically only close if other schools in area do or if enough a sufficient number of staff can't make it to school for adult/child ratios.

I'm of the opinion that snow days are so rare that kids should just be allowed to enjoy it instead of the hassle of last minute online learning. You'd spend ages sending out emails and messages with details for half the class to turn up if lucky. At which point there is no point teaching anything as half the class aren't there, and those that are will be so distracted, upset they are being forced to spend a snow day learning they won't pay much attention. You would literally be babysitting some kids via a computer screen.

Let them go out and enjoy the snow or cuddle up on the sofa and watch Christmas movies.

Also in Cornwall. We've had snow over the weekend and now black ice. The lanes are so dangerous and it's lethal just stepping out of our front doors. There are no gritters or salt bins near by.

aHaving grown up in a country with lots of snow I find it so strange that society should 'close down' due to a few snowflakes..Confused

do you not for a second comprehend that we are not a country with lots of snow hence the fact we’re not that prepared: why would we spend money preparing for something that happens for a couple of days every few years

Ah okay. I was left all day at that age with my mum checking up on me over the phone!

No offense to those that work for the NHS but in all honesty, if you are in a collision, which is more likely in snowy, icy conditions, do I trust the ambulance would even get to the accident. Even without these conditions we are pretty f'd at the moment, I have a relative who is 70 with a serious heart problem, no chance of an ambulance, got a cab, 11 hour wait in A&E on a chair, he didn't want to lose his seat so had nothing to eat or drink for hours, he then got a trolley bed for 2 hours in the corridor and then finally a bed. He got treated almost 15 hours after arriving. Children's A and E is a similar problem with Strep A. There are no trains from the Midlands to London on the line my parents' had bought tickets for so they are no longer visiting at Christmas. My Dad used to commute from Warwick to London for his job every day in the 70s, even with strikes the trains still ran. My parents' said that everyone harps on about how bad it was but it wasn't as bad as this so sorry but unless the transport system and emergency services and council services revert back to being reliable and competent nobody should make pointless comparisons to the past where things actually worked!

I absolutely agree. I can't believe there are actual teachers on here who are so ignorant as to the important role that schools play in providing a safe space, warmth, comfort, food, medical/sanitary care, human interaction etc and than many children can't access online learning. For some children, closing the school is like how most children would feel about not letting them go home. Closing the school needs to take these children into account and balance that against the risks of opening.

If your Mum was happy to do that @thelobsterquadrille that's was her choice I assume, I don't consider my DD capable of being left alone all day at the age of 11 with no adult in the house.

Not really a choice, more a necessity as both my parents worked at the local hospital and couldn't really stay home because of snow 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’m another rural Cornish resident. My school (I’m a TA) is closed. My village has three roads leading into it. Two are blocked as cars have skidded and the recovery vehicles aren’t able to get enough traction on the ice to move them (it’s a very hilly area). My road is an ice rink - a sloping one. We don’t have gritters.

The school is the next village over. It’s down into the valley and up the other side. The ice hasn’t melted on the roads there either today. There are only two students who live walking distance away - everyone else drives. Not a single teacher lives within walking distance. (I have walked to school
before - it took two hours, on a nice day. I fell over today outside my house on the ice - it would take longer than two hours to get there tomorrow and I’m the closest staff member.) It’s just not safe. And if people do try there is a possibility of more accidents blocking more roads. As we are already down to just one lane to access our village, we don’t want another accident blocking that road too. So no school.

And my necessity is not getting paid if I stay home. We all cut our cloth as we live but telling people to leave their kids home alone because schools would rather not be open is pretty poor. So much for progress.

It wasn't a view though....it was a question

@memoriesofamiga I didn't tell you to do anything, I was just giving my experience.

I don't know any secondary aged child who isn't left home alone on snow days, INSET days or sick days (unless vomiting). It's just the norm where I live, just as it was when I was growing up.

Obviously if you're not happy then don't do it, it was just a suggestion as that's what I've always known people to do.

Our vehicles mostly aren't designed to deal with the snow (besides the big 4x4s etc) our roads are smaller and we're a very hilly country on top of all that. It's just not the same thing at all

I imagine that in those days things were a lot more local. Teaching staff would live closer to the school plus there were more smaller local schools in each village that have now been closed .

They’re all shutting tmrw in my town (south east).

No online learning tomorrow, despite a swanky system existing that enables teachers to teach live classes from home 🙄

Guess its back to Oak Academy/ BBC bitesize

I always think it would makemore sense to have the kids 6 weeks holiday now over winter when people get the coughs and colds and the weather is shit.... I wish our school would close cos I hate icey school runs...massssssssive anxiety with slipping 🤐

They've already striked twice in Scotland in the past month....with another planned the day after term starts. The people suffering are the poor kids who come to school for a safe, warm place and food