to think school have dealt with the snow really crappily??

[Disenchanted3]

Tuesday Morning we wake up to 6 inches of snow, phone school, cannot get through.

DH takes DS to school, dozens of kids being dragged through the snow, only to be told be returning parents half way there that school was closed.

So yesterday we are phoning chool to try and get info about today, cannot get through.

No word from them.

This morning am ringing and ringing, not wanting to take DS back out in the snow walking again. Cannot get through.

Finally at 8:30 it rings and rings and rings. No one answers.

I manage to get through again thinking they must have jjust missed my call, no answer again.

Now my sisters best friends mum is a teacher, so I call my sister who calls her friend.

School is closed.

The teachers KNEW this yesterday but made no effort to inform parents.

They have our numbers, they have mobile numbers (just a quick txt to a few numbers saying please inform any other parents etc was needed) they have a website no info on that at all

So basically they jut left the school today, with noone there to answer the phone to tell parents it was closed, and left parents to bring their kids there just to see if it was open.

AIBU to think this is pretty shitty?

Don't they publish closures on LA website and local radio ?

Yes - it's pretty shitty. We have GroupCall, so messages about anything and everything are sent to parents' mobiles and emails. Can you suggest to the school that they start using this or a similar facility?

No YANBU - there needs to be a protacol set up for this sort of thing at every school and I'm surprised your school hasn't got one.

One member of staff needs to be the person to make the decision at about 7am in the morning whether or not the school will be open. This decision needs to then be made easily available to everyone for example by posting it on the website, phoning the local radio station etc.

It's not difficult.

That is dreadful. The LA website should have the closures on it, and sometimes the BBC do as well.

LA website? never heard of it, i just know there was nothing on the schools site.

never listen to radio so wouldn't have a clue where to listen anyways.

Do you not listen to your local BBC radio station, this is where all the school make their closure announcements. Also the local BBC radio station website should have an up to date list of your local closures. There is a set procedure with a password so kids can't call up and announce their school is closed.
YAB slightly U to expect the schools to answer telephones if no-one can make it in, or even if just a handfull of teachers/admin staff are there. they must get loads of calls that they can't answer.

we awere watching thelocal news it said 90 schools were closed but did not list them.

DS play group is open in same area so was torn whether to walk him.

Local Authority website.

Local Authority.

Ours were listed on the home page last year.

Definitely worth a letter to the school though.

I would definately walk your ds to playgroup. It will break up the day a bit for you all and he will love stomping around in the snow.

LA = Local Authority - where they have info on school admission policy, Early Years etc. BBC have local info on their too. We get texts on our mobiles to call a number to pick up a voice message, not an infallible system though

We have a remote answerphone message from 7 30am by the head, info online (LA website and school's own)

that is a truly shit response from them - why not suggest a phone tree for next time. Each class collates the contact numbers for the parents, each parent calls the one following them on the list - won't cost the individual much and the school only have to contact the first on the list in each class

no sorry famished, i meant i didnt know whether to walk DS to school as I thought if DS2s playgroup is open theres a fair chance school is oo. DS2 is already at playgroup

Yes, even my 15 yr old sister said 'why didn't they leave an answerphone message saying it was closed?'

YABU if you expected the school to be able to answer calls.

School closures are announced on local BBC radio and on the bbc radio website. If the school did not inform the local radio station then YANBU to be cross.

which is your local authority?

Can you change answerphone messages remotely? Because whoever decides the school is closed could just change the answerphone message to say "St Whack'em's School is closed today, January 6th, due to snow."

Our school put nothing on website or local news/radio but as we got there were actively trying to persuade parents to take them home again. "We are open but we are 8 teachers down so if you want you can take them home to play in the snow."

Why not just close and be done with it?

Btw we have less than 2" of snow here.

just looked on there and it says, but how am i supposed to know that?

i would never have thought to go to the council website, and what about those with no internet access?

this is the first time its snowed like this and my sons first year of school so its hardly common knowledge to me,

I still think a message of some kind or a txt should have been sent.

yanbu. Schools should have a policy and procedure on closure due to unforseen circumstances like snow etc. Our school sent a letter home before christmas reminding everyone of which radio station to listen to. Ok it means you have to listen to really awful cheesy local radio but works. The kids sit round the radio crossing their fingers nervously as they read the list of schools out.

DTs' school does have a policy, as do most - it is to inform local radio who will publish list on website as will LA. I thought this was standard procedure

How on earth do you expect a school to contact all the parents when they may have few or little staff in.

Listen to the radio, thats what everyone else does and thats what we did before the internet.

Information on how school closures are publicised should be given to all new parents at a school. We had similar problems last year, when we moved to Scotland, because, search as I might, I couldn't find where the school closures page on our council's website was - so even the fact that I did know to check the council site, was of no use at all.

I even emailed the council to ask where the page was, expecting a link or at least to be told what section to look in, but got an utterly unhelpful and uninformative answer.

School should have sent the info about where to look/listen home on a newsletter. However if you're like me, I often either don't receive them from DC's or can't be botherd to read them all if I do.
You'll know for next time.
FWIW when you have teenagers in the house you don't need to worry, they all tune into local radio at the merest hint of snow in the hope that can have a day off.