Right I woke up this morning to the first frost and now I'm wondering ........

[OFSTEDoutstanding]

What do us cm's do on snow days when the schools are closed, do we open and have our after schoolies all day or close for safety reasons ie not safe to travel to school according to the county then not safe to travel to cm? Would love to hear what you all do as first year as a cm and not sure as when I was a nanny I went in regardless, To be fair the parents I nannied for would've expected me in even if there was 6ft snow!!!!

We dont really get it that bad here(fingers crossed!), but id expect parent to ring me/text to saay school was closed and most of mine would prob stay off themselves(most at uni), but if possible i WOULD have them all day but then all together i wouldnt be over my ratios

Not been faced with this yet!! It does make sense that if they cannot travel to school then they cannot travel to me, and if the school was closed then I would probably find most the parents will stay off too. But if they called to ask me to have them all day, I wouldn't say no. I don't think I would close, but I would tell them that it would be impossible to drive to my house because we live on a hill. It was a nightmare last year!

Thanks for your answers, I wouldn't be over my ratios if I opened and had them all however I don't think I would enjoy being stuck at home all day with them in snow! Do you write letters to parents at start of winter to say what will happen in event of bad weather or is this yet another policy that OFSTED will expect us to have written up to give out all year round

i think if you DONT want them to come to you in this event, you SHOULD write a newsletter to parents NOW outlining your plans as they need to know they may have to find alternate care if this happens, TBH i think they would Expect you to have them, but thats parents for you

It wouldnt cross my mind to close. I pick up one of my mindees from home and drop him off. When it snowed in March i still drove to get him (slightly scared though!). we made an activity out of the snow - great fun!

I think it'd be great fun to have them off school on snowy days! Last year we still managed to walk to school and my ds was really sad that he had to go inside and leave all the snow!!

Honestly? I think you're making unnecessary paperwork & problems for yourself! If it snows, it snows. If you're not going to go over your numbers, then it doesn't matter does it? You might get parents not being able to go to work, therefore you'll be paid because you're available, you might get parents needing to got to work, therefore you'll get paid extra! I say, don't stress about it, fly by the seat of your pants and enjoy the extra money you might get!

I had to close last week when we had the flood threat

If the broads had flooded where I live could have become an island

So I was advised to close because the children could have been stranded

But I only closed because I was told to - I wouldn't have done otherwise

Ofsted Outstanding? I do hope you are joking about not wanting to be stuck in all day with the kids if it snowed!
Maybe its just me but why childmind if being in a house all day with the kids is an awful thought?
When it snowed last time, ALL my minded kids came, even the ones that do not usually come in the holidays. we had a fantastic, we only have a small garden, but we made a snow man, kids suited and booted, then took photos and sent them to BBC news snow website, rang all the parents, who rang distant relatives etc, to see what their kids were doing while they were all stuck at home or work.
Even on pooring down days, we have a great time, I love school holidays and when we not off on proper trips often stayin all day so kids have proper time to play without having to rush off somewhere.
And no I did not get an outstanding, but I do love my job of 5 years.

OMG Kiddi just read the message I left last, I didn't mean stuck in at all, all I meant was that my group of mindees have a huge age gap 11years between oldest and youngest so even in the holidays we try to go out somewhere every day even if it is just a walk round the block to give them some space from each other. You are right when I nannied we had great fun playing in the snow and jumping in puddles, my question was really about the travelling parents would have to do to drop them to me, none of my mindees are from my village the shortest distance a mindee travels to get to me is 6 miles. Think I will send out a message in my next newsletter to say that I will open reagrdless and if they don't want to bring the children that is up to them.