Surely polling day school closures are outdated now?

[SchoolRunRealist]

I know this comes up every election cycle, but surely routine school closures for polling days feel outdated now?

Many schools already remain open safely during elections using separate entrances or isolated polling areas, while others still close completely.

It just feels odd that schools are under so much pressure around attendance and minimising disruption, yet predictable elections still routinely interrupt learning and create childcare issues for working parents.

This morning I finally ended up starting a Parliament petition asking councils to minimise school closures during elections by prioritising alternative venues where possible.

Not anti-voting whatsoever — just feels like there should be better planning by now.

Curious whether others agree or whether I’m missing something obvious?

I live in a large town and lots of primary schools are used for voting. Some may remain open due to layout and availability of a building away from classrooms. Lots are closed but usually longstanding arrangements so notice is given.
There can be issues with parking and access though for the elderly and disabled people if school remains open. Most schools are closed to vehicles during the school day for safety reasons.

In Scotland they are set by councils.
And are on the council websites for all to see

In Scotland they are set by councils. As indicated in my post I don't know about England.
And are on the council websites for all to see

How longs.it taken?
Decades this is the first year they starred the date as move able. Last year it was Thursday inset and a different Thursday for by-election

Our schools aren’t even used as polling stations where I stay in Scotland and they are shut! It’s our local community centres so it’s ridiculous that it’s an in service day.

I agree. My children’s primary school
used to close when it was used as a polling station, which always used to annoy me, but it’s many years since they did that as they now use a nearby community centre.

It makes marginally more sense to have all schools shut from a parents POV having kids in different schools with different inset days is an even bigger PITA especially if your working.

Also makes it better if they are doing any teacher training courses.

I stand corrected. Didn't realise this was different in Scotland.

It makes no sense at all to have the schools closed simply because it’s election day if the schools aren’t being used as a polling station.

As a working parent with kids at two different schools it is a pain in the ass for me.

The schools in this area haven’t been used for polling stations since the 90’s yet everytime there is an election we consistently have an in service day and some of the teachers are even working at the polling stations so don’t try and say it’s for training courses. They are being paid extra for doing

Thanks 😊

How is it a pain if both schools are off?
Teachers have the same number of inset days in the year so you need to cover 5 days regardless of when they are

I imagine that the church and church hall will have been asked and refused. Using a school is a last resort but if no other premises can be found then that's all there is. We use our village hall (which is owned by the parish council) and it works very well. However in the next village along the village hall is owned by a charity and they don't allow it to be used and so the school is used instead.

Because my youngest attends an aftercare which is attached to the school building which is now closed because they have closed the school. They would normally have it open for a daycare during holidays etc but for this in service day/election they have closed it. It’s caused chaos for lots of parents/carers who pay for a service which is unavailable today.

Surely schools don’t need to shut. My polling station is a portacabin in a pub car park.

Idealy you wouldn't use schools but if thats the only or best option then at least lining it up with an insert day makes sense.

Point taken about out of school care.
But I guess it doesn't matter what facilities are used someone is going to be inconvenienced.
Lots of church halls have other things going on mid week too, toddler groups, older people's groups.

How often is it though? Is it really enough that a day off will impact anything?

Its more the disrupted week that gets me. As I said 4 days off in a month, spread over 3 weeks is crazy

They haven’t used schools here for about 10 years, much to my DC’s disappointment! Too many safeguarding issues even without children in school (photos on walls, names on work etc) as well as prioritising keeping children in school. We now vote in the church as we have no village hall.

You'd think everywhere would have a church hall they could use. Churches aren't exactly rare.

the primary school my kids attended used to be closed for polling.
About 10 years ago after some pressure formt he governors, they changed to using a local church hall.

Apparently in the past they used schools for a couple of reasons

1. not a religious building, so no barriers to people feeling comfortable coming in
2. everyone knows where it is and it is familiar

But our school is in a densely populated area and there are 3 church halls less than 2 minutes walk from the school building, which sit empty during most days. Eventually common sense prevailed and the polling moved to the Methodist Church which also has a car park.

I did wonder if being a neutral venue was part of it.
Its easy to say use a church hall on MN but how comfortable would people be if it was a Mosque ?,

We now vote in our children's former primary school, which is closed for the occasion. I do find it odd as it's a newish thing. When my children were at the school we voted in portacabins in a local car park. There are literally 5 church halls nearby

Yes maybe. It's a 3 minute walk to the next nearest polling station though, all seems a bit daft.
I'm a poll clerk sometimes (not today) and I've never seen one busy.
I expect it's a case of using the venues they've always used and no joined up thinking.
Major town by the way so not short of venues and transport like a village might be.

we used to have a day off school for voting when we were kids, I've no idea why as you could access the school hall from the outside and the rest of the building could have been used normally! I guess there's rules around such things.
I don't think they use schools were I am now, it seems to be community centre type places, church halls, my polling station is at a hotel!

Oh i have remembered another reason why it is usually school halls - they belong to the council. That means they don't have to ask or rent the hall, they can just use them.

Yes makes sense they are council owned although that might be different in England with lots of schools being Academy chains not sure how they work - nor can I get my head round schools being in private hands.