|
|
Post by farmersboy on Feb 3, 2009 8:28:11 GMT
Why do they close all the schools these days when we have a bit of snow,i cant ever remember it happening in my days,and we often had feet of snow,not just a few inches,is it any excuse for a day off,by the teachers  |
|
|
|
Post by blodau on Feb 3, 2009 8:49:15 GMT
I suspect in your days FB most children (and teachers) walked to school! ;D
At the moment, the road up to the school opposite my house is impassable for cars. Even my next door neighbour, who has one of those big 4x4 things didn't go anywhere yesterday.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jasmine on Feb 3, 2009 8:58:53 GMT
Schools didn't close when I was a little girl but these days some staff come from many miles away and if they can't get in then all the classes won't be covered. There used to be a 'rule' that you went to your closest school and offered your teaching services there if you couldn't get to your own school but in a world of CRB checks this can't be done any more either.
Teachers don't make the decison to close a school anyway - the Head does, after talking to other local Heads (and the caretaker who has to decide if he/she can make the playground, paths and steps safe). Most schools round here rely on other bigger schools to cook their schol dinners and if that school closes then there will be no meals taxi'ed out to other schools.
We also live in a world of claims for accidents so it is a difficult call.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jasmine on Feb 3, 2009 10:20:58 GMT
is it any excuse for a day off,by the teachers FB! Come back and explain this some more!!  ;D |
|
|
|
Post by MamIDdau on Feb 3, 2009 13:54:44 GMT
It's all down to H&S nowadays, they didn't have that in your day FB |
|
|
|
Post by farmersboy on Feb 3, 2009 16:39:20 GMT
is it any excuse for a day off,by the teachers FB! Come back and explain this some more!! ;D Its not personal Jas  it just sounds like an excuse to make a few snowmen,or do a bit of tobogganing ;D From what ive seen of a lot of kids,it would do them a power of good to walk to school and loose some weight. We had teachers who came in cars,some by train,they mostly got through some how,even if arriving late. Our dinners came in a van,from about 10mls away,dont ever remember going without,although i do remember them being late once or twice. |
|
|
|
Post by Missredhead on Feb 3, 2009 17:05:28 GMT
I don't mind schools closing due to the weather... ;D ;D ;D but as Jas says it depend on whether or not they can get the staff in to teach, some of ours come from miles away, small villages where if the roads are impassable (gritters only do main roads) they cannot make it to school. Also most schools don't grit playgrounds anymore...H & S say that if you grit them you are accepting responsibility for any accidents that ocur but if you don't grit them they have no responsibility...it is the individuals responsibility!! Nonsense I think but Jas and I have discussed this before. |
|
|
|
Post by Jasmine on Feb 3, 2009 18:08:06 GMT
We have turned into a blame culture (not all of us I know) but if someone hurts themselves now it can't be just an accident it has to be whose fault it was.
If the schools did open none of the children would be allowed out to play so lots of children are getting out in the snow on these school closure days and having some of the fun we would have had years ago on snowy school days.
Anyway, bring on the bonus snowmen and toboganning and having fun with your children! ;D
Interesting that some councils made a blanket decision to shut all their schools rather than letting the school decide.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jasmine on Feb 3, 2009 18:15:09 GMT
FB! Come back and explain this some more!! ;D Its not personal Jas Forgot to say...I did not take it personally at all!  ;D ;D ;D |
|
|
|
Post by JennyWrenn on Feb 3, 2009 18:17:34 GMT
My school never closed when I was at Primary School - I had, with my Mum, a 30 mins walk there each day - it was set in the depths of the country and when snowed the drifts were really tall each side of the road; a perilous journey there and back It would never have thought to close The local High School round here also closed and we havent had much snow  |
|
|
|
Post by farmersboy on Feb 3, 2009 18:26:13 GMT
Its not personal Jas Forgot to say...I did not take it personally at all! ;D ;D ;D Steady Jas,i havent got much hair ;D Did you see Meridian Tonight Jas,they were on about Schools in Kent being closed,but theres no snow there now |
|
|
|
Post by Jasmine on Feb 3, 2009 18:57:12 GMT
Kent seemed to go about it in a strange way. My friend's daughter's school was supposed to be open yesterday but then sent the children who had got in home about 10a.m. They were secondary children but that meant lots of children trying to get home - some with difficult journeys (some of the out of county grammar children travel 20 odd miles to and fro school) and parents who then may have gone to work themselves and other children wondering about with no one knowing where they were exactly. Then the same school decided last night that they would close today without waiting to see what this morning was going to bring.  Most Heads don't make the decision to close lightly. |
|
|
|
Post by prodigal gardener on Feb 3, 2009 19:10:11 GMT
Sorry but it bloody annoys me  yesterday Rebecca was sent home at 2.10, an hour before school normally closes. She had to walk home in a blizzard!! Today its been a beautiful sunny day and she went to school this morning to be met at the gate by a teacher from HULL who said that school was closed because staff couldn't get in. WHY NOT  ? I travelled 11 miles in the thick of it yesterday morning - it took me an hour and a half but I got to work. This morning all the snow had obviously began to thaw overnight then froze, the roads were icy and treacherous, but I managed to get to work only 10 minutes late. So why could the teachers not get in? All the main roads had been gritted, the ice was mostly on the side roads and the lanes. They dont want to work - they have enough time off as it is. If one member of staff could manage to get to work from as far away as Hull then the rest of them should be ashamed of themselves and have their wages stopped. Im sorry if my view upsets any teachers among us, but it really is annoying. Im lucky, my daughter is of an age where she can be left unsupervised (although I hate to have to do it) but my other daughter has had to pay extra for nursery today so that she could go to work. An expense she can ill afford - she does not earn anywhere near a teachers salary  |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2009 19:55:10 GMT
The schools can't win though. They're damned if they do and damned if they don't. If they listen to the weather forecast and close and then it's unnecessary, they get slated. If they don't close and the weather is bad, they get slated as well.
The problem is not that they don't want to open etc, it's the potential for legal action if they say they're open and then someone injurs themselves on their way in or on the premises. The schools cannot take the chance on being sued for millions so they would rather take the option of closing just to be on the safe side.
Sad, but it's a fact of modern life.
FA x
|
|
|
|
Post by MamIDdau on Feb 3, 2009 20:19:22 GMT
My point exactly FA. They worry that they're going to be sued or worse if one of the children hurts themselves.
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2009 20:43:14 GMT
The school i work at has been open, the caretaker came in early and cleared the main paths.
All the children had to stay in during the day as the playground was 2 dangerous for them to go out and play.
We were lucky all our teachers were in but in some schools the are not and as people have said it is difficult to teach lots of children.
When i was a midday supervisor on a wet playtime it was hard to loook after 60 children at one time, but sometimes we had to.
It must have been awfull for the children that were sent home and were wandering about trying to get home.
If our school ever needs to close we try and contact parents the ones that cant be contacted stay in school with a teacher till they can be picked up.
|
|
|
|
Post by nightowl on Feb 5, 2009 9:23:02 GMT
Why do they close all the schools these days when we have a bit of snow,i cant ever remember it happening in my days,and we often had feet of snow,not just a few inches,is it any excuse for a day off,by the teachers I can't remember the schools ever closing cos of snow either FB. Not even in 1963, when I lost a mitten on the way to school in January and didn't find it till 3 months later when the snow melted ;D I saw on TV this morning that 11 schools in Surrey are still closed!! No excuse for that as we've had no more snow (I am on Surrey border) and what we have left is nearly melted. Raining here now. |
|
|
|
Post by Missredhead on Feb 5, 2009 9:37:30 GMT
I phoned the caretaker at 5.20am this morning and he said that the school was open...I walked to school (a 20 min walk took 55mins) I resembled a snowman when I arrived........I was told that if any parents rang and asked to tell them that the school was open.....at 7.40 only 2 teachers had made it in....so the decision was taken then to close it.
Nearly all the schools around here are closed today.
|
|
|
|
Post by Missredhead on Feb 6, 2009 10:34:10 GMT
School closed today...decision made at 8.30am!!!!! Parents were not amused. |
|
|
|
Post by Jasmine on Feb 6, 2009 13:09:23 GMT
That's not very prompt is it MRH? |
|
|
|
Post by Plocket on Feb 6, 2009 15:36:14 GMT
LP's school hasn't been closed at all, but the high school up the road has been closed for a few days. Isn't it something to do with safe access to the school?
|
|
|
|
Post by Jasmine on Feb 6, 2009 17:23:20 GMT
It's a whole range of factors. High Schools, even more than primary schools, are effected by other services and as so many of their children are bused in from the surrounding areas if whatever bus company does the school runs won't send its buses out than a huge amount of children can't get in anyway.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jasmine on Feb 6, 2009 17:33:16 GMT
Back again!...
I know school closures can be a complete pain for some people but it really threw families together for a few days. At one of my schools one of the families made an igloo. They used shoe boxes to shape the bricks and made a proper igloo - it was amazing!
|
|
|
|
Post by Missredhead on Feb 6, 2009 17:40:52 GMT
That's not very prompt is it MRH? I think that because of all the parents complaining about school being closed they tried their hardest to keep it open today...most of the teachers made it in and then we had blizzard like snow....3 inches in about 20 mins...after a discussion with teachers it was decided to close to allow the staff to get home safely... the roads that were clear when I went in at 5.30 were thick with snow at 8.30, took me 30 mins to drive home and it normally takes 5mins. It hasn't stopped snowing nearly all day. i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd161/GWDAdmin1/Smilies/Default/grin.gif |
|
;D
it just sounds like an excuse to make a few snowmen,or do a bit of tobogganing ;D
yesterday Rebecca was sent home at 2.10, an hour before school normally closes. She had to walk home in a blizzard!! Today its been a beautiful sunny day and she went to school this morning to be met at the gate by a teacher from HULL who said that school was closed because staff couldn't get in. WHY NOT 
? I travelled 11 miles in the thick of it yesterday morning - it took me an hour and a half but I got to work. This morning all the snow had obviously began to thaw overnight then froze, the roads were icy and treacherous, but I managed to get to work only 10 minutes late. So why could the teachers not get in? All the main roads had been gritted, the ice was mostly on the side roads and the lanes. They dont want to work - they have enough time off as it is. If one member of staff could manage to get to work from as far away as Hull then the rest of them should be ashamed of themselves and have their wages stopped. Im sorry if my view upsets any teachers among us, but it really is annoying. Im lucky, my daughter is of an age where she can be left unsupervised (although I hate to have to do it) but my other daughter has had to pay extra for nursery today so that she could go to work. An expense she can ill afford - she does not earn anywhere near a teachers salary 
