School's out

[JamesAC]

At the first sign of a snow flake, all the schools in the country shut down.
Not the hospitals, the fire stations, the shops, the pubs.
Just the schools.

Why?

Do the teachers get paid for not going in to work?

 

[Noodley]

Child safety?

 

[lukesdad]

Child safety?

Exactly.

 

[iAmiAdam]

My college has closed, I could probably of walked the two miles in tbh, not that I'm complaining

 

[Archie_tect]

Some teachers I know don't want to be in school any more than the children do, so any excuse for them not to have to teach is fantastic. But they aren't all like that. Interesteing point about payment. If the school remains open but the teachers don't turn up then I suppose they wouldn't be paid as they can't take annual leave in term-time! So if the head closes the school it's not the teachers' fault if the children aren't there to teach.
Our Health Centre closed it's surgeries... none of the nurses or doctors turned up yet the receptionists and clerical staff made it in... to tell people turning up that there were no services. They even asked people who had trudged into to the centre why they hadn't rung up first to check it was open!!

 

[Archie_tect]

Child safety?

Not child safety... H+S policy. We turned up at school every day, so did the teachers, and no-one died or was injured... but then we didn't have H+S hanging over our heads to blame if things went wrong [which they did but we coped].

This insidious blame culture has a lot to answer for.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

it's to do with teacher numbers. our school (i'm a parent governor) can lose so many teachers and it becomes a child-care exercise (playing games in the hall etc); too many more and the school has to shut due to the child/adult ratio being too high.

some of our teachers live in buxton and the cat and fiddle road can be hazardous to navigate to say the least in snow, so it's not a case of lazy teachers swinging the lead, or h & s gone mad.

as i've not had a text from school, it looks like it's business as usual.

 

[Archie_tect]

it's to do with teacher numbers. our school (i'm a parent governor) can lose so many teachers and it becomes a child-care exercise (playing games in the hall etc); too many more and the school has to shut due to the child/adult ratio being too high.

some of our teachers live in buxton and the cat and fiddle road can be hazardous to navigate to say the least in snow, so it's not a case of lazy teachers swinging the lead, or h & s gone mad.

as i've not had a text from school, it looks like it's business as usual.

Sorry Alecstilleyedye, re-reading my posts- they do sound like grumpy old men comments! I suppose that now our children are past school age it's easy to forget how difficult at times it used to be. I can see that it would be a logistical nightmare to decide to close a school during the day so it's better to crystal-ball gaze the day before and take a view so that at least parents can make arrangements.

 

[guitarpete247]

When I did my PGCE (Jan. Feb. 1979) in Barry, the school I did my secondary practice in was closed for the first 2 weeks as the schools buses could not get in. I did on the first day but then started checking the local radio. So I had to continue and do extra time to other's on my course.

A couple of years ago I was working in Doncaster but spending the weekends at GF's in Leicestershire. One Sunday I couldn't get up the A42 so went back to her house. Monday phoned school and got the third degree about not trying hard enough to get in. That day the village bus was cancelled and the local school closed as staff couldn't get in. I phoned my school again and was told that staff from Sheffield had been sent home because of the weather over there, pupils had been sent home and they would be shut on Tuesday. So much for the aggro I got from the jobs worth in the office. I had to fill in a form explaining my absences but still got paid.

Now I'm in Leicestershire full time and working on supply hoping schools don't shut or I can't work but waiting for staff to phone in unable to get to work. I have 4x4 so don't have too many probs getting in .

 

[summerdays]

Its also to do with whether they can get there safely or not... my kids take a bus and they waited 40 mins for it this morning... for it to eventually arrive standing around getting very cold. The bus is one of the first things that gets cancelled. They also told me that there are large icicles on one part of the building and that part of the building was closed off yesterday. If there are lots of exterior paths between bits of buildings and they are icy then that becomes a risk.

 

[User169]

Good on 'em. Doubtless they've all got better things to be doing (the children at least).

 

[mark barker]

Child safety?

Seems to be a general opinion, although surely they're far safer at school being supervised rather than at home alone or out playing with friends on the "dangerous" roads.

My experience of schools being closed due to the weather was down to teachers living quite a way from their schools. Certainly a problem in secondary schools, teachers don't want to be bumped into by pupils or parents at weekends, so they look to work in neighbouring towns.

 

[snorri]

From what I understand, schools are not opening because many of the staff who live far from their work are failing to turn out for duty. Education authorities seem to have a much more lax attitude to staff attending work timeously than other industries. Although most school pupils live within walking distance of their schools and can get in regardless of weather, the same cannot be said of the staff. With so many people having gone through teacher training and claiming they cannot get jobs, one wonders why education authorities do not employ those resident within the school catchment area in preference to others who cannot get to work on time.
This very issue came up in a radio broadcast this morning, but the education spokesperson was rather vague when questioned.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

From what I understand, schools are not opening because many of the staff who live far from their work are failing to turn out for duty. Education authorities seem to have a much more lax attitude to staff attending work timeously than other industries. Although most school pupils live within walking distance of their schools and can get in regardless of weather, the same cannot be said of the staff. With so many people having gone through teacher training and claiming they cannot get jobs, one wonders why education authorities do not employ those resident within the school catchment area in preference to others who cannot get to work on time.
This very issue came up in a radio broadcast this morning, but the education spokesperson was rather vague when questioned.

at primary schools, that's a viable option and we have a few who more or less pop across the road to get to work.

at secondary schools there is more of a necessity for teachers to live distant from the school as you don't want the chav you gave detention coming round to put a brick through your window…

 

[Noodley]

Well, I'm away to wake mine up and get them to clear the driveway!

They were off school today anyway due to St Andrews Day...so no 'free extra day off' for them!