School's out

[Over The Hill]

Ok then.

To set the record straight once and for all.

Schools shut due to teacher pupil ratios.

NOT because teachers want to stay off. ( although My wife does like playing in the snow with our Kids )

But what is a "pupil teacher ratio"? It is when the kids have managed to turn up but there are not enough teachers turning up to teach them.

So should teachers not simply make some alternative arrangement for the rare time that we have snow to ensure that they turn up to work to do the blimmin job that we are paying them to do! If they choose to live some distance from the school then sort out how to get there if it snows. Do not make your problem our problem.

When it snows we have all the local police, council workers, office workers, shop workers all somehow getting to work and running their business. But somehow the Teacher cannot make it to the school for some reason.
The rest of us just put some effort into getting there and dont get paid if we dont do the job.

I have no problem otherwise with teachers having 17 weeks off per year and part time hours for many of them but please at least turn up during term time.

 

[vernon]

I have no problem otherwise with teachers having 17 weeks off per year and part time hours for many of them but please at least turn up during term time.

You must send your children to public schools then.

State school teachers only get thirteen weeks holiday per year.

 

[guitarpete247]

I don't mind if teachers have time off for any reason. I'm a supply teacher with a 4x4 who has travelled anywhere from Coventry to Derby to Nottingham to Melton Mowbray. All about 1 hour from where I live. One agency, I work for, is based in Lichfield but they have only got me work in Leicester.

 

[steve30]

The school I work at was open today. But there were a few teachers who weren't in, so some of the children did end up watching videos in the hall.

However, some of the schools that I went past on my 1 mile each way commute were closed.

One of the teachers did say she hopes it is closed tomorrow. Not surprised really if there is a shortage of staff. But the caretaker told me it will most likely be open.

 

[Norm]

Its also to do with whether they can get there safely or not...

Not so much, or there would be little argument for turning people away at the school gates.

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.

Along with the issue of people living too far from work, ^^ this ^^

a grumpy 30 something who is sick of hearing how easy teachers have it , how loooooooong the holidays are and how easy it is to teach , when he sees the shattered wreck his wife is at the end of the school year.

This suggests to me that you are a teacher. If that is the case, just how the heck can you post something like this...

most teachers now do not liove in the same area as the schiool they teaxch in due to numerous factors including house price, not wanting parents knocking on doors in evening/weekend etc

And yes, some of it might be typos but the basic mistakes with the English are quite inexcusable.

 

[Amheirchion]

, when he sees the shattered wreck his wife is at the end of the school year.

Methinks his wife doesn't proofread his posts for him though.

 

[TVC]

Right - My nephew is a Primary Head Teacher, and my niece is a Deputy Head. My brother is a Head of Department, and my sister in law is a Teaching Assistant. So on polling my family I can tell you the definitive answer is:

They want the day off so they can build snowmen and go sledging.

(any reference to staffing levels and maintaining a safe environment is just a convenient cover).

 

[Bromptonaut]

There's no one answer.

There is staffing, there is safety on the premises but another big one outside of cities is getting the kids in and out.

Here in Northants we have 'rural' comprehensives. Usually attached to villages that were developed in the seventies they run to 1500 pupils of whom 60-70% are bussed in. Once bussed in of course they need to be bussed home again so a best guess has to be made early morning about weather by 16:00. As well as any issues on the, mostly minor inter village roads the busses need to be able to unload/load and manouevre safely on the school premises. Staff, usualy those living locally and in telephone contact with the head have to make a decision on the informatrion available at 07:00. Occasionally they cancel and snow eases; one day last year they made a wrong call the other way and there was near accident with a bus slithering across the yard. Sometimes the close decision is made by the bus operators who decline to run. The local kids who've walked in might get sent home or have a day of 1:1 tuition.

Staff will often go in anyway 'cos they can get marking, lesson prep and all the other stuff done.

 

[surfdude]

its got nothing to do with h&s and staff ratios it the fact they dont want to be in a room with 30 plus kids who just want to throw snowballs at each other all day long

 

[Bromptonaut]

its got nothing to do with h&s and staff ratios it the fact they dont want to be in a room with 30 plus kids who just want to throw snowballs at each other all day long

I suspect sd has tic but in addition to all the other factors having only a minority of kids in, those who can walk to school, when they'd rather be out sledging is not good for staff/pupil realtionships either.

 

[Maz]

*Toilets... TOILETS? You were lucky, we used a rendered wall in the corner of the playground... literally [with a screen wall to protect you from been seen- it wasn't completely barbaric!]. It was a matter of pride to see how high up the wall you could reach!*

Teachers could always find something educational to do to bring wisdom and enlightenment into their dull pupils' lives even in times of austerity... wouldn't necessarily need to be curriculum based, as some of the children might be missing, but would hardly call it baby-sitting Paul!

So did the teachers come up with the idea of the pissing contest or what?

 

[PBancroft]

Don't forget that the HT will often need to make a judgement call on closing the school quite quickly, and quite early. Should they keep the school open, and the weather turns for the worse then parents would need to collect their kids in treacherous weather.

I'm always in two minds about people driving in snow to get the kids to school or go to work. On the one hand, I think just MTFU and deal with it. On the other, people are just so crap that actually it would be safer to stay at home.

 

[steve30]

Even my school was closed today. We have a foot of snow here, but I was going to go in for a while as the headmistress suggested, as there are some staff in, but the caretaker called me later to tell me not to bother. So, a day off for me.

 

[Archie_tect]

So did the teachers come up with the idea of the pissing contest or what?

Being grown-ups they had an unfair advantage!!

 

[alecstilleyedye]

Being grown-ups they had an unfair advantage!!

but most primary teachers are female. surely a she-wee is cheating…