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Post by sweetpea on Jan 21, 2013 20:35:32 GMT
A bit of snow and everything seems to come to a grinding halt. WHY?? Is there something inherently wrong with schoolteachers that they can't get to work but the people who drive the snowploughs can? Also how do the reporters who film these TERRIBLE conditions manage to get there. All the animals at the vet's would starve if the vets didn't get in and the patients in hospitals would suffer if staff just blew out. I may just sound like an old grump but I cannot recall EVER having my school closed and remember I grew up in Scotland. Also I was a delivery postman for many years and the mail ALWAYS got delivered even when it was a case of two steps forward three back. I drove an artic for many years also and still we managed to deliver the goods all over the country. Even in the winter of '62/'63 we were getting through 15' snowdrifts to get feed to cattle in Dartmoor although we did start using helicopters in the end. it was pretty grim then though  When I was in the marines we flew to Norway for artic warfare training and our plane landed in 8" of snow on the runway at Bodo(okay so it turned sideways when it landed but that's another story ;D ) I sometimes despair of this country.  |
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Post by esther on Jan 22, 2013 6:40:47 GMT
I watched a documentary the other day about the 1962/1963 big freeze. I was about 17 years old then and worked in Guildford which is about 7 miles away - I don't remember not ever getting to work - I had to go by bus .
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Post by Cherry on Jan 22, 2013 6:54:52 GMT
The first time I visited this country was in February, 1963, and we could not get a train to Glasgow as they had stopped. We had to come by air. I had never felt cold like this and wore my high heels.
I am in favour of schools closing SP. Children and teachers often travel further than in the old days and travel to school in cars. Cars are therefore kept off the roads and many broken limbs are prevented.
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Post by Geranium on Jan 22, 2013 7:02:50 GMT
SP - I didn't close my school unless it wasn't safe to keep it open. That was always if 1) staff couldn't get in, 2) if the heating broke down or water froze, and 3) if children couldn't get in. Safety of children was the first issue, always, not comfort. The Local Authority came down on us like a ton of bricks if we asked to close! We had to jump through hoops to do it, but if you can imagine trying to keep two or more classes of children educated in each classroom because some staff were stuck in snowdrifts - it simply wasn't sensible, safe or practicable - more like baby-sitting. Teachers used to live closer to their schools...but shortages of teachers meant that they often came from some distance and that was sometimes impossible. I lived 12 miles from my school when I was a head, and on occasion I simply couldn't get there as roads were closed. I could walk in when I was an ordinary teacher as I lived about a mile from my school then. By the way, the LA didn't issue us with snowploughs!  |
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Post by Rosie on Jan 22, 2013 9:23:57 GMT
I don't recall ever being off school due to the weather either SP. But we did get lots of snow as we lived on the highest bit of Newcastle at the time. We haven't had mail since Friday either. I was watching a report on the BBCm the person they spoke to was in Forfar and the guy said it's no problem and remember up north they get it worse than where he was, you could just see him thinking..'southern softies' ;D ;D |
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Post by Geumlover on Jan 22, 2013 11:03:01 GMT
The problem as far as schools go, is that they are damned if they close and damned if they open. People complain like mad if the schools close, but would be quick to sue if something happened to their child. And believe me people do.
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Post by Cherry on Jan 22, 2013 11:30:14 GMT
We haven't had mail since last Friday either and I don't blame them. Their little vans would not make it past the main road and certainly not down our driveway. They don't run four wheel drive vehicles here.
I have come back to add to this post, because the mail has been delivered today.
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Post by ladybird on Jan 22, 2013 12:22:37 GMT
Sweetpea, years ago legs were a more common mode of transport and as long as there were no biting blizards at the same time they did a good job getting from A to b .
I remember walking to school with snow just below my knees in the 6o`s.
And by the looks of things here, 6 inches of snow , several cars abandoned including a taxie from last night, and watching cars trying to slip and slither up the hill in front of my house, I might just have to use my pins and walk to work tonight ......4 miles, a mere dander ;D.
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Post by grindle on Jan 22, 2013 12:25:00 GMT
I can't ever remember my school closing for bad weather either
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Post by sweetpea on Jan 22, 2013 13:10:16 GMT
Well that post got a few (mixed) responses ;D I appreciate folks travelling further afield these days BUT there is quite a big difference between BLIZZARD conditions with attendant snowdrifts and a few flakes of snow which seem to cause panic in these 'Health & Safety' mindsets. Are our children being mollycoddled too much? They most certainly are IMHO. About time this or any government scrapped these ridiculous health & safety regulations along with this frivolous litigation import from the USA which seems to infer that someone somewhere is always responsible for someone elses stupidity. As a youngster I fell out of a tall chestnut tree on a golf course and broke my arm. MY fault, not the golf course owners or the person who planted the tree or the Council for allowing a golf course to grow trees likely to attract children. Todays paper had an article practically echoing my thoughts about schools closing at the drop of a hat (or snowflake) so it would seem I am not alone. I wonder if say, a child who might otherwise have been at school got injured while sledging could sue the school for not opening which would have prevented the accident. Anything seems possible these days however ridiculous. |
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Post by SueA on Jan 22, 2013 14:32:53 GMT
I vaguely remember school closing once or twice when the heating failed in winter & I remember missing school (although it was open) when I went to grammar school as we travelled on the train for the first few years I was there & it was during the power cuts, sometimes we'd get stuck on the train in the middle of nowhere in the snow & end up getting off & going home on another to do our homework by candlelight! ;D Later we went on coaches which sometimes didn't turn up in bad weather & we'd be frozen waiting in the snow until one of us phoned the school & asked if we could go home. I have heard that some schools close because that way they don't get a bad attendance record which they would if they opened & half the children didn't turn up because of the snow! |
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Post by Geranium on Jan 22, 2013 15:21:46 GMT
We were firmly told (by the LEA) that if we closed, we had to use a day's holiday and open the school then instead - you can imagine the furore from the parents! (Staff weren't too happy either...)
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Post by Geumlover on Jan 22, 2013 17:50:29 GMT
And as one of only 2 teachers who managed to get in on one really bad day some years ago, looking after 400 children between us in the Assembly Hall when the yard was unusable because of ice was no fun. And because we were only teachers we had no authority to close the School either.
Yes, we were told that if the place closed it had to come off holidays. Very often the decision about closing is taken by the LEA not the School so the Absentee worry is a non starter. No Head would close a school on those grounds and remain a head for long.
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