penners28
3:10 Thu Mar 1
Re: Schools shutting before the snow
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LAF, marking is part of the job though isnt it?
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JustAFatKevinDavies
3:08 Thu Mar 1
Re: Schools shutting before the snow
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The weather is one of those things you just cant odds. Even the met office get it wrong etc so its a tricky decision. Like with calling off football games etc the earlier the better I guess to give people notice but then there's the chance of looking stupid if it clears. This isn't even an issue of teacher bashing etc just one of those logistics and planning etc.
On teacher bashing I don't mind bashing them on occasion but if I got a free day off for whatever reason, fuck anyone telling me how I should spend it. Id probably go to the pub hoping to piss off as many people as possible.
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Alwaysaniron
3:06 Thu Mar 1
Re: Schools shutting before the snow
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http://www.westhamonline.net/profile.php?217846
DRAG THEM IN!!! FFS we've got 1cm of snow here! Theyre employed to do a job of work in a place of work. Turn up and get the bloody thing done, don't stay at home watching fucking day time tv pretending to do marking. Total bollocks
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LAF
3:03 Thu Mar 1
Re: Schools shutting before the snow
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Hi Bungo. The Head would make the final call but not until much dilberating with the management team. I'm a teacher Governor and I know that at our next meeting, the Head will have to justify the decision he has made. In my school, we got emailed yesterday evening saying that the school intended to open today unless the weather took a turn for the worst. It did. We got an email this morning from him at 6.20 saying the school was closed due to a dangerous site. I spoke to him this morning when I went to collect exam papers and he told me that his site manager had been out since 4am attempting to make the site safe. The scrutiny on Heads these days would, I'm sure, make them all tentative about closing the school.
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Mad Dog
3:03 Thu Mar 1
Re: Schools shutting before the snow
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The factors that a head shuts a school for are usually
A) can the kids get in
B) will there be enough staff (due to mandatory staff:pupil ratios)
C) are the grounds safe (playground, room temperatures frozen pipes etc)
In today's litigatious environment th e parents complaining the school is shut would be the same ones straight onto the compo route if their kid got hurt. And schools generally won't take the risk
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scott_d
3:02 Thu Mar 1
Re: Schools shutting before the snow
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The train station was deserted this morning with shirkers from all industries who could not be bothered to make an effort to get into work.
The office is half empty too.
This is not a trend being set by teachers, they are just like any body else. Some will try and make the effort but others will take is a good opportunity to scive off work.
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dealcanvey
3:01 Thu Mar 1
Re: Schools shutting before the snow
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When I was in school and snowed badly about 15 years ago. We all brought snow into the corridors (stuck on shoes etc). Made the floor wet. Kid fell over and broke their arm. Sued the school.
Sign of the times unfo. Schools wont take the risk.
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Mad Dog
2:59 Thu Mar 1
Re: Schools shutting before the snow
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Bungo. The head at my school bases it on whether the busses that bring in 80% of our kids can negotiate the country roads near the school. No busses = No kids.
Our school is in the arse end of nowhere (if I name the town it'll be obvious where I work)
My school has been shut today and yesterday, which is rare as we hardly ever shut for snow.
I fully expected to be in today and expect it to be back open tomorrow.. My son's school declared yesterday that it will be shut till Monday.
When we had a brief flurry of snow a few months back loads of schools declared they'd be shut next day, then the snow melted overnight and they looked foolish.
Our head decides at 6am on the day
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Bungo
2:50 Thu Mar 1
Re: Schools shutting before the snow
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LAF
Are there specific conditions that cause a school to close, or is it at the discretion of the Head?
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LAF
2:39 Thu Mar 1
Re: Schools shutting before the snow
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Ok, enough teacher bashing. Some of you on here love to give us a good kicking, don't you. Let's put some things straight: many school these days are bigger and more heavily populated than when may of us were kids. I went to secondary school in the 70s and I admit that I can't remember many snow days. Today, though, we live in a litigious society and central and local government - along with academies, free schools and the like - have to be more cautious about the possibility of parents taking schools to court over vast sites being dangerous. Safeguarding has become a huge focal point and sites with icy thoroughfares, wet and slippery staircases etc, is only asking for an accident to happen.That's one thing.
Also, teachers today live further afield than days of old. Schools, too, have a duty of care for them and their journeys - just like many businesses out there do, I know many people who 'work from home' at the drop of a hat - and, no doubt, many will be today.
My partner, also a teacher, took 2 and a half hours to get to work yesterday and many of my colleagues also struggled to get in. I'm here now with a pile of mock exam papers which will take me about 5 hours to mark. That might satisfy some of the teacher bashers on here.
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Nurse Ratched
2:31 Thu Mar 1
Re: Schools shutting before the snow
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Oh year. Those grammar schools are no way as good as sink comps. They just pretend to be.
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Fivetide
2:24 Thu Mar 1
Re: Schools shutting before the snow
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When I was a child it was your mum and dad's responsibility to get you in and my school only closed when the boiler shutdown. Nowadays the local schoold shut automatically when the bus companies across the catchment area stop operating, so it's all a bit different.
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Bungo
2:24 Thu Mar 1
Re: Schools shutting before the snow
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Can any of the teachers on here shed some light on what markers are used to decide whether a school shuts or not due to weather?
Are there different markers in different areas?
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Hasans Fish Bar RIP
2:19 Thu Mar 1
Re: Schools shutting before the snow
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Only day my school shut was after the hurricane of '87. Which was fair enough.
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gph
2:17 Thu Mar 1
Re: Schools shutting before the snow
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My shit school never shut - probably because the Christians who dominated it didn't want to miss a day's indoctrination of the kids.
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the exile
2:12 Thu Mar 1
Re: Schools shutting before the snow
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NS - the grammar schools in Gloucestershire always stick it out longer than the comps too. Funny, that. I suppose they're just trying to show they take education a bit more seriously but I'm not sure that's necessarily true.
Len - I did the minimum of preparation when I was teaching too, but it's not so easy nowadays. All teachers will have loads of admin and marking to catch up on, whether they go in or work at home, which is why it really pisses me off to see the usual dickheads having a pop at teachers. If you think it's so easy, try it for yourselves, you wankers.
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Northern Sold
2:04 Thu Mar 1
Re: Schools shutting before the snow
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Did you have a lot of snow at your school Kev?? Just wondering like?? Would explain a lot....
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Northern Sold
2:03 Thu Mar 1
Re: Schools shutting before the snow
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Agreed penners... how the fuck we ever had a Empire I will never know...
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JustAFatKevinDavies
2:02 Thu Mar 1
Re: Schools shutting before the snow
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do you have to be a deliberately obtuse prick on every single thread s0ldo.
step away from your computer for 5 mins and have a breather.
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penners28
2:02 Thu Mar 1
Re: Schools shutting before the snow
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I swear people in the UK think we live in the Arctic Circle or something. The amount of people in my work today is comical. We have a train station, just off a couple of major motorways, yet people cant get in apparentlt.
I drove past at least 3 peoples houses en route. Im hard though
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Robson
2:02 Thu Mar 1
Re: Schools shutting before the snow
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If anything the opposite is true.
Our school used to shut at the merest hint of snow - which was great. My kids' schools try way too hard (in my opinion) to open in all conditions.
I sympathise with parents who struggle to arrange childcare in these situations, but... really, a snowy day off when you're supposed to be at school is literally what childhood is all about. I hope they make the most of it!
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