Snow Closures

The snow has closed schools this week and I was listening to a phone-in on the radio in which it was felt that teachers should walk to their nearest school in order to keep them open. For me this is an excellent idea if the closure is purely because teachers can't get to school. If health and safety issues are involved then it may not be such a good idea.

There is always the thought that some pupils and staff may use bad weather as an excuse for a day off. However one argument put forward was that teachers use these days to prepare lessons and to do marking. If teachers are using this as an argument to avoid teaching at their nearest school then we have a serious problem, namely that teachers are under so much pressure that they need extra days for planning and marking. If this is the case then the implementation of these days should not depend on the vagaries of the weather.

Incredibly I also heard that those schools that remain open in adverse conditions have to count absences whereas schools that close have no absences. If this is true then it is a strong incentive to close!

Morecambe has escaped the worst of the weather as it often does. So compared to schools that have been affected then teachers will teach a few extra days in the year. This is hardly a way to run our schools.

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