As at 8:00am Friday morning the following schools in Ls10 and LS11 are closed because of snow
Hugh Gaitskell Primary School – Closed
Hunslet St Mary’s Primary School – partial closure
South SILC – Broomfield – Closed
You can check further details on the Council website.
At the risk of sounding especially grumpy as in ‘sometimes I wake up grumpy but often I let him sleep in’ can someone explain why so many schools need to close because of a bit of snow?!
I’ve been told its partly because of teachers’ travelling distances and partly because of health and safety concerns… Frankly, I find this difficult to believe… I met a friend in Leeds today who said he’d had no difficulty travelling in this morning from Hebden Bridge… The snow was widely and accurately predicted and I think most staff could have ensured they got to school on time. I wouldn’t mind betting that there is no co-relation between which schools were closed and which schools have the furthest flung staff…
In terms of health and safety what’s the particular problem and why wasn’t it a problem when I was at school?!
Can someone tell me what I’m missing?!?
Having got to my workshop in the city centre this morning (unlike the tutor) I have some sympathies with you. It’s another argument for working locally, which I was banging on about recently.
One issue is to do with attendance figures. I think I’ve got this right, if a school stays open and a lot of children don’t turn up it hits their attendance figures (which can affect their Ofsted rating, etc, etc). But if the school is closed the day doesn’t count towards the attendance figures. I would not suggest that any local headteacher would base their decision on this, but it may be a factor.
I think the health and safety aspect is “have I got enough staff to safely manage the children?” rather than will they slip in the playground.
Ahh…lies, damned lies and statistics. So if a school didn’t open at all it would have perfect attendance figures?* Is it true that when it snows lots of children don’t turn up? Given it’s mainly primary schools (as far as I can see) that close it shouldn’t be a travel problem… Come on head teachers of local schools explain yourselves!!!
* This reminds me of Denis Healey’s (former MP for East Leeds)’ story about when he was posted to Oxford station (I think) in the war. He and a colleague were supposed to record people getting on and off trains. He would dutifully get out of the warm waiting room (remember them?!) and do the requisite counting. His colleague never moved. When Denis H asked how his colleague he managed to record the numbers.. His colleague responded that he made them up….