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School closures - fastest off the mark?

silverfox

By silverfox
in General ED Issues / Gossip

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Earl Aelfheah

Earl Aelfheah

Posted
Posted
I don't understand what responsibility a school has for the Health and Safety of children outside of school hours (i.e. on their way to school). Surely it is the responsibility of the child's parents to ensure that they get to school safely. The shcool's responsibility is to remain open for those who can make it in and ensure that they are safe whilst under their care.
cmck83

cmck83

Posted
Posted

rahrahrah Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I don't understand what responsibility a school

> has for the Health and Safety of children outside

> of school hours (i.e. on their way to school).

> Surely it is the responsibility of the child's

> parents to ensure that they get to school safely.

> The shcool's responsibility is to remain open for

> those who can make it in and ensure that they are

> safe whilst under their care.



As I mentioned earlier in the thread, the main reason schools can't open is that most teachers tend to live miles and miles away from their schools nowadays, and if loads can't get to work, there won't be a high enough staff to student ratio.

That is probably why some schools around here are open, and some are shut. It depends where the staff are coming from. If any are coming from beyond Sydenham they are probably stuck. It's not just teachers, my lighting technician friend who lives in Orpington is snowed in and my graphic designer boyfriend is working from home in Lee, as it was too hard to get to his studio in Shoreditch.


I'm off because the roads around my school are closed to all traffic (hills and ice are a bad combo), the trains are off, and according to Facebook, most of my friends who live further out seem to be completely snowed in. There is no way my school could stay open!

Earl Aelfheah

Earl Aelfheah

Posted
Posted
Travelling into central london, fair enough, it's difficult if you can't drive and public transport is down. But zone 2? Really? Most people drive, the main roads were (on the whole), fine. I understand that some people won't be able to make it in, but surely the majority should be able to.. enough to keep the organisation running (there should be contingency plans in place for some unexpected absence). It does seem that the schools shut down sooner than any other organisation. Snow in December isn't that unexpected.
sophiesofa

sophiesofa

Posted
Posted
I'm currently on a placement at a secondary school in Kidbrooke and although I got in, a lot of staff from Kent, brighton or other places didn't make it in. As a result on the Wednesday quite a few classes ended up being merged so in effect the lessons didn't happen, they just played games and complained about not being allowed out in the snow. The school was closed on thurs and fri which to me made sense because the students would again just turn up and not be taught anything. I'm sure I read somewhere that there's an idea of getting teachers/staff to go and help out at their nearest school when it snows.
espelli

espelli

Posted
Posted

Sophiesofa, you are right, there is an old, old agreement that teachers are expected to report to their local school if they can't get to their own school. In reality I have never known this happen, partly because it has reached the status of urban myth and partly due to the number of safeguarding checks that would need to be done would make it a bureaucratic nightmare.


I also made it from here to my school in another borough without too much hassle, but a number of our staff were coming in from Kent and found it too difficult. In fact I would say that travelling into central London from here was probably easier than from further out to zone 2.


Schools are in a difficult position in snowy weather. They need to have certain staffing levels to function safely, they need to have the ability for pupils to move around the site safely, and they have a duty of care to their staff and pupils. There are contingency plans made for staff absences but one day we had five class teachers out, that meant 150 children with no-one to teach them - there are not enough spare teachers in any school to cope with that!

cmck83

cmck83

Posted
Posted

rahrahrah Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Travelling into central london, fair enough, it's

> difficult if you can't drive and public transport

> is down. But zone 2? Really? Most people drive,

> the main roads were (on the whole), fine. I

> understand that some people won't be able to make

> it in, but surely the majority should be able to..

> enough to keep the organisation running (there

> should be contingency plans in place for some

> unexpected absence). It does seem that the schools

> shut down sooner than any other organisation. Snow

> in December isn't that unexpected.



As I said, just because the school is in zone 2 doesn't mean the staff live in zone 2.

cmck83

cmck83

Posted
Posted

Bellenden Jo Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> St John's and St Clement's is shut today due to

> broken boiler!


Something similar nearly happened in my school today, but they managed to fix it. There was no water! Must have frozen...

silverfox

silverfox

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Bellenden Jo Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> St John's and St Clement's is shut today due to

> broken boiler!



Pathetic excuse. Fan heaters @ ?25 each x 3 per class x 10 class rooms equals ?750 with probably two years usage. Parents having to take time off work with 35 minutes notice, or paying child minders extra equals billions of pounds of disruption over the country and difficult to justify and keep your job. Time teachers got real.

Pam50

Pam50

Posted
Posted

Teachers are very real and do not make closure decisions. Those are made by managers and governors who have the statutory responsibility for the health and safety of hundreds of children and many adults.

So...that's one teacher in one small room, 30 children (including those with behaviour issues),three fan heaters that have not been checked, no hot water in the washrooms or kitchens... not to mention a creaking electricity system coping with the sudden output of 50 odd fan heaters.

Real??? :(

cmck83

cmck83

Posted
Posted

silverfox Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Bellenden Jo Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > St John's and St Clement's is shut today due to

> > broken boiler!

>

>

> Pathetic excuse. Fan heaters @ ?25 each x 3 per

> class x 10 class rooms equals ?750 with probably

> two years usage. Parents having to take time off

> work with 35 minutes notice, or paying child

> minders extra equals billions of pounds of

> disruption over the country and difficult to

> justify and keep your job. Time teachers got real.


How are they meant to get that many heaters at 35 mins notice? What school has ?750 quid to spend that quickly?

What school only has 10 classrooms?!

womanofdulwich

womanofdulwich

Posted
Posted
Well, in the commercial world, our office heating broke down last year and we bought back up fan and halogen heaters ( we already had some). The heating broke down 9 days ago, and the fan and halogen heaters have all been in use until this afternoon. This is called management and that is what business' do to protect themselves if they should arise. This is what headteachers and governors are for.
silverfox

silverfox

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Headteachers earning circa ?100k can put their hand in their pocket and claim it back on expenses - job done. If you're worried the electricity can't handle it buy calor gas heaters. It's called planning ahead in the real world.






cmck83 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> silverfox Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Bellenden Jo Wrote:

> >

> --------------------------------------------------

>

> > -----

> > > St John's and St Clement's is shut today due

> to

> > > broken boiler!

> >

> >

> > Pathetic excuse. Fan heaters @ ?25 each x 3 per

> > class x 10 class rooms equals ?750 with

> probably

> > two years usage. Parents having to take time

> off

> > work with 35 minutes notice, or paying child

> > minders extra equals billions of pounds of

> > disruption over the country and difficult to

> > justify and keep your job. Time teachers got

> real.

>

> How are they meant to get that many heaters at 35

> mins notice? What school has ?750 quid to spend

> that quickly?

> What school only has 10 classrooms?!

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