Five schools in Scunthorpe district reopen- no establishments closed today

“"Blame the League Tables.
If a school opens when it's been snowing and lots of pupils don't turn up then they get marked down by Ofsted for large scale absenteeism. If the school says it wont be open that day then everyone is officially off - thus no black marks.
Melior played it crafty yesterday by opening for the morning & afternoon so pupils got marked as being present for both sessions - then they closed a 2pm resulting in no black mark by Ofsted."

This is not true I'm afraid. Rules changed either 2010 or 2011. If the school is open and a child cannot get into school due to snow then they can be marked absent without afecting the absence figures. A special code was introduced for this purpose. Obviously if the Head believes it is not genuine then it will still be maked down as unauthorised absence.

I don't work in a school and my only connection with schools is through my children. I'm assuming those who work in school do actually know about this regulation change - if not then they need to find out why their EWO has not informed them of this. Mind you, having met local EWOs, I can well imagine this regulation change is not commonly known in schools....”

“It's not so simple anymore Eggy, you can't just go to another more local school now because of safeguarding issues - you would need to provide enhanced CRBs which are generally locked away in staff personnel files to get through the door. People would rightly complain if anyone unscrupulous tried walking into a school claiming they worked in a different school and could they work with your children for the day!”

“Blame the League Tables.
If a school opens when it's been snowing and lots of pupils don't turn up then they get marked down by Ofsted for large scale absenteeism. If the school says it wont be open that day then everyone is officially off - thus no black marks.
Melior played it crafty yesterday by opening for the morning & afternoon so pupils got marked as being present for both sessions - then they closed a 2pm resulting in no black mark by Ofsted.”

“Blame the Yanks - they started this blame and claim culture. You slip on ice and look to see if there are signs up / salt laid - if not bang a claim in. As a result we get this over-reaction to common events.

If I fell onto my backside in the snow I would just get up and carry on.”

“There might be a special arrangement for staff to attend a school local to them in very poor snowy conditions not necessarily the one they teach at normally ,but one that is nearby ,in order to keep more schools open.”

“A bit of a bigger debate about this whole situation of school closures is starting to happen; even the education secretary is shocked by the amount of schools closed. I agree if the kids are parent's responsibility up to the school gate so that is fair enough. Say for example a 25 metre walk from school gate to school building access doors, their fore the school head should ensure that the walkway is clear of snow and ice using school staff and care taker using enough shovels and grit to remove all ice. I am assuming there are no major H&S concerns with children /staff and visitors walking on a wet walkway. Once in school building it would be a normal educational day for all concerned so all H&S issues are resolved. Now that only leaves staff turning up for work issue, serious questions have got to be asked why staff can not attend work when most other workers that live in the same town / village / street where they live can walk / bus / drive to there work place. I would suspect that a lot of teachers are hard working committed individuals with only the best interests of the kids and school at heart and try every thing possible to do a good job and get to work, some would say mainly older teachers and heads with 30+ years experience though. That said though some would say that some in the profession will at the first excuse ring in and say they can not get to work, this I would think happens in other businesses too with salaried staff. Generally workers paid by the hour will try everything possible to get into work.”

“"Temperatures overnight dipped below freezing"

They tend to do so in winter. Traffic remains busy? People going to work is the possible cause. Is any of this really news?”