Why can't Sussex schools cope with snow? (From The Argus)

Why can't Sussex schools cope with snow?

10:50am Monday 11th January 2010

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The majority of schools across Sussex have closed during the freezing weather.

Playing out in the snow is fun for the young but parents who work have had to take time off or struggle to organise child care.

Businesses are suffering at a time of economic recession as staff have no choice but to stay at home to look after their children.

Schools say the decision to shut is made on safety grounds but there are concerns that more could be done to keep them open.

Headteachers, who make the decision whether to shut, say they only reluctantly close as a last resort.

Aldrington Junior School, in Hove, was one of only a handful of schools open on Thursday and Friday and more than half its 280 pupils turned up for lessons.

Headteacher Michael Jee decided to open after arriving at his school at 6.15am and checking the nearby routes to the site.

He said: “I did a risk assessment of all the routes into the school and felt it was safe. We cannot wimp out.”

He said making the decision was difficult and headteachers had to put the safety of pupils and staff first.

He said: “It is a really difficult call for headteachers. You are under a lot of time limits, parents need to know and it is hard to assess the situation early in the morning.

“The last thing we want to do is close but it is safety first. You have to apply common sense.”

Mr Jee said his school was on the flat, unlike many schools in Brighton and Hove, and was not too badly affected by snow when he made his decision.

Many of his staff live locally and the majority of pupils walk across parks and recreation grounds to reach the school.

But he said the final decision on whether a child attends was up to the parents.

He said: “We are saying to parents, ‘you make the choice’.”

Balfour Junior School in Brighton was also open, with a reduced number of staff. About half its pupils turned up.

Headteacher Tony Jones said he thought it was safe to open as the pathways leading to the school were cleared and the building was warm.

He said: “I have dedicated staff who have managed to get in and we decided to open.”

But he said parents had to decide whether it was safe to take their children to school, depending on the state of the roads and dangerously icy pavements.

There are no national guidelines on when a school should close due to adverse weather.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families says the decision should be made locally by those who know the local conditions.

As well as health and safety concerns about children slipping over in freezing playgrounds, school transport and buses have been cancelled. Many teachers who do not live nearby have been unable to get to work.

Vanessa Brown, Brighton and Hove City Council cabinet member for children and young people, does not believe schools shut without good reason.

She accepted there were problems for working parents who were forced to stay at home and, in some cases, lose a day’s pay to look after their children.

She said: “I don’t think any school wants to close and they only do so in the interests of the children.

I fully sympathise with working parents but I am sure the decision to close any school is not taken lightly.”

But there are calls for an action plan to keep more schools open during snowy weather.

Campaign group Parents Outloud suggests schools could stay open with a skeleton operation even if the normal timetable has to be abandoned.

It would mean children who live locally could reach the school and it would cause less disruption for parents.

Businesses would also like to see more steps taken to keep schools open as they struggle to cope without staff who are forced to take the day off to look after their children.

Often decisions are made to shut early in the morning, giving parents who work little time to make alternative child care arrangements.

Ken Stevens, regional organiser for East Sussex Federation of Small Businesses, said bosses were sympathetic to working parents and the problem would only become a major issue if the freezing weather continued for a long period.

But he said education authorities could do more to provide child care when schools shut.

He said: “Local authorities should be looking at providing child care. There should be planning for winters like this. The authorities could provide activities for children in central areas and that could help relieve the pressure.”

Some schools are facing extra problems during the cold snap.

While Brighton College, in Eastern Road, was closed to day pupils, staff still had to care for its 240 boarders.

Spokesman David Gold said: “We are a fee-paying school so we feel more than anybody we have to try everything to stay open.”

It organised activities for boarders, including a talk on how to survive Arctic conditions, and “supervised” snowball fights for the younger pupils.

Although day pupils stayed at home, they did not escape lessons. The school emailed work to those in exam years.

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