Vocal Voices

I've just been reading on FB the number of people not sending their children to school today "in case it closes later and they have to go and fetch them". Most of these are from the village and are talking about the local primary school - a five or ten minute walk for most of them.

There is a scattering of snow at the moment and we keep getting the odd heavy snow shower. Mine (and their friends) have been sent off to their secondary school - a 2.5 walk for L and a 1.5 mile walk and 1.5 mile bus ride for S.

I know the staff at the local school have to travel quite a way to get in.

Am I just old fashioned in thinking if the school is open and you can get your children there (and 9x out of 10 if you live in a village and they go to the village school you can) then you should.

I remember loads of times when I walked to school through the snow only to get there, be given a mug of hot chocolate and then sent home again!

That's ridiculous!! I can remember pulling Chris to the village school on his toboggan when we lived in North Yorkshire!!

We used to find that at the junior school. The ridiculous thing was that it was pretty much in the town centre and on a main road. I know on a couple of occasions Joe and the rest of the school spent the day in one classroom watching movies as so few had gone in - bear in mind it was quite a large infant and junior school with two classes per year group!!

It's coming down quite heavily here at the moment, what we'd had overnight had looked like it was about to disappear a short while ago too. It's parents evening for Joe today and I'd be surprised if it goes ahead if this carries on. I know they're very careful at the school because it's on a steep site with lots of slopes so if they struggle to keep the pathways clear they close.

We used to pull the girls to primary school on sledges. They loved it - sledging down through the woods.

It always made us laugh ("us" being the four families that live right at the highest point of the village) that we would always turn up at school no matter what the weather but loads of them living on lower ground within really easy walking distance, wouldn't.

And those that didn't come really missed out. The kids that were there would all be in snow suits and wellies and would spend the day building igloos and sledging in the woods then warmng up with hot chocolate and cookies that the school cook would bake specially. Easy to do in a school of 50 where half wouldn't turn up because their parents saw a snowflake!

That's a dream of a day for kids, those others really missed out!!

Debbie, we lived right on the edge of the catchment area for the school and always walked, but it was too much trouble for many who lived closer

Unfortunately the head was very health and safety conscious so playing out in it was a banned for those who did turn up. At the end of the day she'd be standing on the playground shouting "No snowballs!" as the kids came out
I'd have loved to have thrown one at her

don't even start me on snow days. Good for you Debih, teaching your girls work ethics, that you at least make an effort to go in regardless of the weather. I have trudged to work through the snow, even when I worked at school and would be one of the only ones in, I still did it. Because as a kid, my mum used to put my wellies on and off we'd go, because she had to work regardless.

debih wrote:
Am I just old fashioned in thinking if the school is open and you can get your children there (and 9 out of 10 if you live in a village and they go to the village school you can), then you should.

Yes Debih, I guess that, like me, you must be old fashioned. When I was a child (a few years ago!)
I had to walk over a mile to school, and many times I had to trudge through snow (once 15'' deep) on my own. Not once was the school closed. The only difference now is that so many are ferried to school by parents, and of course, teachers mostly drive to work, too. It's what they call 'progress'.

Imagine what the weather was like in a wintery Scotland?!

I've not long just said to Don I don't remember ever having a day off school because of snow - we went every day regardless of what was falling from the sky.

The only time I ever remember being sent home from school in the snow was when we were in junior school and it started coming down thick and fast one afternoon. Suddenly we were just told to get our coats and bags as school was closing. I would've been 9 at the time and there was no waiting around for parents to come - I don't think all that many of us had home phones at that time - so off we went. I remember walking with Rob, Kerry, Debbie and Shelley who lived near to me, the snow was over our knees and we were clinging to each other because it was falling so heavily as we walked along the main road that we couldn't see where we were walking.

Can you imagine the uproar if that happened now?