School closed. You have to make the time up in holidays!

poet123

GrumpyGit wrote: »

As a parent of an eight year old and another due to start reception class later this year I also don't want my LEA spending it's budget defending court cases. However I also don't want my LEA waving the white flag and surrendering at the sight of the first snowflake. I'd like to see some sort of advance planning (if you're in charge of an LEA you might be surprised to hear this but it does sometimes snow in the U.K. in January) and if any snow does fall then I'd like to see some sort of effort to make sure schools can open if it's at all possible.

If you are in charge of an LEA you would not be surprised to hear it snows in January. However, in common with the Met Office (who admitted their forecasts were "at the margins of forecasting", which translated, means they didn't really know what was going on, or when it would cease) you would be surprised to have the heaviest snowfall for 30 years.

Therefore, they erred on the side of caution, maybe erred is the optimum word, but it was unprecendented and unexpected even for weather professionals, so quite how the LEA's were supposed to forecast it I am unsure.

FatAndy

poet123 wrote: »

If you are in charge of an LEA you would not be surprised to hear it snows in January. However, in common with the Met Office (who admitted their forecasts were "at the margins of forecasting", which translated, means they didn't really know what was going on, or when it would cease) you would be surprised to have the heaviest snowfall for 30 years.

Therefore, they erred on the side of caution, maybe erred is the optimum word, but it was unprecendented and unexpected even for weather professionals, so quite how the LEA's were supposed to forecast it I am unsure.

Hi Poet,

In my small corner of the world we've had three minor snow falls in 2010. Our heaviest snowfall this winter came on Christmas Eve (it put paid to our planned family trip to the zoo :mad:). My memory may not be all it used to be but I can say with some assurance that we haven't just experienced our heaviest snowfall in thirty years, in fact I'd be surprised if we've even come close. However it did appear that the majority of schools round here were closed for at least one day.

Maybe someone made the mistake of believing all those news bulletins about how the whole country was suffering from severe weather conditions. Perhaps in future they could instead try sticking their head out of the window and making decisions based on what the weather is doing locally. Perhaps then they might have realised that the conditions in that field in Leeds where the BBC reporter was standing were not representative of the whole of the United Kingdom.

poet123

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/6937854/Britain-braced-for-heaviest-snowfall-in-50-years.html

It seems I was wrong, it could be 50 years, other reports say since 1962/63.

FatAndy

Well, Conwy Council are 'looking at any changes that should be implemented'. Hopefully one of those changes will involve applying common sense and local knowledge in future. And it's good to see that it isn't just me that thinks schools in this area were closed too quickly .

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/2010/01/18/counting-cost-of-big-freeze-in-north-wales-55578-25623091/

mikey72

The snow's back on Wednesday.
:j:j:j