It's snowing!

[Wowbagger]

Schools are being closed because staff can't make it in.  In a lot of schools the staff travel from outside the catchment area, so whilst kids can get there teachers can't.

There used to be an arrangement where teachers would go to their nearest local school of the age range they were qualified for if they couldn't get to their own school.  This has had to be stopped due to teh requirement for every teacher to be CRB checked by every school...

That arrangement never existed whilst I was teaching - at least, certainly not in the schools I was teaching in.

There was, however, a comparable arrangement for civil servants who couldn't get to work. They were expected to report to their nearest CS office.

[Pancho]

The school run (on foot all the way, of course):

School was open with hot choc & coffee for brave parents & children. But, with only 20 pupils, called to say we could take them home if we wanted - once they'd finished snowball fights, snowmen competitions and igloos.

[Fab Foodie]

The second wave seems to have started in Abingdon, good fallings here...

[clarion]

Snow's been reasonably persistent, if light, and is now settling...

[nuttycyclist]

It's finally snowing moderately in Southend.  Has been for the last 20 minutes.

Not settling though.

[Regulator]

Our snow stopped about an hour ago but it had settled.  We now have clear blue skies again.


Please can we have some more snow?  I really want to get out of tomorrow's meeting...

[anth]

Could people down south send some of their snow up here? It's just we've not had very much.

[hellymedic]

It's mainly because these days a lot of kids are bussed in and out, and the bus companies can't/won't guarantee the service if it snows.

Whilst that might be true in rural areas, here in Londonton, kids seldom travel more than two miles to the local State primary school and could make the journey on foot if there were the will. Staff live miles out, sometimes due to major differences in local property prices and have long commutes which aren't possible in deep SNO. S the schools close, often keeping parents off work.

[woollypigs]

It was quite thick here and it is till going.

But I can still see the grass so not thick enough yet.

[TimO]

...There was, however, a comparable arrangement for civil servants who couldn't get to work. They were expected to report to their nearest CS office.

When I was a civil servant, out department discontinued this arrangement since it was fairly pointless in most cases.  Most of the staff were specialised, and would have been of little use to other civil service departments.

Having said that, for most of my career there, I was less than a ten minute walk from work, so it was never an issue.


It was snowing moderately here in South Ken, but it's thinning out a bit now.  Assuming it stops, I'll probably wait until the traffic clears the small amount off of the roads, and then cycle home.

[nuttycyclist]

...There was, however, a comparable arrangement for civil servants who couldn't get to work. They were expected to report to their nearest CS office.

When I was a civil servant, out department discontinued this arrangement since it was fairly pointless in most cases.  Most of the staff were specialised, and would have been of little use to other civil service departments.

Having said that, for most of my career there, I was less than a ten minute walk from work, so it was never an issue.


It was snowing moderately here in South Ken, but it's thinning out a bit now.  Assuming it stops, I'll probably wait until the traffic clears the small amount off of the roads, and then cycle home.

One of my former employers had the same arrangement.  I was highly specialised and thus no use at all in the offices nearest my house.

I looked forwards to a day that I could fail to go into one of those offices (no security clearance) then just sit there unable to work      It never happened though

[Regulator]

Schools are being closed because staff can't make it in.  In a lot of schools the staff travel from outside the catchment area, so whilst kids can get there teachers can't.

There used to be an arrangement where teachers would go to their nearest local school of the age range they were qualified for if they couldn't get to their own school.  This has had to be stopped due to teh requirement for every teacher to be CRB checked by every school...

That arrangement never existed whilst I was teaching - at least, certainly not in the schools I was teaching in.

There was, however, a comparable arrangement for civil servants who couldn't get to work. They were expected to report to their nearest CS office.

It certainly existed in Essex when my parents were teaching (my mother mentioned it this morning) - but I can't actually ever recall it being needed...

[Jules]

It's mainly because these days a lot of kids are bussed in and out, and the bus companies can't/won't guarantee the service if it snows.

Whilst that might be true in rural areas, here in Londonton, kids seldom travel more than two miles to the local State primary school and could make the journey on foot if there were the will. Staff live miles out, sometimes due to major differences in local property prices and have long commutes which aren't possible in deep SNO. S the schools close, often keeping parents off work.

+1

My youngest's infant school has a catchment area that stretches about 350 metres from the door. None of the staff can afford to live anywhere near it

[Pancho]

My (current) experience of schools is that they are open unless too few pupils turn up to make it worth it - and even then, they don't turn anyone away.

Children come from all over and it would look rather bad if a member of staff didn't turn up but a pupil from the same area did.

[rafletcher]

It's mainly because these days a lot of kids are bussed in and out, and the bus companies can't/won't guarantee the service if it snows.

Whilst that might be true in rural areas, here in Londonton, kids seldom travel more than two miles to the local State primary school and could make the journey on foot if there were the will. Staff live miles out, sometimes due to major differences in local property prices and have long commutes which aren't possible in deep SNO. S the schools close, often keeping parents off work.

Also, once upon a time, if you were a teacher and couldn't get to your own school, you went to the nearest to help out. Now however, your CRB check is only valid for specific age groups at specifis schools...so you stay home and schools shut.

[IanDG]

Been like this since December 20th - unusual for this place as due to the proximity of the sea we usally don't get much snow.

Starting to get fed up with it all now, cancelled ferries resulting in depleted shelves of food in the super markets and people stuck on the mainland (or here) not able to get home, closed airports requiring helicopter deliveries of emergency blood stocks for transfusion............................

[GruB]

Good job I avoided the canal today.  Would have been well tricky in places to know where the path ended and the water started, until it was too late that is.

[Bledlow]

Reported on the Beeb that by lunchtime today Reading had had 27cm of snow. As it's not stopped snowing at all today, one should add a bit more to that, but only a little, because the snow's been pretty light.

[Jaded]

Been like this since December 20th

Don't worry windy, it will get light again in a few weeks.

[clarion]

Don't confuse windy with alien concepts like 'light'.  He probably can't remember such a thing since he left the tropical paradise they call Staffordshire

[border-rider]

it's still determinedly daylight here  - what a change in just a couple of weeks - but already -2.

They're forecasting -10, and combined with 7-8 inches of snow that could make tomorrow very interesting...

[IanDG]

Jaded -  doh!!! I meant the snow not the darkness, though mid-day at mid winter is often darker than mid-night at mid summer, this year we have had some glorious sunny days, but the sun's so low it hasn't melted the white stuff

Clarion -  I could be bathing in the River Sow at this moment

[Wowbagger]

I'm really glad I didn't postpone tonight's session.

Set off from home at about 2.45 in light snow, which stopped before I reached the school (3 miles or so). A few snowballs being chucked by big kids whose school finishes at 3.

Part way through my session, the snow really came down hard, probably for about half an hour. My group was depleted in number and diminished throughout the hour as parents came for their little darlings. The school secretary came along and suggested that I finish early so that kids could be collected promptly, so I cut short by 15 minutes. Then I was expected to hang around for those parents who came at the normal time! They could have had 15 minutes' extra chess.

The best bit was the journey home. Probably just over an inch had settled and my journey was along the gridlocked A13, so I just blazed down the middle between the opposing lanes of traffic. Very good indeed! I actually got home a few minutes earlier than I would normally have done.

I can hear the thrumming engines of queuing traffic just outside our window.

The snow seems to have stopped, but it's certainly more than doubled most people's journey time.

[Moloko]

Good job I avoided the canal today.  Would have been well tricky in places to know where the path ended and the water started, until it was too late that is.

You're a great copper.  

But you're a shite cropper.  

[Jaded]

Aye. The Copper could'a croppered the crapper.