Snowday!
Today it snowed. And snowed. And then snowed some more. And as I stood in the Y2 classroom I was teaching in, I could see the playing field gradually being covered in a blanket of snow. The tips of the tallest grasses peeking out, and then submitting to the rising tide of frozen flakes. I thought about my car on the car on the car park. It isn’t very good in the snow, but at least I live within walking distance of today’s school….
Tomorrow I am teaching out in Derbyshire and I very much doubt that I will be able to get there - the road I live on is a steep hill and as I write, I can see the abandoned cars scattered along the pavement. I watch as a taxi driver fishtails his way downhill, brake lights flashing as he pumps them hopelessly and skids into a kerb gracefully.
Back in the school at 11.30 it was decided that the children should have their lunch early and parents should be alerted to come and pick their children up. Teachers exchange worried conversations - ‘They’ve just rang from the nursery and I have to pick my child up by 1 as they are having to close’ a worried TA tells her colleague. ‘I’ve asked if I can go, but there are too many children still here’.
The inconvenience of having a school close, of asking parents to make their excuses at work, drive home and collect their children on the way, may seem like an over-reaction on the school’s part, but they have a duty to keep their own staff safe, preserve their ability to collect their own children from their early closing schools, and get them home safely. Yes, it’s annoying, but I am really glad I don’t have to make the decision, and that the decision in this school was made decisively and early.
By 2.30 I was home again with the heating on and a coffee and toasted hot cross bun to warm me up. My kids are too old for school and they were safe in the sitting room playing a video game - just as giddy as if they had been sent home from school early too!
The trees in our garden are laden with snow and still it falls, layering up and up, until big wet soft clods let go o the branches and plummet to the ground with a soft flop.
I know we are pathetic in this country when it comes to snow, but I love snow days. Even when I don’t get paid for a day. They are sporadic, random, rare, and magical and a chance to be with our children and connect with our inner child again….
I hope you have a happy snow day!
Sarah
