School snow day procedure outlined

Orkney may have looked like a winter wonderland recently, but the ongoing snow and icy conditions caused significant disruptions to travel, schools and nurseries.

Thankfully, these wintry blasts are relatively uncommon in Orkney, and while we know most bairns love a snow day, it can cause a major headache for some parents and carers if a school/nursery closure is required.

The decision to close is never taken lightly and careful consideration is given to a number of factors –

• Weather forecasts
• Information from school transport providers
• Information from the Council’s own Roads Teams who are out gritting from 6am
• Consultation with the local Police
• Information from Head Teachers on the picture presenting at their individual school

David Brown, the Council’s Education, Leisure and Housing Service Manager (Resources), said: “We understand how frustrating any unplanned school and nursery closure is for many parents/carers and that is why the information available to us has to be carefully considered before a decision on the best course of action is made.

“During periods of bad weather, we monitor the situation on a daily basis thanks to input from the Council’s Civil Contingencies staff who are able to share detailed forecasts for our area from the Met Office.

“The bad weather lead will start at 6am and discussions will begin with the police, roads staff and school transport providers and head teachers.

“We aim to make a final decision by around 7am so that we can alert Radio Orkney for onward sharing on their morning programme, to allow schools to share with parents via their communication channels and on our Council social media pages. However, there are times when we require additional information to allow us to make the right decision – so, occasionally, it may be closer to 7.30am before we are alerting others.

“The vast majority of parents and pupils were informed in a timely manner, and this meant they did not require to travel on Friday morning. Keeping the school buses off the road and potentially around 2,000 pupils from being driven to school was the sensible thing to do as there’s also a danger that we are creating an additional problem in terms of vehicles becoming stuck and blocking the passage for emergency vehicles and gritters/ploughs.

“We recognise that for a small number of inner isles travelling pupils the decision to close and the relaying of the message was too late, and unfortunately they had already set off – for this we apologise and it is a matter we are going to look at further moving forward.”

The Education Directorate and Head Teachers met remotely on Friday lunchtime to discuss if there are further improvements that can be made to the system.

Mr Brown said: “During periods of challenging weather, it is important for parents and carers to be aware that there may be school closures and to keep an eye out on the communication channels mentioned and to prepare a contingency for their child/ren in the event of a closure.

“Orkney is not known for turning white very often so school closures on that basis are relatively unusual thankfully.”

Orkney College will usually remain open given this is a facility for young adults – however there may be times when staff are unable to attend due to poor weather and some courses and classes may be cancelled. Our advice would be to check ahead of leaving home.