Did schools close because of snow when you were a kid?

woof woof

woof woof

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Hundreds of schools are closed all over the place and it just made me think back... and I don't remember a single day any school near me was closed because of snow. I'm 56 BTW.

Do you?

We used to build snow forts in the school field and make lots of snow balls and the first lot to get ready went and attacked the next fort :D Great fun :D

But these days we get a bit of snow and all the kids have to stay home.

I imagine that some of this is pseudo health and safety and I say pseudo as it's probably not actually health and safety as such but rather closing schools to limit the number of lawsuits from parents angry because their little angel fell over and bruised their bum :D

I dunno... The way I remember it when I was a kid when it snowed we just got on with it but now... the country stops.
 
woof woof said:
Hundreds of schools are closed all over the place and it just made me think back... and I don't remember a single day any school near me was closed because of snow. I'm 56 BTW.

Do you?

We used to build snow forts in the school field and make lots of snow balls and the first lot to get ready went and attacked the next fort :D Great fun :D

But these days we get a bit of snow and all the kids have to stay home.

I imagine that some of this is pseudo health and safety and I say pseudo as it's probably not actually health and safety as such but rather closing schools to limit the number of lawsuits from parents angry because their little angel fell over and bruised their bum :D

I dunno... The way I remember it when I was a kid when it snowed we just got on with it but now... the country stops.
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Nope it diddnt
 
It’s just the media. Starts with a slow news day, media then exaggerate some cold air coming from Siberia as a result of the met office’s ridiculous warning system.

Media gets social media into a frenzy, which then self perpetuates and grows, followed by panic buying and drama.

Even 5 years ago we would get a foot of snow and no one batted an eye lid.

We have about 1cm of snow here and all this hoohar is pathetic.
 
No, but my mum and dad wouldn't have sued the education authority when I slipped over.

Another factor is that teachers and support staff often don't live locally like they once did
My wife works in education and couldn't get in today, A1 was closed and police advised motorists not to use it
 
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I think that nowadays, it has to do where pupils and particularly teachers live in proximity to the school. Today in Kent in my area, ALL the buses have stopped running and SouthEastern have cancelled (at the last count) 141 services. In the old days, many folks - parents, teachers and pupils used to walk to school. The H&S angle is quite genuine, because all accidents have to be logged nowadays, and there is no shortage of parents who will try to sue anyone given half a chance.
 
Yes, my school in sunny Cornwall was closed for about 3 weeks in the freak winter of 1963.
Mind you there was no sign of where the roads were, the snow was level with the tops of the hedges, between 6 and 10 feet deep in places. The only way in and out for supplies and people were by RAF helicopters which did a wonderful job of keeping us going.
Fun times;)
 
My school closed a few times, even got sent home a couple of times... I'm 28.

Surprisingly both my primary and secondary school are open today...
 
Not a single day, and my school's catchment was well out onto Salisbury Plain. 1978 the snow was really bad down here in the south west - lots of villages cut off. I'd only just started work here but had gone home, out of the snow zone for the weekend, then couldn't get back. Bearing in mind I was stuck 40 miles away and only had a motorbike, I got such a rollocking when I did finally make it back to work...........Times have changed! Having said that a lot of schools here probably did close then. With so many kids now being driven to school and so many people not having a clue how to drive on snow and ice, it's probably better all round if they're kept off the roads. We've had no snow here yet. It's forecast tomorrow, when I have to do a fair bit of driving around, so there'll be cars in ditches everywhere I expect. So looking forward to it!
 
I remember going home early the odd day (a 15 mile drive by bus around the hills) but never knew if a snow day in advance. Some made the decision to close today, yesterday. What the hell?
 
Out of several primary and secondary schools in my area, only 2 are open today.
Schools never closed when I was a kid, late 60's up to 79. Although we rarely get bad snow. I can remember we were sent home early one day because there was really thick fog, visibility must have been down to 30ft or less.
My wife is a dinner lady at a local primary school. The kids aren't allowed outside at lunch or break time and they aren't allowed to touch the snow. In my day it was snowball fights before school, break time, lunch break was a mass snowball fight on the playing field and another snow ball fight on the way home.
 
I remember my school closing a couple of times because of snow, and I'm actually pretty disappointed that my kids school was open yesterday and today. I would have loved the chance to take a couple of days off work and have fun in the snow with the kids, we did make the most of it once we were all home yesterday but not the same as having the day together as a family. We are in kent and haven't had snow like this for at least 5 years so it's not like it would hugely effect the kids education.
 
Mid-30s here and yes it did on a couple of occasions due to connected issues such as boiler breaking, not as a direct response to the snow and access. However this was a large school in a village and 95% of pupils lived within 1km of the school.
 
Yes, my schools closed in the 70's and 80's because of snow. The single caretaker wasn't really able to clear all the paths between the blocks in the hour of daylight before the school began. The heating system routinely packed in too. We got the odd day off because the bus company that collected us from our village would decide not to risk their expensive coaches on uncleared and ungritted back roads. If it snowed that was the only reason we ever had to listen to local radio and hear the list of closed schools :)

I'm fine with my kid's school being closed for a day or two rather than risk the 8 mile cross country route to get her in. There's a couple of inches on the road outside now and it's not getting any warmer today. It is quite significant in my bit of East Anglia. The problem is when there isn't much where you are it looks like a load of fuss over nothing - something we in the East are used to as it rarely snows much here.
 
I lived in London as a child, so not many "snow days". Having said that I was at school in 1963, when juniors wore shorts and it was the one of the coldest/longest winters on record (even in London) and I recall wearing my pyjamas under my trousers, so they must have let us wear long trousers during that winter, that being the only concession to the cold, certainly didnt close.
Cant recall any other closed days either.

Matt
 
They did threaten to close the school and send the kids home once. Bit difficult to do since it was up a 2 mile drive and we were almost all boarders...
 
I think if you opened your front door and literally couldn't get out then the schools would close, or if their boiler went pop, but other than that I always remember sliding all the way to school.
 
All schools around here are closed plus busses and trains cancelled. I don’t even remember schools closing when I was a kid and I’m only 30.

Also me an the colleagues in my area have all been off work for the day (field workers). A manager has sent a couple of 4x4 vehicles out incase we need to go out in an emergency!! It will probably all be clear tomorrow, it’s mad.
 
AMcUK said:
Yes, my schools closed in the 70's and 80's because of snow. The single caretaker wasn't really able to clear all the paths between the blocks in the hour of daylight before the school began. The heating system routinely packed in too. We got the odd day off because the bus company that collected us from our village would decide not to risk their expensive coaches on uncleared and ungritted back roads. If it snowed that was the only reason we ever had to listen to local radio and hear the list of closed schools :)

I'm fine with my kid's school being closed for a day or two rather than risk the 8 mile cross country route to get her in. There's a couple of inches on the road outside now and it's not getting any warmer today. It is quite significant in my bit of East Anglia. The problem is when there isn't much where you are it looks like a load of fuss over nothing - something we in the East are used to as it rarely snows much here.
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Where abouts are you in the east?
 
Regularly enough back in the 70s - very rural with about 30 kids in the school - we would turn up and be told to go home again - was great times.
 
I grew up in London, rare to get snow then. Plus the teachers were more local, didn't have to travel far, traffic was less etc
 
Yes. In the 70s and 80s, our schools regularly closed due to snow. We looked forward to it. We used to listen to the local radio station in the morning for the list of closed schools.


Steve.
 
Yes we closed then off for some sledging

Bm834k
 
I remember one really bad winter in the late eighties. We were in primary school but they had to get all the parents to come collect us as the snow was getting so deep it was covering the doors. I lived next door to the school so my mum was one of the first there and had to help the staff dig us out of the school.

In junior school the Victorian heating often packed in, so it would close, don’t remember senior school ever closing for snow.
 
No school closures back in the 1950's you had to just get on with it, and walk there and back as well or use a push bike..
 
Yep we had a few snow days in the mid 1970s in Southampton. As I recall the reason was running low on heating oil. My memory is a bit hazy, I recall listening to the local radio in the morning to hear the info about which schools were closed.
 
Steve B said:
Yes, my school in sunny Cornwall was closed for about 3 weeks in the freak winter of 1963.
Mind you there was no sign of where the roads were, the snow was level with the tops of the hedges, between 6 and 10 feet deep in places. The only way in and out for supplies and people were by RAF helicopters which did a wonderful job of keeping us going.
Fun times;)
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I was born in 1955 and remember the bad winter of 1963. We moved from our flat (overlooking the Oval Cricket ground) to my grandparents flat about 1 miles away. They had a new place with district central heating so it was really snug. The thing that I remember was the combination of thick fogs and the haze of diesel fumes and smoke from coal fires that made things hard for people with breathing difficulties.

My school, like many, opened after the Christmas break but closed when the air quality fell and even more snow came down.

The overall feeling was hurray, no school but after a while the novelty wore off.

Many remembered the really bad smog in London in 1952 which brought the Clean Air Act 1956 into being but even in the early 1960s coal was still king.

We do not see the harsh winters of history which records the tidal River Thames freezing over but I do remember days when you could taste the foul air and snow would be a lot deeper in the centre of London than it has been in the last 25 years.

Even down here in Somerset it has not been too bad for a long time.

Anyway have a smile

View: https://youtu.be/VKHFZBUTA4k
 
realspeed said:
No school closures back in the 1950's you had to just get on with it, and walk there and back as well or use a push bike..
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:plus1:

I can remember walking to school through the snow, it was upto my nicky nacky noos in short trousers and duffle coat.
which would probably be upto my knees now. :ROFLMAO:
 
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Steve B said:
Yes, my school in sunny Cornwall was closed for about 3 weeks in the freak winter of 1963.
Mind you there was no sign of where the roads were, the snow was level with the tops of the hedges, between 6 and 10 feet deep in places. The only way in and out for supplies and people were by RAF helicopters which did a wonderful job of keeping us going.
Fun times;)
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Mine wasn't. I went to school in Falmouth and I have a very clear memory of walking to school (about a mile) and having a redwing drop dead out of the sky at my feet.
 
we had to keep our coats on if it was really cold .
 
As others have said, I think that back then everybody (pupils and teachers) walked to school so there wasn't the reliance on the road network or public transport.
The attitude was that if you were OK to go out to play in it, you could damn well walk in it to get to school.

The only time my school closed because of snow was in 1982, when you literally had to dig your way out of the front door!
It's also the only time I ever remember my dad staying home from work.

I do remember plenty of "wellies & slippers" days though.
Did anyone else have those or was it just a Welsh thing?

If there was heavy snow forecast, we were given a note to take home advising that the next day was going to be "wellies & slippers"
i.e. send your kids to school in a pair of wellies and pack a pair of slippers in their school bag to change into for indoors.
 
SarahLee said:
I do remember plenty of "wellies & slippers" days though.
Did anyone else have those or was it just a Welsh thing?
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Oh yes, Now you mention it, we did that too, although it was wellies and plimsolls ( now theres a word from the past ;) )

The only "snow days" I remember was back in 62/63 for a couple of days, when the school boiler apparently went tits up
( btw, for those that aren't technically minded, thats a technical term :D )
 
I remember "wellies & pumps" days!
 
Steve B said:
Yes, my school in sunny Cornwall was closed for about 3 weeks in the freak winter of 1963.
Mind you there was no sign of where the roads were, the snow was level with the tops of the hedges, between 6 and 10 feet deep in places. The only way in and out for supplies and people were by RAF helicopters which did a wonderful job of keeping us going.
Fun times;)
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If that was the winter of '62/'63, Dad spent some time being flown round (the South West) on the relief helicopters as a photographer and news cameraman. Using borrowed kit and at the last minute - turned out that the chap who was supposed to be doing it got airsick so couldn't do the job! I was a very small bump at the time so had no problems with transport!
 
SarahLee said:
Plimsolls were "dappers" in this part of the world (but only used for gym lessons)
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The ones from Bata (remember them) were known where I lived as "burglar rubbers" preferred the baseball boot ones myself

That shop went to the wall when it was discovered it made jackboots for the jerries using slave labour
 
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