Snow Storm Emma: Will my school close today? Headmaster reveals CLOSURE secrets

Every time it snows much attention is given to whether schools across the country will shut for the day.

There is also often confusion as to why some schools in a county will close while others will stay open.

Appearing on BBC Newsnight, Geoff Barton, from the Association of School and College Leaders, explained that there are two major factors that headteachers must consider when they are making a decision about the weather.

He said: “There is a scale of different considerations.

“The number one factor that parents will want to hear is: ‘can we supervise their child safely?’

“That’s the most important thing.”

When considering the safety of opening the school, Mr Barton explained that the headteacher must look at whether there are enough staff to supervise children.

He said, “safety” of the school tended to take into account whether there were enough staff to man the school was more important than concerns over icy paths.

The headteacher argued lots of staff, unlike children, do not live in walking distance to their school and therefore there is a danger of not having enough staff to accommodate the number of pupils who make it into school in the snow.

Reflecting on his own previous decisions to on whether to open his school, he added: “I knew was that with 85 teaching staff, there was about 30 of those who lived more than 20 miles away from the school.”

However, according to the Association of School and College Leaders Chair, child safety is only the first consideration that must be made by teachers.

He said: “Then we must consider: ‘are we able to give some kind of educational quality to what we’re doing?’”

The teacher indicated that there was no point in opening the school if pupil or teacher numbers were likely to be so low there would be little educational value in opening.

Mr Barton said: “The decision was, ‘can I safely supervise those children and bring staff in to do it?’

“Every member of the leadership teams of all schools will be making that decision before 7am to let parents know of their decision.”