schools staying open and trying to get there!

[TinyTinker]

I thought the roads/pavements weren't to bad this morning, but when we actually go out there I soon found the pavements and roads were all like sheet ice!

I had a triple pushchair (not all side by side) and also had 3 x 5 year olds and an 9 year old to walk to school. So I have a strap (set of reins) that I get the walking 5 year olds to hold onto in a line behind me - our pavements are only wide enough for the double width pushchair and not much space beside for children holding on or walking beside me! I have my 9 year old walk behind the line.

So we were walking up the road and I was finding the big heavy mountain style pushchair was sliding and not gripping as good and I was also not able to grip with my feet good enough to counteract it....so precariously we continued. We then had to cross a minor road, about half way across one of the 5yo slipped over and I looked back to see them in the middle of the road on all fours! I obviously couldn't let go of my large pushchair to go fetch him so was calling for him to get up and out of the road etc - he looked like bambi on ice bless him, every time he went to get up he slipped over again. The rest of the children were safe on the pavement by this time - my 9 year old grabbed him and helped him up by the coat and managed to get him to the side of the road - in this time a car had come along and we had waved him down to stop - as he didn't seem to be slowing down for the situation in front of him:panic:

Anyway - I felt that this incident was enough to prove it was too dangerous in these kind of conditions = Am I in my rights to send letters out to parents stating if conditions are bad (even if schools feels it's safe to open) I may not do the morning school run or children would be late! I was also going to contact the school regarding this. My husband (assistant) gets back around 9am and could then take them all in his 4x4 land rover so they would be like 20-30 minutes late for school.

[chris goodyear]

I wouldn't have a problem asking parents to either take their own children or let them stay with me for the day and not have to go out. I think what you have described is much too dangerous. But the idea of your husband taking them is the best. I'm sure the parents would be happier getting their children to school late rather than an accident happening.

[AliceK]

I send out my winter weather policy out to all parents every year to remind them of it. I state in there that if I do not feel it is safe for us all to walk to school / nursery then I will advise parents that we are not going. I will decide in the morning not only if it might be safe for us to go out at 8.30am but also can I get back to nursery to collect at 11.45, so if it is bad out and still snowing I might decide not to do any nursery drop off as I can't guarantee I can get back there later to collect..

xxx

[blue bear]

Our school is very practical,get here safely if you can, come late if necessary or not at all if absolutely impossible is the message they give put for this type of weather.
Have a chat with the head I think he'd rather they were late than run over

[bunyip]

Hi TT :waving:

If you consider the trip dangerous you have an obligation to not undertake it. So far, so good.

But, as a service provider, with a contract to the client, you may be in a sticky situation by not providing that service. It will all come down to:

what your contract says
what your policies say
how far a disgruntled client may choose to push the point



NB. The following is a copy/paste of something I wrote on a similar thread earlier. Boring to those who've already read it, but maybe useful otherwise.

Perhaps your contract/policies may well already cover this, but I'll mention it anyway in case any CMs reading this have yet to consider it. We should never guarantee school runs in terms of contracting ourselves to perform the actual pick up/drop off at school. To do so, means a CM would be in breach of contract in such circumstances as snow, etc, and could be held liable for any costs incurred by the parent in taking time off work or getting emergency childcare to do it.

The safest thing to do is to put the times (only) on the contract and not write down anything like "including to/from school". Have a policy which states that, whilst you will endeavour to do school runs in normal circumstances, you will make a judgement based on the wellbeing of all mindees in exceptional circumstances, such as bad weather, emergency incidents, etc. Remember anything can happen. I've never been prevented/delayed by bad weather, but have had severe delays due to a chemical spillage, a building fire and a lorry stuck under a bridge en route.