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- 08/01/2010: DELL - A poor customer experience
- 07/01/2010: "School closed due to snow" - is this the true reason?
- 16/10/2009: Afghanistan - Should we send 500 Troups?
- 01/07/2009: East Coast - "No Bailout" says Government
- 05/05/2009: A New God has Arrived - Health and Safety
- 05/05/2009: Royal Mail Liberalisation - What a Debacle
- 29/04/2009: Housing Market - Was Our Gordon Prudent as Chancellor?
- 28/04/2009: When the Economy is Shot, Bash the Motorist
- 23/04/2009: Goody - The Musical
- 16/04/2009: Foxtons - Renewal Fees
“School closed due to snow” - is this the true reason?
On Radio 4’s Today programme yesterday a spokesman from Ofsted let something slip that the presenters did not take up, and has not been aired anywhere else as far as I know.
- If a school closes for the day due to inclement weather, this day is excluded from the authorised/unauthorised absence statistics.
- If a school open and, say, only 25% of pupils manage to attend, this means that 75% of 2 x half day attendances will be marked as absences.
What has been bandied about are people like spokesmen from the Association of Head Teachers as well as government ministers and the like harping on about the “difficult judgement call” head teachers have to make.
I don’t think I am being cynical to say that this “difficult judgement call” has more to do with the effect on the league table absence figures than the logistics of opening. Of course, it is nowadays useful to be able to call on the God of Health and Safety as the main reason for closure - as so few people then question what bit of health and safety makes the school site so dangerous.