School Snow Closures - January 2013

[Withnail]

ordering you to collect your child NOW....

What happens if you don't/can't?

They have to revise the following days dinner menu.

 

[staffordjas]

Received an e-mail from Walton School tonight- school expected to be open rest of week,unless we get quite a bit of snow again.

As I type It's snowing again .....

 

[wmrcomputers]

Our primary school tries to ring as many people as they can - but with a limited amount of success not to mention the huge inconvenience of having to do so, so I am really hoping to get them on board. I also know of a couple of schools that have everyone's numbers set into a "snow phone". The message is sent out when required to the entire phonebook, but the schools using this method can't rely on it either as it takes a single mobile phone quite some time to send out a few hundred text messages! Also, when a mobile phone is used this way the network can also start to become congested and add further delays to sent messages. One of our friends received such a text letting them know the school wouldn't be opening.... message sent at 7:40am and received at 11:05am.

I understand that the schools own websites offer updates "sometimes", and that local radio put out announcements too etc., but the point is that you still need to go online or sit around with the radio on and hope not to miss an announcement etc. Surely for the miniscule sum of £1 per year this service would be of use? It's as good as instant - if the teacher sent the message at 7:40am you would have it by 7:45 at the latest and you wouldn't even waste your time getting out of bed "just incase".

Maybe I'm missing something, but to me personally I would happily pay £2 a year to be registered for text messages from both of our kids schools.

My main plus points really are that not everyone has internet access or email on their phones, but I'm sure that 95% of people these days own a mobile phone that at least can receive a text, and it is a fast message delivery method too. I realise that some schools already have similar systems in place but I'm hoping this will be of use to some schools that still go in to panic mode on how to let everyone know.

Time will tell

 

[staffordjas]

My main plus points really are that not everyone has internet access or email on their phones, but I'm sure that 95% of people these days own a mobile phone that at least can receive a text, and it is a fast message delivery method too. Time will tell

I find the text messages much better this year, especially as I'm one of those who don't use their phones for internet or e-mails.It's much easier having the text come through while I'm still in bed ,rather than having to switch the computer on first thing and keep refreshing the page for updates every few minutes.

 

[tek-monkey]

Possibly a wasted venture of mine, but i've just today set up this new online service....
www.schoolclosures.gb.com
If anyone would like to peruse the site and give their thoughts please feel free to do so

How much does it cost you to send the texts? I was looking at something recently but got quoted about 5p per message, was hoping to integrate it into one of my systems. Don't worry if you don't want to reveal your sources, was just curious how you don't make a loss!

EDIT: Ignore me, I see its £1 per receiver not sender!

 

[John Marwood]

And while we are on the subject,how many tins of baked beans will I need to live on when Xhina declares war on the US?

 

[tek-monkey]

How much air do you have in the bunker?

 

[Gramaisc]

He will be generating quite sufficient of his own gasses..

..air will not be necessary..

 

[proactive]

What a delightful image you have painted there.

 

[littleme]

What happens if you don't/can't?

That's sort if my point. At the moment its not really relevant as I'm a 'Stuck at home mum', but in my last job I wasn't allowed to have my mobile phone either on my person or even switched on in the workplace.

If the school can't get hold of me, then next person on the list is husband, he too isn't allowed his mobile switched on in the workplace, he has a work mobile but is not allowed to give the number out to anywhere that's not work related....also he works in different places daily, today Warrington tomorrow Cardiff, next day will be Cumbernauld......slightly difficult to got back from to collect your child NOW!

 

[Noah]

My main plus points really are that not everyone has internet access or email on their phones, but I'm sure that 95% of people these days own a mobile phone that at least can receive a text, and it is a fast message delivery method too. I realise that some schools already have similar systems in place but I'm hoping this will be of use to some schools that still go in to panic mode on how to let everyone know.

Passed on details to a couple of schools

... when Xhina declares war on the US?

They already have, US just doesn't recognise economic & cyber warefare when it sees it.


Back to snow. Back in prehistory when I went to school most children & teachers walked, some teachers and children from better off families had bikes and children from really wealthy families came by car, but only in bad weather. I can only remember two or three teachers having cars, and one of those was an exchange teacher from France who had a 2CV. Notification worked in reverse, if the snow was too deep she phoned the school to say I wasn't coming in. I walked three miles to school, took about three quarters of an hour, could have gone on public transport with a school pass but that took over two hours.

One thing I can remember from 1963 is all the men & youths having to get off a double decker bus and help to push it up a steep hill as the bus was loosing grip & couldn't make it. Interesting health & safety assessment.

 

[wmrcomputers]

Thanks Noah

 

[United57]

The issue with mobile phones is that many people change them regularly and very often do not tell school. So the best method is for a portal where parents go to or even a phone message

 

[wmrcomputers]

The issue with mobile phones is that many people change them regularly and very often do not tell school. So the best method is for a portal where parents go to or even a phone message

Good point about how people seem to change mobile numbers too often these days.
A phone message?? Again we're talking about hundreds of parents trying to get through to the schools answering machine here - it's what currently happens and doesn't work effectively (IMO). If the school only has one main line and answering machine, most people are just going to get an engaged tone surely?
If there's an answering service built into the line, can this effectively play the same message to dozens of callers at the same time? Just curious as I have no experience in this matter.