When I arrived from Reading in 1986, I didn’t realise that the wondrous snowflake
would play such a key part in my professional life! My very first day at The Warriner was a ‘SNOW day and I was stranded in my lodgings in Chacombe. I was hugely impressed that, as a newly appointed Deputy Head, I could get paid for staying at home. My conscience was so sorely tested that I even tried to drive across Banbury that day, so I quickly became familiar with the fact that rural lanes react badly when heavily contaminated with snow and ice. At that time, my colleague Deputy Head made the early morning decision about snow days, even though the Head lived just off the Broughton Road. Has it always been the case that the Deputy is likely to get shot before the Sheriff?? In the last 8 or so years, the task of ‘calling’ snow days has fallen at my door although the accountability for the decision still lies with the Sheriff (sorry – the Headteacher). I’ve noticed a trend with the more recent Heads at The Warriner; Mr. Spencer lived the other side of Milton Keynes, Mr. Norman the other side of Bicester and now, Mr. Hindmarsh near to Northampton. First as Deputy Head and now as Facilities Manager, I have continued to live in Dodge City.
Recent events have simply served to underline that nothing has the potential to generate more heat than a spell of seriously cold weather. For me a snow day situation may develop during the previous week. As a Geography teacher by training, some would say I’ve always had a somewhat unhealthy relationship with the more attractive BBC weather girls. With the advent of the internet, this interest has been stimulated by access to ‘online’ weather forecasters as well. Still, the local BBC Oxford website is one that I use much too often to satisfy my deep-seated, meteorological needs. I monitor the looming threat and start getting edgy about colleagues having their emergency communications tree up to date. I may even chance the odd word of warning in the Head’s ear but, in the end it boils down to the day of the event when THAT decision has to be made.
The Site Manager at The Warriner is an absolute diamond but he too has unusual patterns of behaviour that include wandering the site in the early hours to make sure that ‘everything is alright’. On a snow day, nothing is alright!! He and I will make contact at about 5.45am and grunt at one another in order to make an initial judgement and this is when it all gets rather tricky. To employ a meteorological metaphor, we begin to suffer the effects of a depression. Before calling the Head we try to anticipate how the many, many rural lanes might be shaping up. Are the people in Shenington able to contact the rest of the known Universe? If we think that our vast catchment area is going to be able to access road transport, then what of our 150 or so staff? For reasons of personal sanity and, it must be said, lower rental costs and the chance to visit one’s local without being spotted, colleagues may choose to live in strange and distant lands. Leamington, Lutterworth and, yes, Northampton. Unfortunately, we may be able to assume that “Priority 1” routes will have been treated but what of the ‘Priority 12’ routes that many have to travel??
Let us now move to the assumption that some or all of both the staff and students can make it to The Warriner. We now look out at the site at which they will arrive. Are all the water, heating and food preparation systems working? On a good day we can say ‘yes’ but this is not always certain!! Next, can we say that the site is safe to be inhabited by about 1500 people? This may seem a standard question that can be promptly answered, one way or another. Sadly, not so. Our school population comprises a cross section of the human race; agile and accident prone, fit and creaking, sensible and less so, cautious and daredevil, timid and bold. An icy pathway will be travelled fearfully by a wary physicist carrying 15 lots of coursework but converted into the Cresta Run by a virile Year 10 with several potential girlfriends to impress. ALL must beware!
If you see a snowball coming you can take evasive action but this is less fun for the unwary who crosses the firing line unaware of the risk.
The medical room is a miserable place when your ears are ringing and your head is pounding. Everyone also knows that several hours in A & E awaiting an X-ray and reading the ‘Woman and Home’ from December 1974 is a less than appealing prospect.
Right, the site looks dodgy can we act to make things better? On most occasions the answer will, of course, be ‘Yes’. But our Site Manager works alone on a huge site which includes extensive playgrounds, car parks and access roads. So exceptional have been the recent events that salt supplies were exhausted within two days but Mother Nature was not!! Now, what about that forecast. Shall we expend time and effort when Carol Kirkwood (one of my personal favourites), is saying that worse is to come? Well, that’s as big a question as to how reliable Carol’s pronouncements might be!!
If our transport providers can’t get buses onto the school routes then we are in bother. Especially if those arriving by car along main roads can’t see any problem. Of course, one of our first calls is to the control desk for these buses and we quickly get a view on their position. If the coaches can’t get past the icy ambush laid at Shutford 5-ways, then they’ll never get to Dodge in time for the educational ho-down!!
The time may now be 6-15 or 6.30am and The Head is expecting advice and guidance – but notice I didn’t say counselling!! At some point, I have to take the plunge and dial the number. Dodge City is surrounded and we need the cavalry. I feed all the known information into the Head’s ear and, if asked, may even venture an opinion or recommendation. We both know that the outcome will be a decision that will be understood and approved by some but derided and arousing outrage in others. When Carol Kirkwood gets it wrong, she has no idea of the humiliating effect it can have on a stranded Lancastrian, a Northampton rugby supporter and goodness knows how many families with their ears glued to Radio Oxford.
If a closure is to be made then a whole new adventure starts. Our transport providers are given the message. The local authority has to be told and local radio stations are given the information. This has to be done with the use of a top secret codeword that changes every year. Few people are privy to this word for with it, anyone can close the school. Many have tried but none have succeeded, largely because I haven’t been offered enough yet!! Someone much cleverer than me posts a message on the website and then the fun starts. It falls to me to initiate the emergency communications procedure by phoning those nominated at the top of each ‘branch’. I suppose that most teachers are not renowned for their sense of humour. I can confirm that this is definitely the case at 6.45am. Those with young children, no problem because they are used to it – the rest can be quite unpleasant. Firstly, they have been awoken from some sweet dream of 100% GCSE passes but also they have to react to the fact that they must now contact and pass information to another 10/12 colleagues when they can’t string two words together !!
Thankfully, severe weather is still rare and such weather over a prolonged period is quite exceptional. Recent events have been unprecedented in my 22 or so years at the school. The decisions we make are always based upon the best available information and with the well-being of every member of our community at the centre of the process. It is an inexact science and we are grateful for the understanding shown by the vast majority of our parent body in recent days. If this ‘essay’ gives some insight into what goes on then I will have achieved my goal and, I hope, provided some small measure of amusement. When the weather is lousy, it ‘Snow Fun at All’. LONG LIVE CAROL KIRKWOOD !!
John Gill (February 2009 – will I ever forget it?)