School closures in UK because of snow cause frustration for parents

By Nina Massey, Press Association Education Correspondent

Thousands of children were thrilled to have a snow day off from school, but the closures were not greeted with joy by some parents.

While hundreds of schools across the UK closed after snow fell overnight on Thursday, some were shut despite the white stuff barely touching them.

Wales, Bristol, Greater London, Cornwall, Devon, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Somerset, Dorset, Hampshire, Berkshire, and West Sussex were just some of the areas to announce closures.

However, one Twitter user, Codders, posted: "Pathetic the kids school is closed today why? No snow if we take kids out we get fined are the schools gonna get fined and pay us parents? I doubt it proves fines are just money making scam for the schools."

With his profile location set to Llanelli, West Wales, the message was accompanied by a photograph showing the lightest dusting of snow.

Donna Marie, also in Wales, posted: "@GMB our school closed yesterday at 12.30 due to the forecast, at that time no snow had fallen and didn't fall until 4.30pm!! So they could have stayed #itsajoke #healthandsafetygonemad".

Another user, Emily, tweeted that her school was closed despite there being no snow.

Tracy Cameron responded to a tweet from Monmouthshire County Council saying all community hubs and libraries were still open with: "Why no schools open then? The knock on effect for parents is terrible. What mountain do all these teachers live up?"

In most cases, parents, carers and pupils were able to check on the status of their school through social media, or the local council website.

The Department for Education website also allowed people to enter their postcodes to find out what institutions in their area had shut due to the bad weather.