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08
Jan
Harrogate schools chief asks angry parents to be more understanding of snow closures
A senior school leader in Harrogate has asked parents to be more sympathetic to school closures in the current freezing weather.
The Stray Ferret has reported school closures every morning due to the snow and ice. Many parents in the district have been left angry that some schools are able to open and others close.
Richard Sheriff, the chief executive of Red Kite Learning Trust, which runs Rossett and Harrogate Grammar School and multiple other schools in the Harrogate District says that every school has vastly different circumstances.
Mr Sheriff told the Stray Ferret that factors such as whether staff are able to get into school and the actual geography of where the school is play a significant part in taking the decision to close.
Mr Sheriff added that if a school does stay open, it's up to parents to decide if they can safely get their child to school:
We absolutely hate closing schools, and our main priority is to keep them open. Use COVID for an example, we always do everything in our power to keep things running.
However, the rapidly changing weather makes it very difficult for us to make the right decision.
Many schools aren’t huge organisations and don’t have huge PR systems.
Headteachers are trying their best to organise hundreds of students, and making decisions before 7:30am can be very hard to get right.
It’s a case of you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
I’ve had calls from some parents this morning upset that the schools are still closed, and some parents upset that the schools that are open pose too much risk.
Mr Sheriff asked for people to be sympathetic to headteachers as they will be doing everything in their power to get schools back open.
He emphasised that many headteachers were up before 6:30am physically scraping the grounds in efforts to make the area safe for commuting.
Mr Sheriff also gave an update on the closure of Rosset School amidst confusion as to why it was closed but Harrogate Grammar was not.
He said:
Harrogate Grammar is on flat land, is close to Otley Road and is clear.
Teachers cleared the paths at Rossett school yesterday, but they have frozen overnight making it near impossible to stand. They tried gritting the paths, but it has just frozen in. This poses too much of a safety risk when considering arriving school buses and commuting students.
Call for more help from North Yorkshire Council
Mr Sheriff also pleaded for more support from North Yorkshire Council which is responsible for gritting.
He said:
We would really appreciate the support of the local council. We don’t have the facilities to do anything on a wide scale without the help of the council.
The cul-de-sac near Oatlands Junior School hasn’t been gritted or cleared by the council. We ask that the council don’t just focus on the main roads, but the areas that will allow the schools to reopen.
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