Is school trip essential?

SIR – The fact that schools close in this weather is nothing to do with any lack of Bulldog Spirit or overly zealous health and safety culture. Decisions to close are never taken lightly. Sixty years ago, as Mr Hughes would remind us, schools might hav

SIR - The fact that schools close in this weather is nothing to do with any lack of "Bulldog Spirit" or overly zealous health and safety culture.

Decisions to close are never taken lightly. Sixty years ago, as Mr Hughes would remind us, schools might have been open, mainly because teachers lived a lot closer to their schools than they tend to do nowadays. I live 18 miles from my school, one of my teachers over 25 miles.

For two of the days I shut my school I simply could not have got myself or my staff in to supervise the children.

Children also tend to travel further to school than they used, so they also have to come by car.

Are journeys to school for teachers and children essential?

If not then we should follow police advice and keep off the roads. If they are, so be it and we will expect Herts CC to grit the roads outside schools so teachers and parents can be safe.

As I write this there is still snow and ice on the road outside my school, which although it is a bus route, is never ever gritted.

Rod Woodhouse, headteacher, Essendon Primary School.