Hmmm...

I have four grandchildren who go to three different schools, all local.  We haven't had that much snow round here, but there's a couple or three inches down I would estimate.  Two of the schools are open, the other is closed.  Difficult to see why there should be this disparity.  The reason given for the closed school is the catch-all "Health and Safety", which really tells you nothing.  The grandchild who goes there however tells a rather disturbing story - of course it could be wrong or simply playground gossip - but apparently if a school is open and a child does not attend, this goes down as an unauthorised absence, whereas if the school is officially closed it doesn't.  Attendance levels are one of the criteria by which a school is judged, so if the school thinks that due to bad weather a significant number of children won't make it, shutting the school protects the attendance levels and thereby the school's Ofsted rating.  Interesting...?