SNOW CHAOS: St Peter's headteacher praises 'Blitz' spirit of staff

8:00am Saturday 19th January 2013 in Latest

A SOUTHBOURNE headteacher, whose school remained open yesterday despite the snow, has praised the ‘Blitz spirit’ among his staff.

St Peter’s, a primary and secondary school based over two sites in Southbourne and Iford, was open as usual with some three-quarters of its staff making it in, although only around a quarter of pupils attended.

Headteacher David Todd, who started at the Catholic school in September last year, said there was a tradition among staff of carrying on, whatever the conditions were like.

“My predecessor Anthony McCaffrey only shut the school once in 20 years, that was about two years ago when the snowfall really was heavy, and he was quite aggrieved at that,” he said.

“In the morning we assessed whether staff and students could get in, and get home again, and whether the site was safe. We have blocked off a couple of sloping areas but it is just slush really, there is no reason the school can’t open.

“But every school is different and has its own problems.

“There is a real ‘Spirit of the Blitz’ attitude among the staff, some of them had an extra hour on their journeys this morning, but they came in and got on with adapting class groups and lesson plans without the need for any directives from the management.”

Comments(30)

moorsman70 says...
8:03am Sat 19 Jan 13

yes that exactly what a bit of snow is like-the blitz! i just hope the history lessons at this school are better than that

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BournemouthMum says...
8:27am Sat 19 Jan 13

If this school can stay open despite the snow, why can't others?

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BournemouthMum says...
8:29am Sat 19 Jan 13

I thought St. Peter's was a secondary school - not a primary AND secondary school, has this changed? I know it is on 2 sites - one in Littledown area and one in Christchurch but I though it was all one school?

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MummyBagheera says...
8:55am Sat 19 Jan 13

I had the pleasure of working on the reception desk of a local school a few years ago. As soon as two snowflakes had fallen we were deluged with phone calls from 'worried' parents. The school had to close and pandemonium ensued. Didn't even settle. Think we all need 'man up...'

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MummyBagheera says...
9:00am Sat 19 Jan 13

Just to add, well done St. Peter's for opening!

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DAISY3073 says...
9:01am Sat 19 Jan 13

MummyBagheera wrote:
I had the pleasure of working on the reception desk of a local school a few years ago. As soon as two snowflakes had fallen we were deluged with phone calls from 'worried' parents. The school had to close and pandemonium ensued. Didn't even settle. Think we all need 'man up...'
Exactly - that's the situation we get at the school where I work as soon as it starts to snow during the school day - hundreds and hundreds of parents turn up demanding to take their kids home and it becomes so unmanageable. It's not always down to the teaching staff who everyone is so quick to blame. If it snows overnight hundreds of parents make the decision not to send their children in even if school opens (which is obviously what happened in the case of St Peters yesterday if only a quarter of the kids were in).

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aerolover says...
9:16am Sat 19 Jan 13

DAISY3073 wrote:
MummyBagheera wrote:
I had the pleasure of working on the reception desk of a local school a few years ago. As soon as two snowflakes had fallen we were deluged with phone calls from 'worried' parents. The school had to close and pandemonium ensued. Didn't even settle. Think we all need 'man up...'
Exactly - that's the situation we get at the school where I work as soon as it starts to snow during the school day - hundreds and hundreds of parents turn up demanding to take their kids home and it becomes so unmanageable. It's not always down to the teaching staff who everyone is so quick to blame. If it snows overnight hundreds of parents make the decision not to send their children in even if school opens (which is obviously what happened in the case of St Peters yesterday if only a quarter of the kids were in).
Parent would rather have their kids at home. Out in the road playing in the snow rather than in school learning something.
Parents need to stop mollycodling their kids, driving to school letting them stay off school when they want to play computer games.

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ianexams says...
10:17am Sat 19 Jan 13

Well Done to all at the school, far too many schools close when it snows, thankfully St Peter`s is the exception wish other would follow their example. St Peters is a Secondary school with Yr 7 & 8 at Holdenhurst Ave, and Yr 9 to 13 at the Southbourne Site, yet again incorrect reporting by the Echo

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Bournesouthmouth Downpokes says...
11:10am Sat 19 Jan 13

It's not as if it snows that often here in Bmth. So what's wrong with letting the children play, make snowmen, ride sleighs etc. Theirmind certainly won't be on studying if in the classrom anyways. Different case if it snowed often.

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Bournesouthmouth Downpokes says...
11:12am Sat 19 Jan 13

Besides there were a group on boys in school uniform yesterday throwing snowballs at cars passing by thinking it was hilarious. Idiots!

What is wrong with some people??!

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Hessenford says...
11:42am Sat 19 Jan 13

Well done to St Peters for putting all the schools that shut to shame, I think it's a little disrespectful to compare teachers going to work in the snow with the blitz spirit, getting to work after a couple of inches of snow is no comparison to what people carried on doing during world war 2.

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BournemouthMum says...
11:48am Sat 19 Jan 13

Bournesouthmouth Downpokes wrote:
Besides there were a group on boys in school uniform yesterday throwing snowballs at cars passing by thinking it was hilarious. Idiots!

What is wrong with some people??!
Oh come on! It's called having FUN! I got one thrown at my living room window and several thrown at my car. Lighten up!

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Hessenford says...
11:58am Sat 19 Jan 13

BournemouthMum wrote:
Bournesouthmouth Downpokes wrote:
Besides there were a group on boys in school uniform yesterday throwing snowballs at cars passing by thinking it was hilarious. Idiots!

What is wrong with some people??!
Oh come on! It's called having FUN! I got one thrown at my living room window and several thrown at my car. Lighten up!
Would you say the same if a snow ball hit someones windscreen and caused them to swerve and hit a pedestrian.

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Bournesouthmouth Downpokes says...
12:09pm Sat 19 Jan 13

Hessenford wrote:
BournemouthMum wrote:
Bournesouthmouth Downpokes wrote:
Besides there were a group on boys in school uniform yesterday throwing snowballs at cars passing by thinking it was hilarious. Idiots!

What is wrong with some people??!
Oh come on! It's called having FUN! I got one thrown at my living room window and several thrown at my car. Lighten up!
Would you say the same if a snow ball hit someones windscreen and caused them to swerve and hit a pedestrian.
BournemouthMum, I too am a mum of a young child. Read my comments on the other thread and see how I was 100% all for having fun yesterday, as we did, built snowmen and had snowball fights, but...

What Hessenford says underlines the point I was trying to get across. In a nutshell, and projectile thrown at a moving vehicle is cause for concern. As a driver having a speed camera flash in the dark whilst a speeding car drove past one time almost made me jump out my skin. Thought it was lightning for a second. How anyone can justify throwing snowballs at passing cars is beyond me!

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Bournesouthmouth Downpokes says...
12:12pm Sat 19 Jan 13

Maybe I should throw a snowball at a vunerable elderly person for fun and cause them to have a heart attack. Throwing a snowball at a stranger, anyone who is not game on, a friend or a team at school or something is NEVER OK!

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roguetrader666 says...
12:44pm Sat 19 Jan 13

'Blitz spirit'??? It's a bit of snow! And just slushy snow in that area, as it turns out! There is nothing particularly heroic about getting to work. I doubt that any self employed people failed to manage it, and if they didn't they wouldn't have been paid! Given that they only work 38 weeks a year anyway, teachers should put in the extra effort. They always used to 15+ years ago without all the self gratification and back patting. The stories should be turned around to highlight the teachers that didn't work rather than those who did!

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alasdair1967 says...
12:44pm Sat 19 Jan 13

Well done to the staff at St. Peter's for having the backbone to open shame others could not follow suit

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H2o-hara says...
1:39pm Sat 19 Jan 13

Can't quite see the WW2 connections . I think they just turned up to school in the snow .
I praised the lad on yesterdays news after walking 1 1/2 hours to school , took his GCSE exam and then walked 1 1/2 hours back home again. No blitz's ! Just snow. In EU countries it's just a normal Winters day .

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retry69 says...
1:42pm Sat 19 Jan 13

Only echo readers could turn this thread around to speed cameras never miss a chance LOL wheres dorsetspeed.Well done St.Peters top of the form as usual

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alasdair1967 says...
2:23pm Sat 19 Jan 13

retry69 wrote:
Only echo readers could turn this thread around to speed cameras never miss a chance LOL wheres dorsetspeed.Well done St.Peters top of the form as usual
I bet the mobile camara units where gutted the traffic was at a standstill all that lost revenue

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retry69 says...
2:30pm Sat 19 Jan 13

alasdair1967 wrote:
retry69 wrote:
Only echo readers could turn this thread around to speed cameras never miss a chance LOL wheres dorsetspeed.Well done St.Peters top of the form as usual
I bet the mobile camara units where gutted the traffic was at a standstill all that lost revenue
Here we go boriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
iiiiiing

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TD61 says...
2:43pm Sat 19 Jan 13

BournemouthMum wrote:
Bournesouthmouth Downpokes wrote:
Besides there were a group on boys in school uniform yesterday throwing snowballs at cars passing by thinking it was hilarious. Idiots!

What is wrong with some people??!
Oh come on! It's called having FUN! I got one thrown at my living room window and several thrown at my car. Lighten up!
Bus drivers at Hamworthy didn't think it was fun yesterday when some little oiks thought it funny to throw snowballs with stones packed inside them - one of which broke the windscreen of a bus.

Snowballs are fine, but throwing them at cars and other moving vehicles is not fine - it can startle the driver and cause an accident as it very nearly did yesterday several times, before the police moved them away to the local rec field where they could throw them to their hearts content and without damaging property.

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sammmymac says...
2:57pm Sat 19 Jan 13

What a shame that after the staff made the effort to get in and the school remained open, 75% of the pupils didn't bother turning up! This is probably the reason why most schools did shut: they knew that most of the children wouldn't turn up anyway.

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alasdair1967 says...
4:07pm Sat 19 Jan 13

retry69 wrote:
alasdair1967 wrote:
retry69 wrote:
Only echo readers could turn this thread around to speed cameras never miss a chance LOL wheres dorsetspeed.Well done St.Peters top of the form as usual
I bet the mobile camara units where gutted the traffic was at a standstill all that lost revenue
Here we go boriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

iiiiiing
I was being sarcastic

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EGHH says...
7:20am Sun 20 Jan 13

My Parents lived through the Blitz. I think they would have preferred 57 consecutive nights of snow not bombs!!

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retry69 says...
8:08am Sun 20 Jan 13

Those who seemed to have been offended by the wording just shows the petty mindedness of our society and they must have been a joy when the Sweet had their hit record Ballroom B****

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moorsman70 says...
11:25am Sun 20 Jan 13

how on earth is a little snow the same as being bombed night after night-answer it isnt tho maybe the school would like to re write more history as that type are prone to doing

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dinkie123 says...
1:59pm Sun 20 Jan 13

For all those asking why schools shut and saying how pathetic it is...maybe you should think first. St.Peters school is set in a one building school...many schools have several buildings requiring students to manouevre outside in order to get to classes etc. Also, there are other factors, ie access. My sisters school was closed as the main road to the school was up hill and impassable and therefore shut by the police. The other access to the school is a one way road, and the other a road that leads from farmland and out of the catchment area....there's also the problem that the majority of the students at my sisters school, rely on some 17 buses to get them in, many of which refused to run as there routes are narrow, single track country roads. As for st.Peters and only 25% of students turning up, I believe it's a catholic school and accepts people from all over, not just bournemouth. Therefore people who live in Wimborne for example, would never have made it before school finished!!!!

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alanhl says...
1:00am Tue 22 Jan 13

BLITZ SPIRIT!!! GOOD GRIEF ITS ONLY 4" OF SNOW FOR GOODNESS SAKE. what I find hard to believe is that our doctors surgeries closed on Friday apparently the doctors came in for the morning and then went home due to weather conditions, the dustbin men did not arrive and the postman still has not delivered

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alanhl says...
1:03am Tue 22 Jan 13

Bournesouthmouth Downpokes wrote:
Besides there were a group on boys in school uniform yesterday throwing snowballs at cars passing by thinking it was hilarious. Idiots!

What is wrong with some people??!
look at your previous quote and have a think how sensible you are

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