Lost snow days place school trips in jeopardy [Independent.ie]
- Published: 29 January 2011
SCHOOLS may cancel the annual tour or reduce the time allowed for exams to make up for the "snow days" that forced them to close in December.
These are among the suggestions from the Department of Education about replacing the tuition time that pupils lost because of the Arctic weather.
In extreme cases, schools could choose to open for part of their Easter holidays but any such decision would be voluntary and with local agreement.
The department has also laid down a marker that it wants greater flexibility around school opening and closing times from next September, to cover unforeseen closures on the scale experienced in December .
Department of Education rules require primary schools to open for 183 days, and for 167 at second-level -- and to make reasonable efforts to compensate for an unexpected shutdown.
Schools worst affected by the freezing conditions that swept the country for four weeks from the end of November were forced to close for 12 days, or more.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
