Bad Weather & Attendance at School or Work

[spen666]

I generally work mainly out of my office. I had been debating going into the office today ( I will be there tomorrow in any event). When I woke up and saw the weather was very wet, I decided to stay dry and work from home.
I wonder now in the hybrid / working environment many of us find ourselves in, whether attendance at work is affected by the weather. For example if you normally go into office say on a Monday & Tuesday, you see it is raining on a Monday, so decide to go in Tuesday & Wednesday instead. Clearly this only applies to those who can choose their days in the office.

I also wondered if it affected attendance at school by pupils, with some parents deciding they can't be bothered to take their kids in when weather is crap, or older kids just refusing to go in the wet weather.

 

[cookiemonster]

Here in Hong Kong, we have two kinds of warning systems in place for bad weather.

If the black rainstorm warning is raised, say before the morning rush hour kicks in and before the kids and teachers go to school, everything stops until it's lowered to either red or amber. Believe me, it's astonishing how much water can fall out of the sky during a black rainstorm warning. After the black rainstorm has been removed, things get back to normal. So, if it's still morning, schools will have, at least, an afternoon session.

Typhoon warnings are a bit different. We have T3, T8, T10 and T12. I've no idea why they chose those figures. Anyhoo, T3 is a just a strong wind. T8 and above, is the full typhoon. Everything stops at T8 and above. Transport, shops, businesses, schools, everything shuts down until the storm has passed. We haven't had a T10/T12 since 2018.

All other countries in Asia have a similar system in place.

 

[The Crofted Crest]

I go into the office depending on what meetings I have, usually three or four times a week. The weather determines whether the first leg of the commute is by bike or train.

 

[spen666]

I go into the office depending on what meetings I have, usually three or four times a week. The weather determines whether the first leg of the commute is by bike or train.

If I have in person meetings I will go in, but otherwise, I have flexibility. The weather this morning persuaded me to WFH

 

[Bromptonaut]

Since August I've been 100% WFH. I'm in the South Midlands and the office is on the East Sussex coast. I've never been there and will almost certainly have no need to go there before my contract ends in 14 months time.

When I had regular days in the office, until April 2022, or later doing outreaches at hospitals or foodbanks the weather would have to be very bad indeed for me not to go. If I were hybrid now though and my non appearance would not affect colleagues, or if I walked or cycled rather than drove in I'd happily swap days around as the mornings get darker.

Kids and school are a different ball game as most focus on poor attendance very quickly. When my 2 were at senior school there were snow days and occasionally flooding made it difficult for buses and/or staff to get in but it's very rare, maybe twice in 34 years we've been cut off by floods.

 

[icowden]

I haven't worked in the office since Covid, so doesn't affect me.
With regards to school attendance, it's unlikely as attendance is monitored. Once it falls below certain levels there will be involvement from Social Services, Child protection etc. It's a form of neglect. Any absence has to be authorised by the school, and any illness is documented. Each school can see easily the attendance level of every child.

 

[spen666]

I haven't worked in the office since Covid, so doesn't affect me.
With regards to school attendance, it's unlikely as attendance is monitored. Once it falls below certain levels there will be involvement from Social Services, Child protection etc. It's a form of neglect. Any absence has to be authorised by the school, and any illness is documented. Each school can see easily the attendance level of every child.

you assume in relation to kids going to school that parents or children are bothered about their attendance records. That being the case its amazing their is any unauthorised absence at all.

Absenteeism in 2022/3 was apparently 7.5%
another surprising ( to me) figure is that it is only when a pupil is absent 10 times in 8 weeks that a school will consider seeking to fine a parent. That is child must be absent at least 25% of the time before a school consider seeking to fine https://tinyurl.com/ym7v8akj

 

[icowden]

you assume in relation to kids going to school that parents or children are bothered about their attendance records. That being the case its amazing their is any unauthorised absence at all.

Children aren't. Parents are. Non attendance will result in fines, possible interventions from social services which, if progressed far enough down the line may result in the child being taken into care.

another surprising ( to me) figure is that it is only when a pupil is absent 10 times in 8 weeks that a school will consider seeking to fine a parent. That is child must be absent at least 25% of the time before a school consider seeking to fine https://tinyurl.com/ym7v8akj

Because - as you point out - fines are generally ineffective. Also it's the LEA that do the fining, not the school. The school report the attendance data to the LEA. It's mandatory.

 

[BoldonLad]

I haven't worked in the office since Covid, so doesn't affect me.
With regards to school attendance, it's unlikely as attendance is monitored. Once it falls below certain levels there will be involvement from Social Services, Child protection etc. It's a form of neglect. Any absence has to be authorised by the school, and any illness is documented. Each school can see easily the attendance level of every child.

Clearly, this procedure did not work in the case of Sara Sharif, otherwise, she may have still been alive. She was, according to BBC News at 6, absent for 4 months!

 

[icowden]

Clearly, this procedure did not work in the case of Sara Sharif, otherwise, she may have still been alive. She was, according to BBC News at 6, absent for 4 months!

It seems that 4 months before her death, she was removed from her school and the school informed that she was being home schooled - probably due to increasing concerns from the school and social services. At that point social services dropped the ball and failed to continue to follow her case combined with the efforts from the three adults to conceal Sara from the LHA and Social Services.

 

[BoldonLad]

It seems that 4 months before her death, she was removed from her school and the school informed that she was being home schooled - probably due to increasing concerns from the school and social services. At that point social services dropped the ball and failed to continue to follow her case combined with the efforts from the three adults to conceal Sara from the LHA and Social Services.

Interesting.

Where is that reported, please?

As with all procedures involving people, it is not foolproof.

 

[icowden]

Interesting.
Where is that reported, please?

Across most of the press reporting. Anecdotally, my wife spends a lot of time dealing with Surrey Social Services and there are, as you might expect, very good Social Workers and completely useless ones. The school often have to drive engagement rather than SS being as pro-active as they might be.

 

[BoldonLad]

Across most of the press reporting. Anecdotally, my wife spends a lot of time dealing with Surrey Social Services and there are, as you might expect, very good Social Workers and completely useless ones. The school often have to drive engagement rather than SS being as pro-active as they might be.

Yes, with a daughter and a brother, both teachers, that does not amaze me.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

When I was a teacher at a Primary School for the last 3 Years of my career I saw several kids that I wouldn;t have let anywhere near their parents

The school had so many worries and incidents reported to SS that they had to keep a separate file for some of them on the computer
The pre-computer files for such kids were in a large locked cabinet in the archive store so the problem was not a new one!

that was just the one school!