Blaenau Gwent: School 'snow days' could soon be a thing of the past

Could school lessons over Zoom soon replace sledding and snowman building?

School snow days could be a thing of the past because of the success of home learning.

The director of education for Blaenau Gwent Council said IT improvements meant "meaningful education" could continue when they have snowy weather.

Lynn Phillips added: "We don't just want to go back to where we were pre-pandemic."

The comments were made during a meeting of the council's education committee on Tuesday.

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"Where there is appropriate access to IT devices in the home, when we have adverse weather conditions it does mean that meaningful education can continue as opposed to what is known as a snow day," said Mr Phillips

Cllr John Hill added: "We've learnt a lot particularly around IT, and I'm concerned there is a danger we'll throw that away."

Mr Phillips said a working group made up of headteachers had been set up by the council.

This group will look at how lessons learnt during the pandemic can be used to improve education standards in the county, according the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"[Ending snow days is] an example of the type of thinking we are putting in place," Mr Phillips added.