One of the biggest rumblings this week has been the number of parents criticising Headteachers’ decisions to shut 60 schools in Oxford and the surrounding areas because of the winter weather.

The argument is raging across the country, but what is becoming clear is that it’s a balancing act. You’ve obviously got numerous issues to address – the safety of getting children to and from school, problems throughout the day such as heating failures and treacherous conditions, as well as the conundrum of whether the teachers can actually get there to provide inadequate cover and supervision.

Opinions on this are going to vary widely, but it seems to have enraged enough people to start all kinds of debates; the Education Secretary has had to defend Headteachers decisions after a nationwide parent backlash, there are disputes about whether it is sending out the “wrong message” to children, there are angry comments on blogs, newspapers and forums complaining that people simply view schools as babysitting services. And in the midst of it all, the children are simply throwing a few snowballs.

It’s a lose-lose situation for Headteachers and hindsight is a wonderful thing. There were severe weather warnings and if the snow had continued – and children were stranded or in danger – then no doubt their decisions to open the schools would have been criticised as well.

What no-one has really remarked upon is that for once, the weatherman got it right when he spotted that a lot of snow was coming our way, but I still didn’t believe him enough to go out and buy some wellies!