Closing school over the last couple of days has been a very difficult decision to make, as Lothersdale endeavours to stay open as much as possible (the last snow day was in March 2013).

This morning I arrived at school at 7am and felt, with more village traffic moving out of Lothersdale and the gritter coming through, the roads would be clear for registration at 10am and plans were in place for staff to be picked up from Cross Hills at 8.15am.  In addition the weather forecasts were mixed, with some predicting minimal snow and others more significant snowfall!

However, as I travelled through the village at 8am to recheck the road conditions, they had deteriorated significantly and there had been no movement of village traffic, leaving the road and particularly the brow covered with snow and ice and mostly impassable. This gave me no alternative but to make the decision to close the school for health and safety reasons.

At 9.30am the gritters had still not been out in Lothersdale or down into Cross Hills and it continues to snow heavily in Lothersdale.

Thank you for your support and we apologise if our closure has caused any inconvenience.

Best wishes

Mrs J Robinson