Covid-19 brought a revolution in teaching and learning.
While we can all agree that it is impossible to replicate the classroom online, teachers and children around the globe discovered innovative ways to learn virtually as a result of the Covid pandemic, and a world of potential opened up.
Whether schools are closed due to non-teaching staff taking industrial action or outbreaks of viruses, learning can continue thanks to technology. However, there is an occasion for which I think schools should not try to carry on, and that is during heavy snow.
We all have magical childhood memories of waking up to heavy snow, lessons being cancelled, and feeling like we’d won a trip to Disneyland with a day of fun and joy lying ahead. In the digital age, we need to save our snow days.
In today’s world, we are constantly pushed for time. A snow day provides the perfect opportunity to just… stop. Finally, thanks to the weather, adults have time to play with the kids and make magical memories.
A walk around the local area, admiring the beauty of nature, building a little snowman, making hot chocolate at home and watching the snowflakes dancing, wondering where they will land. These simple things can become memories that last a lifetime.
Snow days present opportunities for children to play with and get to know others living nearby as they bond over sledging. This is also a chance to build community and social conscience. Check in on that older neighbour – do they need something from the shops or help clearing their path?
Children have a fundamental right to play
Besides the family time, a good dump of snow provides unique learning opportunities that cannot be replicated in a classroom. Whether it is the engineering and cooperative challenge that comes from building an igloo, trying out some science experiments, looking for animal footprints, or getting creative with food colouring, there are so many valuable things that children can learn from playing in the snow.
It has been well publicised in recent years that the majority of children now spend less time outdoors than prison inmates. Getting outdoors is crucial for a child’s wellbeing. Snow days provide the perfect opportunity to encourage outdoor play and allow kids to benefit from the physical exercise that gathering snow or dragging a sledge up a hill brings.
Finally, and most importantly, the fun of playing in snow is worthwhile in and of itself. Snow is magical and wondrous to children. And children have a right – a real, fundamental right, according to Unicef – to simply play.
Childhood joy and fun are important. Children are not employees who owe adults time and productivity. Trying to force online learning when schools are closed is unnecessary and mean-spirited.
I’m all for teachers suggesting some fun snow day activities for their class, or even having some contact in order to say hello and allow a pupil to keep in touch with an important adult in their life. But snow days are rare, and we can let children off the hook for a couple of days to play – a privilege we all enjoyed ourselves as children.
Gemma Clark is a teacher, campaigner and local radio presenter
Conversation