Aberdeen City Council has announced that all schools will open late on Monday due to travel ‘uncertainty’.
Schools in Aberdeen City Council will delay their opening times tomorrow to 11am due to snow fall and freezing conditions.
Aberdeen City Council has also announced that breakfast clubs will not open. It is the first day back to term after the Christmas holidays.
Parents have been advised that headteachers will issue direct updates tomorrow morning after local areas have been assessed.
The move follows the Met Office issuing a new amber weather warning in Grampian, as well as other parts of the country, which will continue until 10am on December 5. The national forecaster has warned that travel delays on roads are to be likely, along with power cuts.
It also warned that frequent heavy snow showers predicted to begin at 6pm tonight, December 4, could develop into temporary blizzards due to strong winds. there are also yellow weather warnings for snow and ice predicted to continue until 11:59pm on Tuesday, December 6.
A recent update on the Aberdeen City Council’s website states: “Due to weather conditions and uncertainty around road conditions, the opening of all Aberdeen City Council schools and ELC provisions will be delayed until 11am on Monday 5 January. Breakfast Clubs will not be open.
“Further updates for each school will be provided by head teachers tomorrow morning once they have assessed individual local circumstances. Parents/guardians will be contacted as per normal via Groupcall.”
The website also notes that the council has been working hard to grit and plough routes to schools to try and lessen travel disruption. This morning the council carried out a grit on the primary routes and are now moving on to the secondary areas.
These secondary routes comprises of the following areas:
- Woodend
- Mastrick/Northfield
- City Centre
- Torry
- Cove
- Bridge of Don
- Kingswell
- Torry
- Dyce
- Bucksburn
Some road routes in Aberdeenshire have been deemed to be “impassable” as it has been reported that snowploughs are being used to clear railway lines in the north of Scotland to reduce travel delays
Network Rail has said that snowploughs have been dispatched in Kintore to clear the railway line, as well as further north in Wick.
The new amber warning is predicted to impact Grampian, the Highlands, Orkney and Shetland, as well as Angus, with some rural communities warned that there is a “good chance” they could become “cut off” and should take this time to prepare essentials.
Along with blizzard conditions, these warnings add that further accumulations of around 5-10cm of snow are likely fall wide over the country, while some mainland areas of Scotland could see 20-30cm.
Chief forecaster for the Met Office, Neil Armstrong, said: “With Arctic air now covering most of the UK, very cold weather will continue through the weekend, with minus double figures overnight in places and daytime temperatures struggling to rise above 0°C for some.
“It looks like this cold spell could last well into next week and wintry hazards will continue with more weather warnings likely. It is therefore important people keep up to date with the latest forecast and warnings and plan ahead.”
If your child currently attends one of the Aberdeen City Council schools, it is important to keep an eye out for any communications as the delays to school times may still change.
