The sudden onset of severe weather conditions or other emergencies usually means the imminent closure of hundreds of schools, colleges and day nurseries in the UK. The UK's climate has changed considerably in recent years and we now experience severe flooding in the summer and heavy snowfall in the winter. This leaves Principals and Local Authorities with the difficult task of informing thousands of parents and students that their school needs to close. Some local authorities receive thousands of calls in the space of an hour from frustrated parents who do not know whether their school is open or closed.

However, if a school is registered on the snowday website when they need to close during or before school hours they simply post a closure notice on the website so that parents and students can read it and then take appropriate action. This service is currently free for schools.

As well as the basic snowday service we also offer schools and parents the opportunity to register for automatic text and email closure alerts.

Principals can create or import a database of parents and staff emergency contact details on the snowday website. If there is an emergency closure during or just before the start of the day parents and staff members can be immediately notified by automatic email or SMS text to their mobile. Principals can enter one e-mail address and one mobile telephone number for each staff member or parent added to the database. Each parent or staff member added will cost just 25p per year and then it is free to send unlimited email alerts to them, with an additional 10p charge per SMS text alert sent. When an emergency closure notice is added it is displayed on the Snowday website. It will also be sent via e-mail and text to all parents or staff members who have been recorded in the database.

Parents can also register to receive emergency closure alerts by email for £1.00 or via both Email and SMSText for £2.50. Parents can register up to 4 different organisations to receive alerts about. For example, one college, one comprehensive school, one primary school and one day nursery. They can register up to 3 e-mail addresses and up to 3 mobile telephone numbers to receive alerts to.