PARENTS have criticised headteachers’ decisions to shut more than 30 Oxfordshire schools because of the weather this week.

Thousands of the county’s pupils were told not to attend lessons because of ice and heating problems, forcing parents to miss work to look after their children.

And the county council said it would be discussing with headteachers whether the closures could have been avoided.

Paul Hollow, 36, from Chipping Norton, said his two sons missed lessons after Chipping Norton School and St Mary’s Church of England Primary School shut their doors.

Mr Hollow said: “I am not really impressed to be honest — most people can get to work. I don’t see why the schools should close when you get a little bit of snow.”

Diane Dodson, 47, of Boundary Brook Road, Oxford, worried her 13-year-old son Jack would suffer problems on his return to Iffley Mead School after two extra days off.

Jack has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and his mother said: “It just throws his routine.”

Barton mother Nicola Becksey, whose 16-year-old son Daniel has learning difficulties and also attends Iffley Mead School, said: “I think it is madness. The weather is not that bad.”

A county council spokesman said the local authority was not directly involved in the decision to close schools. Decisions were taken by headteachers paying attention to health and safety matters, the spokesman said.

The spokesman added: “The county council is keen to explore reasons for closures with individual schools and discuss whether they could, or should, have been avoided.”

Iffley Mead School headteacher Kay Willett said the school had closed after a safety inspection at 6.30am — due to ice and snow and a heating failure.

She said: “The weather forecast predicted heavy snowfalls during the day and as a special school for pupils from throughout Oxfordshire, many travel considerable distances to and from school by taxi.”

Simon Duffy, head of Chipping Norton School, said: “The school was closed in the interests of health and safety. Around the site it was extremely dangerous.”

Maureen Thompson, head of Windale Primary School, said the school was closed as almost half of the school’s teachers lived in outlying areas and she was concerned about their safety getting into work.