Hampshire and Southampton schools will not decide on closures until last minute

Both Hampshire County Council and Southampton City Council revealed head teachers are unlikely to decide whether they will close schools on Monday until Sunday night or early Monday morning.

The councils said they only provide guidance to schools and it is the head teacher who has all the power to make decisions based on the circumstances.

But council chiefs doubt that schools would make the decision to shut due to the treacherous weather conditions before the weekend in the hope the snow will clear.

A spokesperson for Southampton City Council, said: "Head teachers probably wouldn't make a decision today because it would be difficult to predict what the situation will be on Monday.

• As soon as any schools decide to close, we will post the information on this website.

"It is likely schools will announce their closure Sunday evening or early Monday morning."

A spokesperson for Hampshire County Council, added: "We don't know that schools are going to be closed until they tell us. It is entirely up to the head teacher.

"We seem to be seeing head teachers make decisions on the day- they leave it until the last minute to assess the conditions."