HUNDREDS of schoolchildren enjoyed a bonus day away from the classroom during the snowf all.

Although South Cheshire escaped the worst of the weather, several schools decided to close on Thursday as a precautionary measure.

Alsager's Excalibur Primary, Cranberry Junior School and Alsager Comprehensive were closed as was Shavington Primary School.

Excalibur headteacher Jane Cottam-Marshall said: 'The safety of our pupils travelling to and from school is paramount to us and in the light of the severe weather forecast we couldn't be confident of this and decided not to open on Thursday.'

Cranberry spokeswoman Jane O'Brien added: 'Many of our children come from rural areas and from further afield, such as Audley and Kidsgrove, and while they may have been able to get to school in the morning, there was no guarantee of them getting home. We couldn't risk them being stranded.'

Most rail services ran as normal from Crewe Station and roads remained open, thanks to an early programme of gritting on Thursday and Friday.

Emergency services and County Council's Highways Agency had prepared for what weather experts said would be the heaviest snowfall the North West had seen in decades.

Police had their put their emergency team Silver Command into operation expecting widespread traffic disruption and Cheshire Fire Services cancelled its community visits in case they needed to react to emergencies.

Cheshire County Council spokesman Ian Callister said: 'The snow created some picture perfect scenes around the area but the hard work of the council which toiled throughout Thursday morning meant all major roads were salted and gritted.

'We had 33 gritters working across the county and the snow ploughs were on standby but were not needed in the end as the snow was not as heavy as first predicted.

'All primary and secondary roads were pre-salted by county engineers who worked through the night.'

Police spokesman Glyn Hellam said: 'We took heed of the weather warnings in place and established the Silver Command based at headquarters in Winsford to take a tactical view of the county.

'Fortunately it was called off at 11.20am when we assessed the situation and the weather had caused very little disruption.'

Fire Service watch manager Anthony Jones added: 'We called off all community visits to fit smoke detectors as we wanted to be able to react to any emergencies should they come in.'