Is this not bizarre mum behaviour?

Mute and archive so they don't disturb you, whenever you remember "clear chat" to free up memory on your phone :)

Whattsap can be so irritating. I'm in groups I don't wish to be in yet I'm afraid to leave incase it looks rude. It's information overload.

If the parent is photographing school trips, can you talk to the school about it?The parent should not be photographing kids without their parents permission.

She’s bored, lonely and seeking connection

My DC's previous (private) school did that, up to dictating the naming convention for those groups (e.g school nane initialsclass nameparents group). They were buzzing with endless excitement over "look at our lovely boys" and "it would be great to see some family photos to foster closer ties ( not exact quote but along these lines)",and lots of uh-ohs over pretty much anything. I kept them mostly on mute

It sounds like she wants to be the centre of attention. All you can do if ignore the shite she posts.

Ours is like this. It was busy in reception and y1, then died down a bit and then was really useful in y5, "x school is not having a open day" "z school is having an open day tomorrow and we haven't been informed officially" Because very few go into school to pick up y5 and Y6 children it has been a good point of contact including reminders of the ever changing clothing requirements. Plus discussion about an end of school party!

We had contact names and addresses for all the people in the year group for DS's year rec-6 so would have been before GDPR kicked in. It was really useful. We had it for Ds1's state school too.

I would much rather that than some classlist thing which could be hacked into.

so weird, her child is clearly her whole identity now. The only thing to do is use it as a precautionary example of how not to mother - it's pitiful but harmless.

Oh Sh*t! I was stopped at our local traffic lights the other day for an extra long stop as there are roadworks, and my dc’s nursery group were just coming out of the park and waiting to cross the road. Gotta admit, I snapped a few photos and sent them to the nursery group - yikes, I hope I’m not “that mum” in waiting 🤣. Thanks for the intervention x

Has anyone tried befriending her?

32!!! That is mad - did no one SAY anything?!

The parent is obviously not aware of safeguarding, parents are asked permission for photos for a reason and if any of those children are adopted or have escaped a domestic abuse relationship people sharing photos like this could cause a lot of problems.

I was asked by the school to watch my child from afar on a outing to the park. They wanted me to see why it wasn't safe for them to take her on outings. So there's one reason.

The school trip thing is weird.

As for the brag posts I think there's one of these in many groups and they lack the self awareness to see how they're coming across.

The observing of the school trip from a distance and taking and sharing pics is totally inappropriate. The school needs to be informed of that.

The rest of it is mildly annoying I guess.

I'm a class rep and we have a WhatsApp group. The school gives details of the group to all new starters etc, but it's not compulsory. I share a lot of school stuff on there - changes to PE days, reminders of trips, non-uniform days, inset days, projects, class photos all that stuff. You might get a message from me on a weds morning saying "Don't forget it's Wear Something Yellow Day" or whatever. People share party invitations on there too. It is all to go with the school and kids. I occasionally post something else, eg and event going on locally that's free and might be fun for the kids. People sometimes ask questions and share info.

My school has given the class reps guidance about what is and isn't acceptable in the WhatsApp groups, which has been helpful.

The taking ohotos of children on school trips without parents' consent is a really serious safeguarding issue, OP

The weird mum msybe doesn't know that, it needs reporting.
Some families are in witness protection, estranged parebts, grandparents looking for the children etc.

The school should be able to deal with this. It's a pretty straight-forward safeguarding issue.

Ha, we have a mum like this. She loves a good humble-brag. She sent a message out of the blue announcing, “I completely forgot it was show & tell today! But luckily, little Hugo happened to find a ski pass in his pocket, so he used that.”

I'd put after one of her messages "I don't know how anyone else feels but I find this group so useful, thank you to [Class rep etc], but vote we just keep this group for useful messages about school and leave the holiday snaps for Facebook? Cheers xx

Ours is strictly school stuff. Which is how it should be - useful for keeping disorganised parents (like me!) on track, but no stealth brag so other feel left out. Also very useful for getting the numbers of parents that you don’t know for your own child’s birthday party!

DS' class once went on a 'field trip' to a local supermarket. It was basically a walk around the supermarket opposite the school to investigate where different foods come from. One of the parents in our class WhatsApp posted a message to inform everyone that she would be going to the supermarket during the trip so she could see her child and did anyone want to join? She duly went and later on shared pictures she took, ducking in and out of aisles as the kids walked around. Utterly bizarre behaviour. A couple of parents stated on the chat that it was not ok for her to post pictures of other children in the class without parental permission and the images were deleted.

I assume parents who do this kind of thing have a lot time on their hands. I also hate to throw around ND labels but really and truly, this is not the kind of behaviour a neuro typical adult exhibits...

Either contact the school (surely doesn't need to be anonymously) or, even better, say in the WhatsApp that posting pictures (even from a distance) from school trips etc is not acceptable. Point out that some parents will not have given permission for their children's pictures to be shared and anyone taking photos of a school trip is liable to have the police called!

I’d leave the group and set up a smaller one with the Mums you are more friendly with and remind each other stuff on there instead. It’s fair easier that way.