School WhatsApp groups never disappoint...

[SausageChipsBeansAndGravy]

I'll start...

Our rather overzealous PTA informally announced that if children didn't bring in a raffle prize donation, they'd have to wear school uniform on non-uniform day.

One mum decided to send her kids to school in full uniform in protest, announcing it to the WhatsApp group. The group was silent for a change, with people not knowing quite what to say.

I could see what she was trying to do, but it seemed a bit harsh to inflict it on her own kids, especially as everyone knew the school wasn't actually going to enforce the rule.

Do your WhatsApp groups have any stories?

My kids go to a really good school where staff go above and beyond, but there are some WhatsApp parents who just think the school are always wrong and out to get their kid. Some are so overly involved in every bit of minutiae I really wish they’d get a job or - at the very least - a hobby.
The heatwave was great - it’s cruel to stay open in a heatwave. School offers voluntary early pick up - oh so when my little Tommy has a day off sick I get fined but they can close whenever they want. Professional complainers.

I think good on that mum!

school (whether it’s PTA or teachers) who try to enforce donations by shaming children seems pretty shitty tbh.

Yes we have some of those. Every single the thing the school does is wrong in some way. It’s like they scour the letters to find something to nitpick.

Ours also offered early pick up in the heat wave, but said totally fine to leave your child there. This was something people found to criticise even though I imagine the school thought “we’ll let people who are concerned about the heat pick up, and still keep the children who can’t be picked up, and as a bonus it will be easier to keep them cool if the classrooms are a little emptier. It’s win win. Who could complain about that??”

Ours is incredibly normal. Occasional questions or reminders, all school related. Everyone seems perfectly friendly or at least civil.

It’s not a reminder if the screenshot is added within 20 seconds of the school email being sent though. That’s just an annoying additional notification that provides no extra info or reminders. I just don’t see the point.

Generally normal, I like the screenshotters as I can star them and easily find important dates. There are a few who bring their private life into the group (I suspect it's all a bit Walter Mitty attention seeking) but vast majority of people ignore it. Things like "if you see a guy hanging around school gates today just be careful, he's an ex of mine who's stalking me, don't worry though there's an undercover police man watching him".

It’s pretty standard for the reps to screen shot important emails and share them in the WhatsApp group.

Tbf , sometimes emails do get lost .

Ours were always sensible and non dramatic.

Mostly ‘has anyone found wee
jimmy’s jacket?’ And ‘remind me what day is PE?’

Oh i just remembered another one. “Is anyone missing a school dress? DD came home wearing two!!”. How one child managed to put two on or why and what did the other child ended up going home with , we never managed to figure it out.

I’ve never heard of the existence of ‘reps’ before. Not a thing where I live.

I know it is a cliché and I am reluctant to fall into lazy stereotyping, but unfortunately sometimes I think the PTA either brings out the worst in some parents or they attract the sort of parent who enjoys being queen or king bee.

I know lots of people in them are lovely, sweet, well meaning people who just want to contribute to the school and I applaud them. But that small minority....yeesh.

Anyway, I am not on the primary school chats but I know there have been many dramas on there. Someone recently added me to one for my ds's new secondary school for September 😬. Not much chat on there thankfully, but there are obviously A LOT of people on it, so it is really only a matter of time.

At least Amanda is funny!

Not the incorrect answering but the screenshotting and posting is super helpful for me (so many emails from multiple schools with attachments etc only a proportion of which apply to my kids), that’s saved me from missing an inset day/school trip/parents stay and learn etc more times that I can count. I am very much not that mum but I love that mum!

I have been someone who shares screen shots on the group - I once asked if this was helpful or annoying and got a bunch of “Helpful!”s back.

There was a mum who I could have sworn was forbidden to read emails from school because she would ask about everything. Rather lost patience when she asked one question, had it answered and then asked the same one two days later - because she couldn’t be arsed to check whether anyone replied to her.

The worst thing about the group chats is when some says they “don’t like WhatsApp groups” so won’t join but please could you let her know if there’s anything important. I have many things I want to do but being an unpaid PA isn’t one of them.

we have the class WhatsApp and a snide side WhatsApp for the “cool” parents that they think no one else knows about and arrange meet ups after school with. One of them posted in the class one by accident once. They are all so desperate for their kids to be in with this group it’s actually really sad, just let your kids make their own friends and stop trying to micromanage their social lives!

I thank god every day that my kids were at school before social media of any kind existed. Guess what, we all survived. I honestly couldn’t be arsed with all that now, I’d be the one who didn’t join the group in protest!

I am that mum (only because I would drown if I didn’t keep on top of it) and I was stunned once when a mum I didn’t really know presented me with a huge box of chocolates at the end of the summer term and thanked me for all the help on the WhatsApp all year! Was totally unexpected but v nice.

I could tell a lot of stories about our school WhatsApp but the funniest ones are too outing!

Yeah and to be fair, maybe I’m just more annoyed by it because the woman who does it is quite annoying generally!
We have no “reps” but she’s in the PTA and likes to think she’s the sort of official head of the WhatsApp, for example, if anyone asks a question where people don’t know the answer, she’ll generally reply “I’ll phone the school and put the answer on here”, and she gets a bit shirty if anyone else has info that she doesn’t (“I’ll be sure to double check that’s correct at pick up and let you guys know”)
She sent a five minute voice note summarising a conversation she’d had with the head about something irrelevant.

So whenever she sends the screenshot, my instant reaction is just “oh piss off”.

I am long past this stage now, but on ours there was a dad who basically treated it like a social group between himself and the three or four other parents he was friends with. Posting photos of nights out at one in the morning, in jokes etc. It was so tedious and he was a massive attention seeker all through primary school. He also used to take his kids out of school a lot and then moan in the group when they missed stuff!

You know what? Totally fair enough! 😬

See we really appreciate this at our school becuase they so often miss half the class of the bloody email! It’s extremely helpful!

I hate this sort of fundraising. Send in a box of chocolates for the chocolate raffle then kids wear non-uniform. So I spend £5 on chocolate, we then attend the fete and buy raffle tickets to win back our chocolate for £1. The school has made £1 but it has cost me £6. Makes no sense. The only winner is Tesco. School should charge £1 for the non-uniform day and save the hassle of the raffle.

I shouldn’t worry. All my dc’s secondary school WhatsApp groups kind of fizzled out by yr8!

I anticipate this one not going very far tbh. So far there has been very little chat.

I think this one was started by some mums from my dc's school. I work in secondary education and I don't think these well meaning mums have realised how little interaction you generally have with other parents at secondary school.

I am keeping it in my archive, just in case