To dread and hate calling the school office??

[BigWitchLegsInWailyTights]

My DC go to a lovely school...they really like it and so do I but I HATE callling the office for anything for anything.

I know they are busy but they SEEM busy....so I don't like calling if a DC is off sick or if I need some information.

The communication at the school is sometimes lacking....and so I have to call to check things. But I feel like they're rolling their eyes.

I don't call often...maybe once a fortnight? Is that too much? It's not for silly things...i

I would rather call them than receive calls from them!! I hate it when my mobile rings and it's the schools number on it.....uh oh whats happened now :)

Is this primary or secondary?

Email is your friend . I am now on first name terms with one of the office staff at ds's Secondary .It's straight to the point, my queries are answered usually within the hour and the information is in writing.

I even contact the subject teachers via email if they are busy on Parents Evening to avoid the hell hole that that event is!

They've never called me once! I wonder if I'm daft or something because I can almost never understand their letters!

primary...

Big - you dont want them calling you. If they do 9 times out of 10 it's to say that DS is ill, can you come and get him or he's bashed his head or something.

Email Email Email.

Phoning once a fortnight is a lot! Are these things you could find out from the class teacher? Unless it's admin related, the class teacher will probably be able to help you. And you can always head up your email 'for the attention of...'. Obviously initial sickness calls can't be avoided.

By phoning when your child is sick you are actually saving them from extra work. If parents at our school don't phone before a certain time, the office staff have to look up the phone number and call the parents to find out why their child isn't school. Much easier for the staff to answer the phone and jot down "Paul Smith, Class 1, off because he was sick last night."

Are you making repeated calls because they dont answer your queries the first time?

Tbh I can't remember the last time I called the school office. It must have been the last time dd was off. I do think once a fortnight is probably quite frequent but i do sometimes see the same parents heading to the office frequently. Having said that I think some school secretaries can be a bit dragon like!

If you really call every two weeks it probably does cause some comment. No problem with parents calling when children are ill- we ask them to do so. We do however get very frustrated with those who ring on a regular basis, shortly before the end of the day with a change of collection arrangement because they forgot to tell the teacher that granny is collecting the children today or Freddie is going to tea with Sam etc. It is very irritating to have to keep stopping what you are doing and trek round the school to the various classes to deliver the messages. No problem when it is a genuine emergency but don't expect the office staff to appreciate a regular lack of organisation.

What sort of things are you calling for? I can't think of that many reasons why I would phone them.

Ha once a fortnight... would you like to come to my school? I have parents who phone 2 or 3 times a DAY! All about rubbish, they assume clubs are cancelled and constantly ring to check, even though we have a very good text system and are quite organised and do let people know in advance if things are cancelled if we can. They ring to tell us their child has his dinner money in his coat pocket! (this mum is one of the every day mums).... I could go on but I won't. You sound normal.

If it's primary, are you doing drop off/pick up? If so, call in at the office for information. Obviously it is ok to phone youor DC in sick though?

Once a fortnight does sound a lot, but that doesn't necessarilly mean you are being unreasonable, depends upon the set up.

For example at our school teachers are always available for a few minutes before the children go in and at pick-up for questions, the office is always open before the whistle and other parents are always hanging around at drop off and parents are always double checking little things with each other but if your school set up doesn't facilitate that type of communication, or if you have to drop and go quickly in the morning, then you will be left with no option but to call the office about such things.

We do have the eye-rolling type of School Office staff, who seem to assume that all parents are complete pitas.

However, spend any time in the school reception area and you see that their assumptions are approx 80% accurate.

Turns out the school don't expect Office staff to have their own wasp to chew, nor do they supply the wasp for chewing with the job offer, but about 3 hours days in, the average person will magically find one ripe for the chewing.