to expect the school to be able to handle emails?

[dontcallus]

The school has changed its dropping off policy, to save the teacher being bombarded with messages in the morning (totally understandable). So to send a message you need to send a note/contact the office.

I needed to get a message to the SENCO regarding my son''s referral, so I emailed the information over, marked for SENCO's attention to the contact email. Received no reply/acknowledgement or contact for a week so popped in to reception today to check they had it. I was told the emails are reviewed periodically and not all get passed on, and can i email the reception/office team directly (no issue with this but this is not a published email address). I asked/suggested if the email address given out is not acted on, then surely this needs to be addressed. I was told that they use it to filter emails as they get so much rubbish (assuming she meant from parents as she added about unnecessary phone calls too). I sympathise, I really do, but dealing with parents is part of the job (I work in education too)

I think this is really bad, surely they should have a system that enables parents to communicate with the school via email, ensuring they just don't ignore lots as they get too many! I have emailed the school twice in 3 years and both times it has been ignored.

Thinking of raising it with the school, aibu?

No, you're not BU.

Some schools are good at communication. Others are completely useless.

And don't get me started on school websites. I shudder at the quality of their IT teaching when I see websites that are poorly designed, impossible to find stuff, and are almost never updated. To fail to communicate effectively with parents is something I think OFSTED takes into account.

I would be happy to communicate it whichever way they want, but they have failed to tell anyone this. They are great academically but fail miserably on pastoral care and communication.

YANBU - DDs tiny primary was exactly the same. Their excuse was that they got so much junk mail that they couldn't look through it to see the actual mail. I complained to a parent governor (very informally!) and her response was that the office was really busy, and the school secretary just too put upon to even consider it.

She has just started at secondary, over 1200 pupils, and e-mails get forwarded to the appropriate person within the day.

You should be given the email address of the SENCO. I've always communicated directly with SENCO by email for my dc.

As a (former) teacher I can understand why schools have to filter some/much of the communication they receive but here is a case of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Contact the headteacher directly with your concerns - her/his email address should be given on the website; it it's not, telephone the school office and ask for it.

Our new head had a wonderful idea (hmmmm) that ALL emails are to go to her.She will then forward them to the correct person. That person replies to the Head who then replies to the parent. It takes about a week to get a response now. So parents are now handing letter directly to the teachers. Madness.

Will ask for direct email to the SENCO - thanks Bubbletree4 hadn't thought of that (all new to me at the moment). Think my stress levels about the referral added to my annoyance (I was polite and nice to the receptionist just questioned how the system works in that case).

I do think the communication system needs to be addressed for their sake as well. I thought about emailing the head but wasn't sure if it was OTT. They have no other way of gathering feedback so may be the only option.

Your attempts to share important information with the school have been thwarted by its poor systems. It's not OTT to bring this up with the Head.

Email is not a new technology now--all organisations should be up to useing it efficiently to save everyone time. Junk mail filters can be set up to make it easier.

Thanks catfordbetty - when you put it like that.......will email her.

YANBU at all. Junk mail is no excuse, all organisations and individuals have to deal with a certain level of junk. It takes maybe 5 seconds maximum to ascertain whether a message is junk or legit - even if they got 1,000 junk mail messages a day (which is unlikely) it would take, what, an hour and a half to filter and forward them all on? That would then have a knock-on effect on how many visits and phone calls they receive, so cutting down the time spent on those tasks. It's a basic admin task and most mail providers have the option to block problematic senders and/or spammy keywords.

At the very least they could set up an automatic message saying that due the high volume of emails received, they may receive a quicker response if they call or visit in person.

I can't imagine any other type of organisation where it would be fine to just ignore emails.

Email is not a new technology now-

You wouldn't think so, given how rarely it's used (and even rarer to answer).

I have over 100 email enquiries to various organisations (at their request) unacknowledged and unanswered. However, post something on Twitter ....

DS school all goes to the office,no direct parent/teacher emails allowed.
DD2 school emails are allowed.same day responce.
DD1 direct with HoY replies same day acknowledgement.
Some schools are better.

OP - are our kids at the same school? Over the last couple of years I've sent a few e mails to the e mail address on the school website. I've never received a response and do not know if they have been read. We are not given separate addresses for any of the teachers so all e mails have to be sent through the office. It is very frustrating, particularly if you cannot see the teacher at drop off or pick up times. It feels as though the school wants to keep parents at arms length.

Lego - if it next to a large supermarket then possibly!

I think it's short sighted of them. If you give the parents "their" form teachers' email address directly but don't publicise them on the website then the spam should be manageable and the teachers won't be bothered with a queue of parents with trivial questions at home time, many of which can't be answered without access to files or whatever anyway.

Contact the headteacher directly with your concerns - her/his email address should be given on the website

There is no way I would allow my email address on the school website. I already wade though around 120 emails a day without my email being given out for parents to email me directly . I only allow the generic school email address on the website that's checked 4 times a day by admin.

OP can you not call the school instead? I do find it odd that a school doesn't reply to emails at least to confirm receipt of an email. My admin normally respond to emails from parents to inform them their email has been passed on.

Murfles the heads email is on the website, but still debating that one. The do not respond at all, no acknowledgement or anything.

teachers should have there own work emails for random questions and you can direct them to the right person or they can answer 101 on the door at pick up/drop off time

for example today i needed a discreet word with teacher it would have been simpler if i had an email instead i had to hang around grab the ta scuttle to the corner of the playground all so we were not overheard by the children!

If the HT's email is on the website then definitely use it. I think it's awful emails aren't being responded to by the school, especially as you can't speak with the teacher directly. I'd be fuming if I discovered emails coming into school weren't being acknowledged. We also have a 'text in' facility for parents that works really well. That's used much more than email.

The "rubbish" she's talking about will be marketing emails and phone calls. My first job everyday is to clear 200+ such emails that have come into the mail email account.

I never intentionally delete one from a parent, but I'm sure it must happen occasionally.

If you put the intended recipient's name and the name of the child in the subject line, it will help.

Office staff are usually hard pressed. We have to cut £30k from our budget next year. We could lose a teacher, most of the LSA's or only open the office between 8:30 & 9:30 and 2:30 & 3:30. which would you prefer? Genuine question BTW. As Business manager, I prefer to do what impacts least on children (cut office services) but I know parents won't be happy with the service they get. No, that won't save the £30k either, but it would be a start.

Can I come to your school Murfles. I try very hard to be reasonable, considerate, not a pain in the arse! But think I have gone too far the other way. Just a simple, thank you for your email, we have passed this on. But it was simply ignored. It was marked FAO SENCO's name, RE: Dontcallus's son, so could not have been mistaken for spam. Actually the more I think of it the more cross I am!

Cross posts source, actually not worried if office is not open all day (in answer to you question), but a week to answer an email is sufficient IMO. One mistakenly missed/deleted emails, yep happens, but the only times I have ever emailed it was ignored.

All our emails are on the system anyway source so could the filter not prioritise incoming from these? Not tech savy so may not be possible

I do think you need to email the HT Dont. It's unacceptable to have waited a week after emailing the school for a reply.

We do get a lot of junk into the school email account but I would not accept that an email from a parent is accidently deleted if emails are carefully checked. If schools choose to only open offices at certain times the least they can do is ensure any other form of communication is dealt with efficiently. Parents should feel they can contact the school and be certain of a reply.