To think the school has no place to be part of this group?

[Rainer]

The school has a fb account which they use to share a twitter feed.

My older child has a parents class page on there which is somewhere we can go and share information, get homework that had been neglected by our wayward children etc. And of course the occasional moan.

However my younger children started in September so have joined a new parents group for that class and the school's account has been added to the group. And always appears on the 'seen' section of any posts made.

A member of the pta set up, and invited the school to, this group. The group for my older child was set up by the school.

Which a) suggests that the account isn't just for sharing the twitter feed, it is manned, and as such being their 'friend' means they can see all that we post. And b) we are unable to post freely in the group which is a private group just for mums and dads of the class.

The school are very concerned about how they are portrayed on social media, but this is a private group for mums to talk freely and get to know one another. The interest in the page on behalf of the school is unnerving I find. Aibu?

To be honest, anyone who puts anything on such a site that they wouldn't want the school to read probably shouldn't be posting it.

^ this.

You are also very naive to think that any moans or gripes don't get back to the school anyway.

Don't moan about the school on social media. I don't see a problem with the school being able to see it and it sounds like parents don't want them on there so they can slag the school off.

Is there really a need for a private class discussion group? If it was a handful of parents whose children are friends, then yes I can see the point of that, but otherwise, not.

I've got 3DCs and have never required a FB group for anything school related. I text other parents, speak at the school gates, pop to ask Reception, or if any concerns, go direct to the teacher/school. Lost jumpers.. meh, nobody curr

I do find our group helpful - moaning aside - if I've missed a letter or forgotten something it's handy to have a reminder. Sometimes communication from the school isn't clear and rather than a load of parents asking the same question, one will volunteer the necessary info. Plus we use it to organise teacher collections and advertise pta events. Lost jumpers and coats do indeed get reunited too, without having to bother the teacher about them.

I think it could be unwise of them from their perspective. Being a member kind of makes it seem officially sanctioned, and could mean people get cross if something incorrect is posted and they don't correct it, or they could get drawn in if there are arguments. I think they'd be wiser to leave a bunch of adults to organise themselves to communicate how they see fit.

I find ours very useful, mainly for lost jumpers and organising group presents for teachers. But also for sharing info on occasion as the school have a tendency to communicate by noticeboard outside the classroom door.

Why assume it is all moaning?

It might be or it might be lost jumper and coat, school trip and homework.

Our school year Facebook page is great. We get to ask things that we might want to ask. So far (4 months in) DD's new school has been great. I don't have any desire to moan.

DD's old school, CRAP for her. I lad lots of desire to moan and I did so in letters to the school, a very minimal amount of moaning with lots of professional input, which got me.... absolutely no where.

After she left at end of Year 6, (having had a crap time, she's dyslectic), dd said she hated school so much but never told me because she thought I would move her and she liked her friends.

Maybe if I could have connected with other disgruntled parents at her old school we could have affected change. I don't see anything wrong with a bit of constructive criticism.

So I would say if the school want to listen in, so be it. Just keep it accurate, polite and always be ready to be called in to speak to 'Miss or Sir'!

Surely if there are issues with the school the adult thing to do would be actually to bring them to the school's attention?

dyslexic (so am I!)

I haven't RTFT (it's my bedtime!) but you can start your own FB group "year ? Homework group" or whatever. Then you, as admin, can choose who joins.

I don't see anything wrong with a bit of constructive criticism.

Not on a private group where the teacher has no right to reply.

I received an absolute stinker of an email from a parent the other day, stuff their DC had said was going on in the classroom, picking on them etc etc. Except it was bollocks. The whole thing. I was able to send an email back explaining everything and how they shouldn't necessarily believe everything their DC says.

What if, instead, that parent had posted their complaint to a private Facebook group, that I was a crap teacher who picked on their DC etc etc? Other parents who had no problems with me would read it and think worse of me. I'd be mortified. And it would be rubbish, but I wouldn't be able to say so.

And this sort of thing does happen, all the time. It's why schools have started monitoring groups or requesting that parents don't post about the school on social media.

noblegiraffe that is a good point and if I had an issue with an individual teacher I would speak to them in person.

But to be fair if parents want to talk about teachers they can, and do, the difference is that the comments are seen in social media.

I just wonder who is going to have time to monitor this social media? Seriously, would you have even seen those comments?

On our Facebook site I have not seen any comments about individual teachers at all. It literall yis all lost cardigans and coats and school trip info.

Could they have a policy no named teachers/students in connection to complaints?

I guess because I would not bad mouth any teachers on social media I am surprised other parents do! But my dd's issues were to do with the way learning difficulties were handled in general and not individual teachers.

Other parents who had no problems with me would read it and think worse of me.
Do you think? Our current school ones haven't had anything nearly so exciting. On previous school one there was one or two grumblers. Any complaining post would be followed by 5 or so of the calmer members saying no no, teacher's been lovely with us, and advising the complainer to go in and talk to the teacher.

I wouldn't see it as a substitute for talking to a teacher, more as a substitute for talking to your mates in the playground, particularly valuable for those who don't get to do school runs. At least on ours the effect was to reinforce the positive attitudes of the majority not the grumbly attitudes of the few.

DD is in high school so no school runs, I'd be in the dark even more so without the Facebook group!

I'm confused.

The first group for your older DC, you say it was set up by the school? Of course the school will likely have access to it. It sounds like it's come as a shock? Have people been daft enough to moan about the school in a group created by the school?

Has any of the creators of the groups actually said its for speaking freely? Or is it a case of users of the first group wrongly assumed they could moan and then became unhappy when the pta ran their group differently and are suprised at having learnt school actually see the moaning they've been doing?

The person doing the work of setting up a group is the one who decides how it's run and who gets added, if you're not happy with it then there's nothing stopping you starting your own group where you can say whatever it is you don't want the school seeing, you can't really make people run their groups how you want it running.

I know someone who set group up for moaning, and school still saw everything, I'm not on FB and even I saw everything too, people in the group couldn't wait to gossip about the stuff being claimed about the headteacher (which was all bullshit) and showed parents from other classes. I'd say that if you have something to moan about its best to speak to school as you don't know how others will twist something you've said and the school can't put things right or defend themselves.

It's what noblegiraffe said, plus more... Because the REALLY damaging thing is that parents talk about the other kids, especially the 'naughty' ones.

Typical parent complaint.... Child x is naughty. Child x has just received a reward for good behaviour. This is outrageous, because child x is badly behaved, here are examples related by my DC.... what are your examples?

But what the school knows and can't tell the parents is what child x is going through, and this governs the school's reaction. EG - my DD has a REALLY naughty boy in her class. He's rude, he skives off, he's rebellious. His dad's dead, his mum works all hours to keep a roof over their heads. He's given chance after chance after chance. ANY remotely good thing he gets praised and rewarded for. His behaviour is often disgusting. I think the school is right in it's approach, and I'm glad they're not trying to exclude him, and trying to give him every chance to succeed and turn things around.

Also take out word "naughty" and replace with "bully". Also things parents regularly say.

Parents use the "bully" word a lot. I find it very unhelpful. It's often not nice behaviour, but it's rarely bullying. (not saying it doesn't happen, just saying that parents bandy it around a lot)

I've been that parent on the playground, and I now work in schools. There are reasons that schools don't share information (usually about other children), and I get that now I see it from the inside. Parents don't have a "right" to know if it interferes with another child's privacy.

Schools for some reason think they should have some special status where they are exempt from criticism and seem to forget they are publicly funded service providers.

There is a good website called rate my teacher which is good for expressing opinions about teachers but I think it is only for secondary

There is a good website called rate my teacher which is good for expressing opinions about teachers but I think it is only for secondary

Can teachers rate parents too...

angel I don't think it's ok to "rate" teachers publically personally. It's totally open to abuse.

If you have a problem with a teacher complain via the proper channels.

Poor teachers.

IMissGrannyW "my DD has a REALLY naughty boy in her class. He's rude, he skives off, he's rebellious. His dad's dead, his mum works all hours to keep a roof over their heads. He's given chance after chance after chance. ANY remotely good thing he gets praised and rewarded for. His behaviour is often disgusting. I think the school is right in it's approach, and I'm glad they're not trying to exclude him, and trying to give him every chance to succeed and turn things around."

OK, you are happy this poor boy is being given every chance but what about his class mates who are experiencing the disgusting behaviour. Maybe he would be better off in a specialist school, maybe he would thrive in such an environment. I've been to a special school for children with behavioral issues, they are run differently (by been there I don't mean I was one of the kids, I mean I got TA experience there!)

I am just guessing here but maybe he is not thriving where he is and maybe the rest of the class are not either. Maybe all the parents are feeling equally unhappy but with no school gate to catch up and chat at, they don't get to share info and maybe some are not even aware of what is going on.

If your dd comes home and tells you all about it, great, not all kids do. But it doesn't mean they are not affected by it.

"Parents use the "bully" word a lot. I find it very unhelpful. It's often not nice behaviour, but it's rarely bullying. (not saying it doesn't happen, just saying that parents bandy it around a lot)"

So you now wish to police the language people can use about the experiences their kids are saying they are having?

"Parents don't have a "right" to know if it interferes with another child's privacy."

Do they have a 'right' to know if it interferes with their own child?

If a school is run well, if issues are dealt with well, if disgusting behaviour doesn't dramatically affect the other children in the class/school, maybe schools would be less worried about what parents think because they would know they would be dealing with satisfied customers.

I work in an educational establishment, we ask for regular feedback/evaluations and act on them.

I've been asked a few times at dd's primary (and ds's) school what we think, not sure I got a reply, certainly not sure it affected any changes. Individual privacy of individual children and teachers is fine, but a general feeling of secrecy (which I really got when our school became an academy) is not great, it doesn't make parents feel confident or rather I should say, it doesn't make me feel confident.

IMissGrannyW I am not picking on you, it is just a feeling that now you work at a school you understand that parents won't get to know a lot of stuff which may be relevant to their own kids. Sorry if I sound angry. DD's new high school is fab, but schools have left a very ad taste in my mouth from my own experience and my dd's of primary.

bad

Rate my teacher is a totally awful idea, better to deal direct with a teacher. Any kind of public rating is wrong, IMHO.

Not sure why the school being in the group would stop the group chatting and getting to know each other.
Talking negatively about school usually winds parents up and causes situations to escalate and make parents feel there's large problems when there's not.
Arranging social stuff , banter etc won't be looked at negatively. The people that are behind the school account have normal lives too.