Mums setting up class wattsapp groups?

[Glitterzzz]

Hi

My little one has started reception in September. It’s been a while since I’ve dealt with schooling for this age group as my eldest is much elder

Anyways I have been notified a mum from each class has set up a wattsapp group for each class.. just wondering if this is the norm? With newsletters, emails, texts and the x2 daily school run what is the purpose of the wattsapp groups ?

Would you recommend joining or avoid ?

Thanks

The class WhatsApp group for ds6 is great, it's mostly information sharing and rarely falls into chat mode.

@DeeandraReynolds @minipie thanks for responding. I can see the school gate cliques have already formed. One mum was chatting to another the other day about how this child is so lovely and how the other is such a morning person etc. They are in pre-school for such a short time, after this they will move onto Nursery and then reception ,we may not even be in the same nursery next year or reception the year after. I am not sure if I can be bothered with all the silliness that is bound to ensue. If it is primary, then DC will be with the same children for a few years so it may be worth it, but now, just for a year or so , I am not so sure.

My son is in yr 3, we’ve had a WhatsApp group since yr 1 (or they didn’t invite me to join in reception 😂). Mostly it’s requests to look out for missing jumpers and questions about homework. While the school was closed over lockdown, a few zoom meetings were arranged for the kids through it.

Our WhatsApp parent groups work well. Just useful info and occassional message about lost pe kit etc. I know of a couple of classes where it decended into chaos, so they just switched it to class rep (admin) only.

I think this is quite common altho my DC's school has a class page to see their work and contact the teacher. I've been added to a few private chats with parents and promptly left straight after. I don't care who sees! This kind of thing is a breeding ground for snotty mothers moaning and winging about things their kids do/don't do. I can't be dealing with it. I've even seen borderline bullying between parents.
If you know all the mums/parents are nice it might be fine and no dramas.
Personally; I steer clear! 😬

A pp said it is a good way to find out which parents to avoid and for me that js sort of the problem! Parents who I wouldn't even know from Adam or who are delightful in person are monstrous on the group chat. I wish I didn't know that Harry's mum is a solid gold bellend or that Jack's dad clearly doesn't understand how parking works and probably shouldn't be allowed on the road. For some people, this might be vital info. Not for me, cheers.

@Strawberrypancakes

Wow. Such dramas. Mumsnet is such a different world... ours ore absolutely fine and really informative.

Hmmmm not really a different world. It just enables us to hear experiences from a range of people, which will clearly all be different . It isn't that MN is full of bonkers aliens from another world, it's that your personal experience is probably quite narrow and when you read about a wider range of experiences, you will find your experience is not exactly the same across the board.

Lucky you though! Drama free WhatsApp group. The stuff of dreams .

I couldn't manage without my son's (J3) whatsapp group. I've a brain like a sieve, and can't count the number of times a 'Don't forget it's xxx tomorrow' message has popped up and saved my bacon😂

@Strawberrypancakes

Wow. Such dramas. Mumsnet is such a different world... ours ore absolutely fine and really informative.

Yeah same with ours, never came across any bitching or gossiping in the group, it's literally only used for school related/child related stuff

Any teacher bashing then I’d leave. Or even tell the school.
I can’t stand all that rubbish.