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

Ours is useful for reminders of non uniform days / bring £1 for something or other / return your form etc.

It is heavily policed by the PTA mum who nips in the bud any message not directly related to the school or promotion of the PTA, even if it's just someone asking if there's anything on at half term, so we don't get any MLM nonsense.

I'm in 2 for my dcs classes. I would say we've not had any problems with nastiness or drama, but it does come down to the parents in your dcs class- we've been lucky to not have any drama llamas!

The messages like "remember its group 2 for forest school this morning" or "can anyone take a quick photo of the spelling list for this week", are very useful. In lockdown it was handy when we were struggling with how to do some of work.

If i was you, I'd join it, then mute if it turns out your class parents are hard work.

yes I prefer FB based ones

Whatsapp too intrusive, and not grouped by topic

I completely avoid. Its apparently all inane drivel about who's doing what homework and people arguing about isolating children and siblings attending school. If I need info I'll check the school app or contact the actual school.

Normal in my DC school. I enjoy being part of it, it's a small village school and all the mums genuinely get along well. Organise park trips, nights out etc (pre restrictions).

I agree they can be a double edged sword. However on my younger child's group, the parents are lovely and it can be funny and usually helpful.
Join and see? You can always mute or exit the group!

It is normal.

Schools have a constant stream of stuff that you need to remember, dress up days, odd sock days, wear blue days, bring money for this and that, we've swapped the pe day this week, things to bring in on certain days - it never bloody ends.
I rely on the whatsapp group to keep me informed. There are a lot of messages about stuff that's not relevant too.

But I have a friend who has never been in his class whatsapp and is obviously more efficient than me.

it is information overload from schools nowadays. I wish they would tone if back to school photo, christmas fayre and summer fayre like it was in my day. I can do without all the rest. And STOP THE BLOODY ENDLESS DRESS UP DAYS.

They are handy for information about INSET days, parents' evenings and forgotten homework. I joined one for my son last year. This year, I have only managed to find a Facebook page, which is absolutely fine

The parents in my older child's class are a mixed bag, therefore my DH deals with that WhatsApp group!

Also occasionally they've been used for more serious things, such as locating children who weren't home when they were expected, or warnings about any dodgy happenings in the area...

Yes the viral bullshit gossip that then need a correction because they are defamatory or misinformation are joyful. Love those ones.

And hence my desire to wish to be able to punch people in the face rather than politely smile and nod when I see them. There is a reason I no longer contribute to the conversation.

Whatsapp is a nightmare as you need to scroll through endless nonsense to find the information you need and you cannot save anything

You can save messages. You star them and delete the non starred messages.

I'm on class WhatsApp groups and find them useful, the odd reminder or question about something coming up. Nothing personal or ever any derogatory conversation about school or teachers etc so all very positive.

Agree about the nonsense information and the nonsense replies.
My nephew’s latest one was along the lines of:
Has anyone seen little Fred’s coat?
Followed by:
Not me
Not seen it
No not me
Have you found it?
No not me
Me neither
Bla bla bla. It drives my sister nuts!

I find them very useful. I’d miss out on a lot of information without them.
Most parents know how to conduct themselves, and use it sensibly.
It’s absolutely invaluable when you get to the stage where teachers stop communicating directly to the parents if your dc hasn’t quite got the hang of bringing all the messages home, or writing down all the homework details.
In the last year or so all the PTA info has come via the WhatsApp groups and we get less emails/newsletters over all.

I think with these things there’s always a lot of chatter and noise in the first month and then everyone calms down. I’m not “involved” or socially active in the school, and I find it is actually brilliant for letting me keep my distance but stay informed too.

Only ever heard bad things about them so I always opted out. Witnessed many friends in groups struggling with parents rowing, disagreements and lots of time wasting nonsense like memes and jokes. Yes it might help you remember the Comic Relief cake sale and find DC’s PE sock but is that enough for all the hours of other messages.

I belong to one at my children's nursery but there is no need for me to mute it as people hardly ever send any messages!

@ChickenyChick

yes I prefer FB based ones

Whatsapp too intrusive, and not grouped by topic

I find FB more intrusive, the whatsapp chats stay on mute and I check them when I feel like it, whereas FB seems to like bombarding me with notifications if anyone so much as glances at it. Plus I don't like having people then requesting to be added on my FB

Ours is good; nice way to get to know the other parents, and there's no drama. It's handy for reminders of things.

We had one when DS was in Nursery, and it had a few more drama llamas, so I muted it for a bit. People would post photos and videos of their kids for no real reason, and we had a couple of Scentsy huns.

I've heard horror stories of groups where everyone's slagging off the teacher/school etc, but thankfully never been in one!

I'd join, they are most used (I've found) for standard school stuff, queries, reminders etc which have come in really handy. It's a common thing to have.

We have one. There is often helpful prompts on there, such as a reminder that kids need to go in wearing PE kit (often only communicated by an email a week earlier), a list of names of children in the class for Reception Christmas cards, and sometime heads up about things like a stomach bug going round etc.
I would join, but you don’t need to get actively involved if you don’t want to.

I hated mine and got out first chance I could. About a third of the group would berate various teachers etc

No WhatsApp group for us altho there is a school reminder page on fb e.g swimming for y2 tmz or school pics or whatever is coming up no chit chat on it.

My year 3 WhatsApp is brilliant. Class rep reminds everyone of things we need to remember and people organise out of school activities etc on it. It's a really close knit class and all parents are really friendly and socialise.

My year 1 group drives me insane - loads of people asking questions they should already know the answer to and inexplicably loads of moaning. Was great over lockdown though as the kids shared messages for each other.

My year 5 group isn't about the kids at all 🤣🤣

I'm also part of a year 8 group. That's really useful as neither the children or the school tell you anything by then.

Join. Don't join. Nobody cares. It's really not a big decision.