To be completely overwhelmed by primary school already?!

[Ostryga]

Dd had only been there one day so far and I’ve already had over 10 emails since Tuesday with reminders, things we need to do together (picture cards, watching a video, taking a photo relating to a word they’re learning in class, a book).

I’m happy Dd will be learning but I’m a full time working single mum and have about 7 seconds to myself a day, this seems like a completely mad amount of forms and things to do.

I’m happy to help Dd and work with her, but I feel like I’ve got a second job I was sort of expecting it be like nursery - send them in and a form every now and then.

Any top tips apart from wine to help get organised so my head doesn’t explode?

Top tips:
If a letter comes home in paper format take a photo of it on your phone immediately. Then it doesn't matter if you lose the hard copy.
When you open an email which has the date of any kind of school event or deadline add it to your phone calendar immediately, and if it's something that needs action set a notification reminder for a day or two in advance before you close the calendar.
Have a whiteboard by your front door with the days of the week on it. Every weekend update it with the things you need to remember for each day (cross check with your calendar). Ie. Mon - pe kit, Tues - trip consent form, Wed - show and tell, Thurs - £1 and own clothes, Fri ‐ return reading books.
These are all things I've found useful anyway.

It’s ridiculous. Mine are in year 1 and year 2 now and I can barely keep up already

My most classic moment to date was last Halloween realising at 8pm on Sunday night that they both needed decorated and carved pumpkins for school the next morning. I wouldn’t mind but the kids had no interest in decorating them anyway so we had to do it. 🙄

Buy something like these t shirt pack. Get it in a much larger size than you’d usually buy. Then you’re sorted for any dress up day eventually for the next few years.

direct.asda.com/george/kids/tops-t-shirts/chest-pocket-t-shirts-10-pack/GEM838160,default,pd.html?cgid=D25M1G1C1

Next used to do a similar pack

I have a nursery age child and another on the way and this thread has brought me out in a cold sweat of fear. For some reason I had always assumed balancing work and parenting would be easier when they were at school and now I’ve got no idea why I thought that.

mine have 20 mins reading and then other stuff to do eg spellings, research & I like to read to them. It's hard to fit in around their clubs & I only work p/t

It’ll calm down a little bit. It’s always chaos in September

We've only had three emails so far so I'm very suspicious. Our school's favourite move is to send emails out at 4.30pm on a Friday so I'm expecting a huge flurry at the end of the week.

As well as the first week being the worst, the first year is also the worst. By the time your child is in Year 1, you're a bit more into the rhythm of what happens, when regular school events are and what is important and what can be ignored.

Have had numerous messages but none containing any actual useful information ie term dates ( or more specifically teacher training days), how to book in to breakfast club, how to pay for school dinners. School website has next to zero information on it. Trying to find uniform requirements took forever...

YANBU. It's a full time job keeping on top of everything, which explains why I'm so rubbish at keeping on top of everything😅😭

From the opposite perspective, I had 13 messages from ONE parent today!

I deal with this by not actually reading them and trusting my DCs to fill me in on the important stuff. I got 6 emails the first day DS2 was back. That might not be the best advice if you like to be organised and not chaotic like me.

Yep,welcome to primary school where you will find constant demands on your time and the need to provide various costumes, filled out forms fully, fully made craft projects, various strange items needed for lessons and of course money at short notice.
After 3 days back in y3 I've reverted to my pre-covid response to school emails of "What the fuck do they want now?" rather than panicking about the school closing. Amongst other things, today's was please can your child dress as a Roald Dahl character on Monday. We haven't even got to homework yet........

School emails were the straw that broke me regarding shared parental responsibility. DH does anything related to school. I do anything related to after school childcare / sports clubs. I do not have the mental energy for both.

This is the worst time of year, bar Christmas. Start of term always produces a flurry of emails. It's a nuisance!

I have a big wall calendar, everything goes on there. I also take photos of the important emails / attachments so I can easily refer back (can never find the email I need amongst the dozens of irrelevant ones).

Oh no!! Our school are not like this. We get a book each week and a reading diary to fill in. That's about it aside from the odd last minute, pain in the arse fancy dress day. Perhaps it will die down after the initial keenness, if not perhaps remind them that they are only 4!

It does get better. I already feel like a failure as there is an information session and parent/child social which has been scheduled for tomorrow which I can’t make and my child will be in wrap/around care so will see all of her friends having some sort of party while she’ll probably be the only kid from her year in childcare. I was delighted by that one. No I can’t drop everything work wise to attend an event with 2 days notice actually.

I do the important stuff as soon as I get the text from school attaching the letter (queue me stopped in the middle of the pavement paying for school lunches today)

Much I ignore. I let the kids tell me if there's anything particularly important they want to do but I've given up making silly hats at midnight or rushing out to buy a purple t shirt from sainsburys for wear purple day. I take an environmentally friendly approach of if we haven't got it I'm not buying it especially unless it's got long term use.

I have 3 in the same school.

Yes some emails are "school year specific" but most are not and I get them x3

Ha yes our school was like this in reception. Now eldest is in year 2 it's suspiciously quiet. They didn't actually tell us what classrooms the kids would be in, and we're hedging our bets as to when the second PE day of the week might be (there's already been a disagreement on the WhatsApp on the latter).

Don't worry about the information evenings. We've only ever been to one. They just do a PowerPoint and then fail to answer any questions properly. Just email the office and ask them to send the presentation if you like.

On homework- just don't do it, apart from reading and maybe timestables. DCs teachers in Ks1 and eyfs were completely open that they didn't even look at most of jt and it was just to keep over zealous parents happy. There's no evidence it helps attainment at primary school and there is nothing more miserable than forcing a small child to do worksheets. Go to the park instead.

I did all the things sent home with dc1. I did very little with dc2. They didn’t say a word. Just do what you and dc wants and have time for, ignore the rest.

At dd3s primary a new Head arrived.
First communication said; "We will only send letters/emails on a Friday and we will only do a max of one "dress up" thing per term, 3 times a year, there will be no prize for best costume and no one has to do it. "
After 15 years of parenting I could have actually kissed her!

Please don't be 'that parent' who asks them to consolidate their emails. That level of foresight just isn't always possible in a school, as things come up (especially at the start of term) and the office staff work their arses off.

I genuinely don’t understand why it’s not possible, surely most things are planned ahead, aren’t they? Or are dress up days/make an xyz/charity days etc decided week by week rather than across the term?

I remember once dd needed 3 different types of clothing within one fortnight. I think it was blue for anti bullying on one day, one was wear brown to be a tree in class assembly or something and the other was maybe spots for Children in Need