To be disappointed with the school re trip

[pisspants]

I understand schools and teachers are busy and that it is great they have tried to organise a trip. I am upset on behalf of my dc though. There's an upcoming trip, details of which went out in one email over a month ago, with no further mentions or reminders about it. This week a follow up email went out regarding more details about what to wear for the trip etc which was the first I knew of the trip. I checked the online payment system and was no sign of it on there so called the school and they say the deadline has passed as the bus needed to know numbers etc a while back so my dc will have to miss the trip. I appreciate I missed one email which was sent in the middle of the day whilst I was working so didnt see it. It then got buried amongst all the crappy emails I get every day from everywhere I've ever bought anything from. Because of that my DC now misses the educational trip that almost the whole year is going on? I know I dropped a ball by not seeing the email but I would have expected a follow up email as a reminder of a payment deadline or something at the least?

Schools are busy places, much busier than you I suspect, your child would have known about the trip & know doubt mentioned it in passing; but like all parents we do zone out at times, try asking if the child can go on a reserve list kids go sick all the time who knows a few to drop out due to illness, anything’s worth a try x

You didn't finish your post. Surely, you mean to end with the moral of the story is to clean your inbox and set reminders? This is totally your fault. why do you need the school to remind you? Why can you not set reminders make a note on your diary?

I don't get people like you, how could this be anyone's bit your fault?

In this situation I think it sounds like YABU as you knew about the upcoming trip.

However YANBU that schools should only send one email.

The amount of times my DD has missed trips, non uniform days etc because the emails just don’t come through even though I check it everyday but it’s just a server error.

For my DDs school I wish they had a better website where you can see what letters have been sent out do I could just check that instead.

YABVU

@lauramaisyday

Thus is my pet hate about schools now. They expect you to be online 24/7 what ever happened to popping a letter out with the kids to. It's just laziness by the school and technically if it's an educational trip you are under no obligation to pay anyway if you look it up.

It was an email. Emails don't require parents to be online 24/7 - you can read them when it's convenient to you. Saves thousands of sheets of paper and loads of ink for each school. And less chance of a note getting lost if it's delivered straight to the parent (or so you'd think...)

But then I am class rep for a group of the most helpless and lazy parents I've ever encountered. About a third never seem to read their emails, and then complain about 'poor communication' from the school (despite a mention in the newsletter, an email, and a note in the calendar on the website.) People somehow expect to be spoonfed and for someone else to do all the work.

Parents never check bookbags so it's better to email. If you can't manage your own inbox that's your choice.

sorry but that's being a mum - we miss stuff while doing a billion things and have to take it on the chin.

I have 2 schools with completely different communication systems, different term dates, one has a shocking lack of communication despite being on several different platforms. Senior school is great though and sends a txt telling you to check email! Usually also sends backup letter in case of tech failure. Primary is hit and miss - sometimes weeks of reminders others you get a tiny window of opportunity. I miss stuff, I've not sent one kid to school not remembering it was starting days before the other (luckyi didnt send them when school was closed!)

It can be a mine field in an already crazy world but it happens. Not sure why if it's a whole year educational trip they didnt just give the bus company the number for the whole year!?

Hi OP, I have read your posts not the whole 233 other posts on the thread.

I sympathise - my DC school have sent out 3 emails THIS WEEK alone about the crappy Red Nose Day Bake sale today. So to only receive 2 emails regarding this critical trip seems odd.

I am surprised that a whole year trip with educational value (ie they are on an exam based course and this trip is part of their curriculum) hasn't been more widely communicated.

Regarding high levels of emails to your personal email account - I have many email accounts to deal with this :
(1) my main - for personal, school, work (if necessary), activities etc. I still have 100s unread.
(2) my secondary - for any retailer/organisation who believes that under GDPR with consent they can send me multiple emails per day. It is cathartic deleting the unreads!
(3) A N Other - for my ex regarding any divorce or other communication.

I am pretty split here. I work for a school and to be honest, if almost all children were going on a trip (especially given what they lost in lockdown) and I saw there was one missing after glancing down the list, I probably would call or mail their parents to double check.

Yes, you should have been more organised and your DC should have been more on the ball and have chased things up with you. Obviously, it's important to teach children to take responsibility for things.... but at the same time they've missed out on so much it seems a bit mean of the school to not check.

Unsubscribe from emails you don’t want.

I am a school administrator and set up all the trips on our parent app. Trips are always set up with an email content of what it’s about and how to and where to pay and have to be set up with at least 6 weeks notice and usually more .
The payment item is there to see even if nothing else.
I always get parent who claim not to know anything about a trip despite all the info I do, plus reminders / plus teachers reminders/ kids are aware.
OP just check your parent app more and then you will not miss stuff

I have 3 DC all go to different schools, I work FT, I have no choice but to spend at least 10-15mins read school emails every evenings (and I hate it), mark them on calendar with reminders and delete spams. Anything that is outstanding I will leave in the inbox until 'no further action or reminder'. My inbox has about 20 emails on average, rest are deleted or moved to different folders, all my DC's schools has their own folder. Anything to do with bills go to another, I probably have about 15 folders.

I still miss some of it, especially those came from secondary schools, every email is an essay with that one line of important information buried away somewhere.

@Beees

I really doubt that the 1 email you missed was the only communication about the trip. Every school I've ever work in or with will have sent several emails and most likely a physical letter to get the parents written permission. Did your child not talk about the trip and is it possible he actually didn't pass along any letter because he didn't want to go?

This

Are you kidding?! Parents like you make me so cross (I'm a teacher - I plan school trips and it takes hours of extra time. We rarely get thankyous, only moaning). How on earth can you blame the school for not sending reminder emails for disorganised parents?!?! And are you really complaining that they sent it during the day when you're at work?? What did you expect the teacher to do, send it on a Saturday evening instead?!

Yanbu if there was no other communication from the school about a school trip. We usually get several emails, a paper letter, mention in the newsletter, the children get told…

It’s easy to miss communication via email from school tbh. I’m grateful they our school sends text messages too

As a school governor I can vouch for the fact dds school would have sent several emails and texts so if your school haven't then they should accept partial responsibility for poor communication.

I don't get the. Have to miss a thing as I get the emails to my personal e.ail as a parent and then my school one as a governor.

Mistakes happen. You need to own it with your child, apologise. Explain that sometimes life is hectic and things get forgotten (i forgot to collect my food shopping from click and collect this week). Do not them your dc think this is the school's fault.

Is the place somewhere you cam visit with your dc at the weekend?

I’m a teacher and this is 100% the fault of the school. It’s also our fault if your child hasn’t made friends with absolutely every child in the class. It’s our fault if another child looked at yours in the wrong way and your child told no one about it but tells you instantly when they leave. It’s our fault if they haven’t brushed their teeth and end up needing a filling. It’s our fault if they haven’t had a snack. It’s our fault if they haven’t been to the toilet at hourly intervals and then been reminded to go to the toilet again before leaving school. It’s our fault if their reading book is ‘too hard’. It’s our fault if their reading book is ‘too easy’. It’s our fault if we don’t give them a nice afternoon out of class to celebrate their hard work now and again. It’s our fault if we do. It’s our fault if they’ve lost their jacket in the playground when we weren’t there. It’s our fault if they didn’t eat their lunch, when we weren’t there. It’s our fault if they don’t know algebra, the name of every dinosaur and the numbers to 100 in french. Yeah, everything is our fault 😊 If in doubt, blame the school. YANBU, no way!

…Can you tell why I’m planning my get out asap and schools have zero staff left?! I’m on a Facebook group for those planning to leave teaching and it currently has 63,000 members, speaks for itself 🙃

You have my sympathy. It’s overwhelming the amount of emails from schools we get as parents. I would ask the school to help again. You can’t be the only one.

@willwewontwe

I’m a teacher and this is 100% the fault of the school. It’s also our fault if your child hasn’t made friends with absolutely every child in the class. It’s our fault if another child looked at yours in the wrong way and your child told no one about it but tells you instantly when they leave. It’s our fault if they haven’t brushed their teeth and end up needing a filling. It’s our fault if they haven’t had a snack. It’s our fault if they haven’t been to the toilet at hourly intervals and then been reminded to go to the toilet again before leaving school. It’s our fault if their reading book is ‘too hard’. It’s our fault if their reading book is ‘too easy’. It’s our fault if we don’t give them a nice afternoon out of class to celebrate their hard work now and again. It’s our fault if we do. It’s our fault if they’ve lost their jacket in the playground when we weren’t there. It’s our fault if they didn’t eat their lunch, when we weren’t there. It’s our fault if they don’t know algebra, the name of every dinosaur and the numbers to 100 in french. Yeah, everything is our fault 😊 If in doubt, blame the school. YANBU, no way!

…Can you tell why I’m planning my get out asap and schools have zero staff left?! I’m on a Facebook group for those planning to leave teaching and it currently has 63,000 members, speaks for itself 🙃

It's also our fault their new wellies got muddy in forest school in the rain this week.

(Real complaint I've had this week!)

I’ve been teaching a very long time and a busy working mum to 3 children. I can see both sides but still think a second letter/email reminder to those who haven’t replied is the right thing to do. Emails do get missed-its not the fault of the child, who will ultimately be the one who misses out.

Can’t you book a day off work and meet his class there?

@lauramaisyday

Thus is my pet hate about schools now. They expect you to be online 24/7 what ever happened to popping a letter out with the kids to. It's just laziness by the school and technically if it's an educational trip you are under no obligation to pay anyway if you look it up.

They don't expect you to be online 24/7. The whole point is that you can read the emails when it suits you. Letters sent home get lost, aren't found by parents who don't open their child's book bag etc etc. The phrase "Well I didn't see it, it's not my fault" uttered yet again. Schools can't afford to pay for trips without help from the parents. The last school I worked in had a parent who proudly told everyone they didn't have to pay. We got lots of consent forms and very little money. The head sent out a letter to say that the trip was cancelled because the governors could cover the cost of the 52 seater coach but not entrance to the event.

@pisspants

Yeah I really don't understand it when is whole year whole school. Father not involved at all I am single parent so all falls on me. Not an excuse but have a lot of organisational shit to deal with for self, plus 2 DCs and their various activities etc. Anyway, lesson learnt. I have 49000 emails in my inbox. Had not heard of unroll me, sounds like a game changer! Otherwise will take me hours and hours to unsubscribe and delete everything in there

OP, filter out emails by sender and then delete everything from that sender if it's spam. Will save you hours of time. Set up email folders to sort emails automatically. Unsubscribe is something you should only have to do once from each list.

In your case it might be easier to start fresh with a new email address and only give that out for things that are important to you such as the school. You can also automatically forward emails from the old address from senders that do matter to you to the new inbox.

Search online for inbox management tips. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Many people have come up with great ideas. I have applied many of them and it really is a life-saver.

@luciferWasAnAngelToo

YANBU My OH drives coaches, and numbers can be amended right up to the day of travel. Price at per coach not per person so it doesn’t really matter, school are being unreasonable. I dislike the constant emails we are sent, and that there are rarely deadlines given is extremely unhelpful.

The coach is part of it . Entrance to whatever the trip is to may be ticket based. The school will have purchased the tickets some time ago/ may not be able to get any more.