That teachers should have templates for things that happen year in year out?

[nappychangingbag]

I'm not sure if it's just my children's school but there hasn't been the greatest communication...

No info on which classroom to drop child off at
No info on PE days
No info on school clubs
No info on anything at all really

AIBU to think that teachers should have a template for things that happen year in year out? Surely it's helpful?!

Like start at the start of the year have a checklist of things you need to communicate and then do it?

Sure you might have to tweak it year to year but I feel like schools lack such basic efficiency in admin, it kind of makes the school look rubbish.

And I definitely don't get the feeling it's because they're just "really focussed" on the actual teaching.

I feel like if you can't do the basics it doesn't really fill me with confidence that you can do the complicated stuff 🤷‍♀️

@nappychangingbag maybe your school isn’t very good at this? But plenty are so please don’t generalise.

I also know that, at my school, for every parent who says they never got x piece of information, another will say we’ve told them about it too many times, or in too many different places. Can’t win.

How do they send a letter out about clubs when the external suppliers haven't confirmed their availability yet?

How do they send it out when any private hires haven't confirmed when they are using the buildings yet and haven't made their payments?

How do they predict the future when they're working out what site staff are available on which day and whether they've already maxed out their working hours and recruiting an additional person takes time?

Much as schools would like one, there's no time machine next to the photocopier.

It is admin job but they don't hold all the information.
The quality of admin will depend on the efficiency of the staff and what the head decides to send out. Be kind in that they may want to send more but it will be the head's decision
What I will say is every email, text and newsletter sent out is important, if parents read them I bet all the information has been passed on. So many many times parents moan and it's all there already stated for them
It will not be in a handy one stop guide because parents want information as soon as schools have it on that topic. And what's vital to you is not to someone else

No info on which classroom to drop child off at
We tell the children and have a transition morning and a transition afternoon where this is practised.

No info on PE days
These change each year depending in other parts of the timetable. We are still sorting out our hall timetables. Parents will be sent a message from their child's class teacher via Seesaw once decided. For now they are having informal PE activities where uniform isn't changed.

No info on school clubs
Again, these change depending in staff choices/availability. Most of them are done on a voluntary basis by staff at our school. They haven't started yet.

External clubs - we have to wait to receive information from the provider, who are responsible for sending out letters and collecting payment. Where possible a copy of the letter will be sent via Seesaw too.

No info on anything at all really
I'm surprised. We send out most of it as soon as we know for sure what's happening.

If we send it out and it has to change you'd get more complaints.

We've had complaints, on MN and in real life, of schools sending out too much information.
Schools can rarely please all parents all the time.

And actually, this time of the year, we really are pretty focused on getting the children in and settled.

Timetables change every year so the basic pe times etc won’t be the same . From experience, usually be the end of week one, an email goes out with all the info you actually need.

You should know about what class to drop your child off before the child starts. If your child is starting p1 then you might get an email soon explaining what’s to happen on the first day. If your child has just started and this info wasn’t given then bring it up to the school. Other year groups might have had a chance fo meet their new teacher before the summer and would have been told themselves where to line up for their new class.

Teachers run the school clubs, this isn’t a priority in the first few weeks. The school clubs change most years based on if any teachers have left or new ones arrived so you will get emails or letters in due course about school clubs.

As a teacher myself I stay late on second week to do a meet the teacher night with all this basic info. We then send home an email with all this info. Lots of schools do that and is fairly normal but I’d encourage that if you have any concerns then please contact the school directly. You may have been missed from an email chain or your little one might be losing letters before home time.

If the school isn’t living up to your expectations then I’d also encourage you to join the parent council or pta to help bring about positive changes.

All the schools around me are still doing the come to school in PE kit thing

I do find schools are terrible at telling you last minute ....you need to come to school in red on Friday sent out Wednesday, bring in y for tomorrow...great let's go shopping tonight, it's bring a parent to see day Friday...great how do I book that day off now. Surely open afternoons are not planned this week for next week and a termly this is our plan for the term so can you gather stuff together for dress like an alien, make a space ship etc to be done later in the 6 weeks isn't too hard.

So why does your thread title say "teachers" then, not "office staff", or indeed "schools"?

It really should be possible for a school to have a master calendar with all main events visible to staff and parents. This should be driven by the head or senior leadership.

If a school does not have a starters handbook, or clear information they will just get inundated with parents all typically asking the same questions.

It is not rocket science.

Now with email communication I don't think any reasonable parent expects responses out of hours - unless it is safeguarding.

But again that can be handled with an out of office type reply.. such as our school hours are x to Y and queries with be dealt with during office hours.

Thrallswife sorry to hear your school can't prioritise your well being. Sounds like your school does not have clear lost properly guidance. I guess with the cost of living crisis it is also pretty stressful for parents if belongings have been lost within the first week.

Exactly!

It’s like moaning about nurses being responsible for hospital admin sent out.

All of this does go out at our school and is indeed sent by office staff, who will have been chasing teachers and the HT since June for the information required....

If you didn’t know which class/room they were going to be in or where it was, I would have asked someone before term ended in July!

When DS was at school even what class he was in was liable to change! One memorable year he was due to join class A, then head of key stage decided he would be better in class B, same age but lower ability. He spent about 2 days there, during which it became obvious that was not a good fit and he was moved back to class A!

Judging by the number who have been emailed, posted and physically handed the booklet, login letters and everything else, only for them to ask the things that are in the booklet and letters, it's more than rocket science, it's terraforming new worlds and interdimensional travel.

Email comes with the 'your login details are' text forwarded.

'You haven't given me my password'.

It's literally on the email you're forwarding back to the office and complaining about. Six lines down from your complaint. There. Here's a screenshot of it.

'Why have you sent me a screenshot?'

Because it's got your login details on it.

'But I don't have them'.

Fucks' sake.

So are you saying that your child's school doesn't run smoothly on a day to day basis?
And that you don't know any important information?

I'm not sure PE days is that important on week 1 tbh.

Our school sends out termly notifications of what is happening in each year group. We have a website, twitter ( or 'X' or whatever its called now),send out texts to parents, a weekly newsletter, and paper letters as well as being available at hometime to talk to and STILL we get told "I didn't know anything about it!"....😏

Teacher here. Timetables change every year, and it isn't our job to send information out. That's the school office's job, so I suggest you speak to them! Would you expect nurses in the NHS to send appointment letters?

Both my school and my DD's school email all this information out in the first week back. Definitely contact the school office if you've heard nothing.

Wonders if OP has found the link to the school website/calendar she was sent last week Which has all the information she was whinging about...

I totally agree OP. It is baffling to me that my DC's school gives virtually zero communication and information. At the start of the year and throughout!