No pta and no parents communication group

[Slytherinforme]

My son has just started a new primary school. I have found out there is no pta and it was disbanded when the current principal came into her role. There are no class reps and no encouragement of what's app groups for parents.i have asked about formation of pta but I know I will be told no as many others have been in the past. I asked would the school send out a link to a what's app group to allow parents to communicate and this was a no as well. It really feels like the principal is actively discouraging communication between the parents and the school and the parents and each other.

I see this as major red flags and am considering a school change for my son. AIBU?

What are reps? Ours was just set up in the playground and people got added gradually over the first term.

No, there’s a school Facebook group and a parent in each class takes the initiative each year to set up and post a link to a WhatsApp group. It’s all parent led. It’s an infant school so not loads of year groups and it’s very community based.

School have no involvement in the WhatsApp groups. Just a couple of parents start a group and invite more people and try to make sure everyone has been invited organically.

I am the class rep for the PFA. It is nothing to with either the WA group or being a link between the school and the class.

Out of 13 years of education my kids were only only in classes with parental reps for two years. I remain unconvinced that there was any benefit to either staff, pupils or parents in having reps.

As far as getting numbers, I had parental contacts for pretty much every parent in my kids’ year groups, I did it the old fashioned way - I talked to people (and I was a full time working Mum).

Schools don’t have any involvement in WhatsApp groups or Facebook groups at our school either. It’s not their place. So YABU there. As for the other things only you can decide if this school is a good fit for your DC if your not happy with how it’s run move them.

god i hate parents whatsapp groups 😂
my DD changed school last year, i know they have one for her class, ive had 2 parents ask me if im on it, im actively avoiding joining it. 😂

I’ve never known a school to start or arrange WhatsApp groups. Just start one and invite parents in the class to join as and when you can.

What's an integrated school and how do you mean they've only invited half of community for RE?

The PTA at my school raises over £20k a year. It’s very odd to discourage that as it helps the children.

It means it's a school that celebrates diversity and all religious beliefs. So not just a catholic or Protestant school but a mix that welcomes other faith's also. That's I sent my son there. But a recent freedom of information request on which religious faith leaders had visited the school showed just one had. The same religion as the principal, who just happens to oppose Halloween. For context other integrated schools had no religious leaders visit.

Sounds idyllic to me.

My children’s school doesn’t have a PTA either. A private FB group was set up for my oldest during Covid and has just carried on so I started one for my youngest when he started.

You don’t need class reps or WhatsApp groups- you really don’t. I have a 19 and a 9 year old and survived many years at primary successfully without either and the thought of either makes my stomach curdle. PTA can be useful but is really so much work for so much moaning and criticism and politics. Both of my kids were/are very happy at different primary schools without any for these things. To me, they would create more problems than they’d solve.

I'm going to go against the grain and agree with you. The lack of class reps isn't a big deal in itself, and as PPs have said, WhatsApp groups are parent-led and wouldn't be initiated by the school. But what you seem to be saying is that the school is actively discouraging parental engagement and that the leadership is authoritarian and lacking in transparency. These are valid concerns - the culture of the school is set from the top, and it sounds like your instincts are telling you there is a problem.

PTAs are hard work for volunteers but delivery huge value to the children through the events themselves and the funding they generate. School fairs, discos, film nights, class parties etc are such a lovely part of a primary school calendar and I'd be very disappointed in a school that prevented these things from happening despite there being (from what you've said) parents who are ready to help.

Just set up your own WhatsApp group? What’s the problem? Not sure what you mean by the school sending a link?
PTAs can be a pain in the arse.
Surely you wouldn’t move your DC against because there isn’t one! Madness!

Wait, your ds has "just started" a new school and you've done a "freedom of information request on which religious faith leaders had visited the school" ???

Okaaaay.
<Steps back slowly>

This has got nothing to do with PTA has it ?

We never had class reps or class WhatsApp and functioned perfectly well. There was a pta for fundraising and events but not for other communication type things. To be fair, they weren’t NEEDED as such. The school could just organise a fair, or Halloween parties etc themselves rather than doing it via the pta.

At both my children’s schools the WhatsApp groups have been facilitated by the school. It would be hard to set up otherwise surely? The class teacher liaises through the class rep to convey information.

I'd maybe try and set one up? Easier said than done but maybe if a class party happens it would be a good opportunity to get other parents on board?

My eldest DC is in their early twenties and there were definitely no WhatsApp groups but everyone has managed to get through school and out the other end. Younger DC is a teenager and I think it wasn't until lockdown that a group was set up but that was only as a way of coordinating a weekly zoom gathering amongst the children.

The lack of PTA may reflect a lack of parental interest in setting up and running one but may also be as the result of the school not wanting to put additional pressure on families to donate money, come wearing a yellow t-shirt/odd socks/blue hair etc., or perhaps the intake at the school is such that fundraisers don't make much money. I've taught at primary schools where there was no PTA because families didn't have spare money to spend at any event that might be organised. We did organise things along the lines of a disco, Christmas fair etc. but most things were supplied by the staff and everything could be done without having to pay for a turn.

Re: the representative of only one faith visiting, is it possible others have been invited but not accepted the invitation or are scheduled for a later date? If this is something you are concerned by, email the school office and ask what the situation is and offer to help arrange visits by other faith leaders.

I've never known school get involved in parents group chats. Both my kids classes have one but when DD started reception I just got everyone's numbers and added them. I feel like I live in some alternative reality though where WhatsApp groups are used for checking it's an inset day or that they all need to be wearing green t-shirts or has anyone seen my kids lost water bottle etc etc. I've literally never seen a single dramatic message.

PTA thing is weird, who is planning events and paying for stuff the school can't justify using central budget for?

Our quite mixed (trades people, professionals, younger parents) Primary had a PTA which arranged a lot of nice extras for the school e.g. Summer fair after sports day, Christmas Fair, ice lolly sales, discos, library book donations, Uniform Swap Shop etc. It was a lot more efficient (money raised Vs effort expended) and pleasant to deal with than that of the "best" school in town - omg they were a nightmare, and the (male) Chair took the piss and treated a lot of the mums who helped out at events like his skivvies! Once was enough for me at that school.

There were also some parent organised WA groups which were reasonable and well behaved ime. (Interestingly the Head of the "best" school banned parents from discussing the school on social media. I was not on SM anyway at that time, but it sort of reflected a maniacal need for control and an inability of the SLT to accept any criticism - which then ended up being vented on SM. Wierdly, this Head also left his post very abruptly and in strange circumstances, and the LA have still not explained why to the parents two years later). We took our DC out of the "best" school, but not because of the above, but due to their total incompetence and offensive views with regard to SEND. In my view there was a negative pattern of behaviour amongst the SLT, and it was no smoke without fire ime.

Anyway, I'm not sure I'd move your child due to no PTA or WA groups if I were otherwise satisfied with the place. I would be concerned that they do not have Class Reps (ours did) because it does not give kids the opportunity to learn about agency/democracy on the class & school level, reduces kids chances of taking part in discussions to shape their school and suggests a dislike of ceeding any control even over small decisions.

Are you in Ireland OP? I just wonder if the integrated school and religion thing is very specific to a context

The no WhatsApp groups is great, complete pointless waste I only had one child young enough to have them in a WhatsApp era and it's "x had lost their jumper please can you check" with then twenty replies saying "not here"

Sounds a bit like the "best" school Head I mentioned earlier, except that most of the teaching staff were very much in his mould, so no open disagreements.

If teaching staff are making such negative comments to you as a parent, I would assume that there is real trouble ahead. This is what would make me consider moving my child. Is it a happy school? Do the staff seem happy and supportive and good at working with each other as a team? Ime experience school SLT is like a fish, it first stinks from the head.

Having read more comments, I think I misunderstood what you meant by Class Rep. I thought you meant pupil class reps, not parent reps. We did not have parent reps at either school.

The religion thing was a slight problem for us at Primary. Although both schools were LA maintained, and not officially allowed to be faith schools, a lot of Christian proselytising did go on, and only Christian groups were invited to speak/give special "classes" to the children. This was a problem for my aethist DC, but I had bigger (ALN) battles to fight, and chose not to push the second (happier) school on this point when it became apparent what was going on.

Oh ok, is this outside of England? I've never heard the term before - obviously see Faith school but other schools are just schools for anyone. I have to say tho despite a very mixed intake, and not being a faith school, the ugly religious leader to visit is from the church we sing at at Christmas and Easter.

On the other hand, our school is in a fairly deprived area so trying to raise 20k from the parents of 200 kids so probably half that many parents would be crazy. It's perfectly manageable for the couple we do a year to be organised by staff