School WhatsApp wildness…

[Fruitbatdancer]

I’ve lost the will to read the school WhatsApp already…
they don’t go back till tomorrow and there already been 30+ messages today.
everyone whinged about no update from school, update sent, then they all whinged about the update. The slagging off (of the actually very good I think) school and staff is wild.
one of the email updates today was on parent code of conduct and it specifically said parents will be banned from school premises if agressive and inappropriate behaviour on social media! Made me lol as then they all bitched about it! It’s the same 3/4 mums.every. Time.

30 messages in and someone just asked if they go back tomorrow 😂

please tell me most parents are also reading this shite thinking ‘how do these people function in their day to day lives’?!

id remove myself but then I’ll be ‘that mum’ 😂

I removed myself. I was that mum. Honestly, couldn’t care less and didn’t want that in my life.
best of luck! The best thing about secondary school is none of this!

I am a day into reception and already regretting joining.

And people have barely said anything! I think I have just decided I hate forced social grouping 🫣

No one will give a stuff if you remove yourself. Step away and leave the toxicity behind.

I honestly wonder too! Always the same person “when do kids go back” then you tell them and they don’t believe it!

incidentally the same ones always late to drop kids off, with kids eating bakery goods for breakfast en route 😅

I’m still on our group as it’s occasionally useful but mostly it’s just a forum for people with no common sense or initiative. People asking the term dates - it’s on the website and confirmed by email. People asking questions that have already been answered by the school, they just haven’t bothered to read them. Not much slagging off of the teachers or school, to be fair.

Ours used to be used most for lost property- anyone got Bob's jacket. And spelling words - hes not written them down or I can't read it

This is secondary I kid you not!! Over 100 people on there!

I have never been on one. Secondary age ds and we've been fine. What's it actually for?

Mute

Ours is fine to be honest, communication from school isn’t always clear so it’s good to confirm it with others, odd reminders about things is useful. Never has anyone slagged the school or teachers. It’s wild that people do that. I won’t be joining a secondary school group though, I can imagine that is chaotic with the amount of people on it.

Oh my word how on earth did that get set up?

And WHY?

Its bad enough kids having massive WhatsApp groups before they all realise they are a PITA and delete them

Ours is quite pleasant. The mums on the pta send a regular list of important dates and pin it to the top of the chat. Any important emails that come through they’ll share on there. I’d honestly have no clue what’s going on without it. We do have the odd ‘whose socks were in little Peter’s bag?’ With a photo and and promise that they’ll be returned tomorrow morning… that’s as interesting as it gets! 😂

We have in our WhatsApp group the ‘when the kids go back to school?’ Parent. Almost always the answer is ‘yesterday Brenda, they’re back already’ 🤦🏻‍♀️

Why does secondary school need parents to communicate at all? I left 7 years ago and AFAIK there were no parent group chats, I don’t even think the parents knew each other! We didn’t have digital communication from school either apart from an occasional text or email if directly about an individual pupil, everything was a letter and it was on us to let our parents know things.

Covid really changed things (and infantilised teenagers imo…)

Just mute it? No one will notice or care

I’ve muted mine and only occasionally look at the insanity for a bit of a laugh. It’s always the same parents who have no clue what’s going on. They get the same emails and messages on the app that we all do yet have no idea what’s happening. Then someone’s kid says something (usually incorrect) and a long debate ensues.
They’re going into Y10. It’s not like you haven’t started school after the holidays before…..

I’ve never heard of a secondary school one. That’s definitely wild.

I’d step away. The things that are useful at primary school, being in a WhatsApp group, aren’t relevant at secondary.

I do find the school instituting a parent code of conduct curious. What has happened to cause that? It’s pretty crazy that the school think they should or must - including the social media part. Had parents regularly been posting derogatorily about the school? I have never come across this either.

I have never been part of a whatsapp group for this very reason.
Just remove yourself.

You can hate it all you like but kids party invites often come via the WhatsApp chat in the early days and that is where you’re likely to meet people you do get on with. If you’re happy for your child to miss out on that sort of thing - and they will - then leave the group. Alternatively mute it and check in occasionally.

We rarely have it that bad but it’s a lifeline for me sometimes as I work so can’t be at the school gates always so sometimes miss the actually teacher changed her mind and said they’ll have that test Friday instead’ or ‘they’re allowed wear their pe gear in first thing this morning’ or the like. Saying that yes, about thirty messages yesterday but it was talking about how cute the youngest class are😉😂

They can be useful, but a too-high percentage of messages is from parents who haven't bothered to read the (actually very clear) emails from school.

Someone (not me, promise!) tersely pointed out that most of this info is in emails, and one woman has now taken it upon herself to "helpfully" upload PDFs of each letter onto the WhatsApp group. "School just sent out an email about xyz!" Yes I know, funnily enough I GOT IT TOO!

Our school doesnt do whole year group whatsapp groups thank god. We do have a small subsection group of about 15 of us that like to regularly meet up. Its more for organsing social outside of school things with the odd comment on something that isnt clear with school.

I had hoped all this madness would stop once DS started secondary school but nope! I was added to a group earlier this week and it’s mental.

I’ve muted it already. It’s the same people posting to either complain about the school or ask for information which is available on multiple platforms. It’s infuriating.

I never had the desire to join one. Even tge text messages we get from school highlights tge craziness of some parents.

Such as the reminder that parents arent allowed onto the school grounds in rge morning to get their child to class.
(They can access Reception through a different door if they need to). Or not to park in residents driveways (genuine message we got yesterday!)

We don’t have a WhatsApp but we do have a FB group for the year. I got a message from a parent on the first day back asking which door her child would be coming out of because her Nan would be picking her up (3 classes all go in same door, but come out of 3 different doors). There are videos on the school website to explain this with pictures.

She didn’t know the teacher’s name or the class name.

She then asks if the child was in my child’s class.

I’m not sure how she thought that I would know this information, if she didn’t 🙈