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’ 😂

What were they doing that the head felt they had any authority over?

I mean, don’t get me wrong, if you say they were awful I’ll believe you. But surely any excluding being done by mothers was outside of school?

@SkinnyCigarette- lots of the schools round here - state and private- are all big on fostering a school community. Why is it so weird?

You made it to the Daily Mail....congrats

oops sorry was not you

Because sixth form aged teens and adults (as the poster I was quoting refers to being in a sixth form parents WhatsApp group) should really be at the age where they are becoming independent and completing their studies autonomously. They shouldn’t need parental involvement with anything to do with their sixth form.

Their parents shouldn’t need or want to be involved in a “school community” for their 16-18yo.

I managed to get through primary school with two children for over 10 years without being added to one of these stupid groups until my youngest child left primary and someone created one about the leavers hoodies!

It hasn’t been that bad to be honest, and it will die of death now as a lot of the kids aren’t going to the same secondary school.

I have it set now in WhatsApp that people who are not in my contacts can’t add me to groups automatically.

Before WhatsApp there was a school Facebook page, run by the school. Best ones were the 0700 messages: "Can Jonny come to breakfast club today?". You had to imagine the discussion at home leading up to that "Well why the f*ck didn't you tell me last week you had an 0830 meeting?". Bless them, the school always said "yes" and saved many marriages in the process.

Mine has a few mums who work at the school in the group and there’re no opinions about the school/ staff. I think that’s not good either because who am I going to rant with if the class teacher is showing the nine year olds a non-age-appropriate movie just because it’s based on a book that is age appropriate or the admin definitely did not email us about the AS club being cancelled?

If you want a new parent and your child is starting in reception, don’t leave the WhatsApp group. All of our party invites have been via there, and they probably would forget you existed so your child won’t go to any parties. Whole class invites. Just mute it and read it once a week.

I’m afraid there is. There’s also the secondary transfer one when they go up. I was added to one. I was also a head of year at the secondary school (as well as mum) so I had no qualms about quietly quitting that one!

My kid starts next week but I’ve not been told of any WhatsApp group. How does it get advertised?

Mute the chat!

Lots of secondary schools have them. They’re useful. And it’s nice to get to know your community generally.

There are a lot of disorganised people though - frankly makes me feel better!

I make my husband do the WhatsApp. Highly recommend.

this made me laugh my son has just gone to a new school and the new WhatsApp group is something else. I have muted it but there is the odd useful bit. Don’t need to see your first day photos. You don’t need to know which classroom your child is in either they will be shown and work it out for themselves. The helicopter parents are showing their colours early also oversharing and out competing about their children’s additional needs is a new one.

This is what my daughter does . 🙌

It's muted. I check in if I see there are notifications, and when the week ahead post goes up but if it's turning into a whinge etc I just ignore it

My wife is in ours and in a way I am glad I am not, I don't think I could deal with it.

I am generally shocked how disorganised some parents are and how rude they can be.

I had to report our class WhatsApp group they bullied a widow who was in it long complicated and sad story but they bullied her and she left the group i spoke to the school the parents were told to wind their necks in and keep personal feelings out there were a few other close calls but none that crossed the line as significantly as the first time

I agree, information on last minute road closures and parking issues saved us so much time last year (there seemed to be a water or gas leak every other week!).

In my son's school we have class reps each year who manage the class whatsapp groups. It works really well for his year group and is very useful as parents are generally sensible (bonus that we all get on).

But, I have heard that some of the other class whatsapp groups descend into bitching and have very few parents who read any school comms so even within a school we're all having a different experience depending on the parents in each class.

My son started Reception on Wednesday but luckily our group has been very quite. 60 odd parents, but only about 7 messages in these first few days. Just wishing them luck on the first day, then a couple about how they did, and someone saying their child had brought someone's jumper home by mistake. I hope it stays this manageable.

I removed myself a couple of years ago from DS’s. His school has some crazy parents that are either way over-invested or completely stupid. I couldn’t cope. It’s the best thing I’ve done. Sure, sometimes he goes in in uniform when it’s own clothes day etc but as it’s secondary school I’ve told him that being organised and knowing stuff is up to him now.

It presumably was a situation causing unpleasantness in school and the Head was wanting to stop it. MNers are quick enough to tell others to 'report it to school' if Sally swore at dear Susie on Sunday afternoon, this mean-girls situation among parents is far more important.

I would question why we are in these groups? Our school posts all the info by email so it's not as if we dont know what's going on.

Just ends up causing more confusion.

Difficulty is reading the emails and remembering to be honest

Same. I don't care what they think. Don't want to be part of it. Went in my favour when things kicked off and I was safe in my knowledge that I was not involved, even by association.