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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Straw poll: do you have your DC's teacher's email address?

61 replies

Escolar · 20/10/2018 22:42

I have DC at two different primary schools (for complicated reasons).

At one, the class teacher gave parents her email address (obviously her school one, not her personal one) at the start of term and told us to use it if we needed to communicate with her. At the other, we were told not to email the staff directly.

I just wondered which is common practice? I'm not someone who is constantly in contact with the teacher (in fact I've never used the email address I was given), but I do like the idea of being able to if I need to, without having to make an appointment or communicate via the school office.

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PurpleAndTurquoise · 20/10/2018 22:43

No but we have class dojo.

SlowlyShrinking · 20/10/2018 22:44

No, but it would be so useful if I did! If I was a teacher I probably wouldn’t like it though. It’s difficult because they’re obviously really busy and giving emails to parents can only increase their workload I would think.

MongerTruffle · 20/10/2018 22:45

We weren't explicitly told, but email is the main form of communication, and teachers' emails are just [surname].[initial]@domain.

wtftodo · 20/10/2018 22:47

Yes we do, it seems to be the main way they get in touch.
Two forms, three teachers (one class has a job share) and they all email info for eyfs and it’s fine for us to email our class teacher, not that I have

catkind · 20/10/2018 22:50

Never had a direct email in primary, but if I need to send a message I just email it to the office, they can print out or forward on as the teacher prefers.

DrMadelineMaxwell · 20/10/2018 22:52

All the kids in my class have it as we use Google classroom. All tasks are emailed to them from my email address. And they have to share other work with me on it if they want anything printing.

Maryann1975 · 20/10/2018 22:52

We don’t have the teachers email addresses, but over the years a couple have given them out of me so I can email projects etc over to them (and from that I can work out the format of the rest of the teachers). If we need to get in touch we are asked to write in the children’s reading diaries and staff will get in touch or email the office who will pass a message over to the relevant member of staff.

I can’t think of any reason I would need to email the teacher directly when I have the above options available to me.

Muddlingalongalone · 20/10/2018 22:54

No but I can message the teacher directly via class dojo.

BringOnTheScience · 20/10/2018 23:11

I taught in a school which did not officially give out teachers' email addresses. However, the Head would freely CC us in to their discussions with Those Parents. We would then receive all of the thoughts & views of Those Parents After A Glass Or Three Of Wine at 11pm on a Friday. Marvellous

Giving a teacher's direct email address is rarely a good idea.

Leyani · 21/10/2018 00:17

Yes we do. Seems to work for non urgent things. Notes in bag and phone messages never arrived and no functional online thing

TheSteakBakeOfAwesome · 21/10/2018 07:25

Yes I have it - but I have it because of specific things they were emailing me for and the normal process is to email the office and have it passed along to the teacher in question so I don't use the personal email address for anything else if that makes sense? One of them I had before we started there as DH worked with the teacher's husband who'd given him it out!

lorisparkle · 21/10/2018 07:35

We don’t at my ds’s primary school but do at secondary school. If I got responses from the teacher when I email the office then it would not be a problem however communication is dire. In contrast the communication at secondary is amazing (although I do worry about the teachers work life balance!) As a teacher I would not mind parents having my email. I control when I look at it and it gives me control to respond at a convenient time. We use class dojo which I can access at home so don’t need them to have my email. However we have nothing at my ds’s primary and trying to contact the teacher as I work nearly full time is a nightmare.

ChangingStates · 21/10/2018 08:10

My kids primary- never officially given but a couple have emailed me so had them that way. Primary where I work never given, teachers have enough to do, dealing with lots of parent emails would add another layer. All ours go through parent liaison who filters, responds herself, or passes on as appropriate.

Raines100 · 21/10/2018 08:15

Nope. We have googleclassroom. I can probably message via that, but think it's supposed to be for the kids. Otherwise, I email the receptionist and ask her to forward. Tbh, normally I just go and talk to the teachers f2f.

Not sure giving out teacher's emails are a good idea. They have enough to do...

autumnboys · 21/10/2018 08:17

Yes, we do.

I never used them for my two NT kids, but it is useful for ds3.

ShalomJackie · 21/10/2018 08:35

YEs we did ( at secondary now).

Was always pleasantly surprised at how quick they responded too.

Childrenofthesun · 21/10/2018 08:41

No and I am a primary teacher and my school don't give them out. I wouldn't like a parent to have my email address as there are a minority of parents who would constantly be emailing and I don't know what the expectation would be about how quickly you were expected to reply.

Unlike in secondary school, primary teachers are in class all day teaching so any replies would have to be sent outside of that time. Also I imagine there would be a lot of messages like "my DC has lost their jumper, can you find it?" whereas Secondary teachers would be more likely to get emails related to their subjects.

As pp, parents can email the office and the message can be passed on to is. The same applies to my DC's school.

NonaGrey · 21/10/2018 08:41

We did at a previous school but at our current one we just email the office.

I rarely have a need to communicate with class teachers but I did actually find having their email address pretty useful.

NotCitrus · 21/10/2018 09:11

I did get emailed when ds was That Child, but asked not to mention the address. Though as they are all name.surname@ school, I'm sure parents could figure it out. We normally email admin@ and subject line FAO Ms X re Child.

Original poster

Escolar · 21/10/2018 14:27

Thanks for the replies. Interesting to see that it's almost exactly 50/50! So I guess neither school is unusual.

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ShinyElena · 21/10/2018 19:37

No. But we can get in touch through the Seesaw app.

stripeyfish · 21/10/2018 19:50

No I don’t for my ds’ school and as a primary teacher I wouldn’t like mine given out. Parents can email the office, which can be passed on to me. I imagine that if patents had my email address, I would end up spending lots of time dealing with a lot of things that office staff would be better dealing with, as it would be easier to email me rather than phone the office.

Ahmawa · 21/10/2018 20:28

DS started Reception. Do not have the teachers email but do have the heads email and mobile, if that helps.

Any issue I thought it was just best to have a word with the teacher after school or have thing changed?

IToldYouIWasFreaky · 21/10/2018 20:32

Yes, but it was only given to DS as a way to email some homework in, rather than a "contact me if you need anything" way so that's all I use it for. If I needed to talk to the teacher, I'd phone the office and make an appointment. I never have though - any admin queries can be dealt with by the office and the teachers hold meetings about things like the residential trip.

Original poster

Escolar · 21/10/2018 21:02

Ahmawa- it can be tricky to have a word with the teacher after school if you're a working parent and your DC attends after school club. I only pick up DD once a week at normal time.

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