Have joined a new primary school after a recent move

[VHLV]

It's probably a dumb question but I'm exhausted after a house move and birth during the summer plus some other issues so please forgive me... DS has started in Y1 at his new school this Monday. Last week I've asked the school to put me in touch with the class reps so they could add me to a whatsup or FB group as at the moment I need to be reminded about PE days etc. Haven't heard anything from the reps while the school told me that they have notified the reps. Funnily enough, I haven't met a single parent during the drop off/pick up sessions. I'm not sure how it's possible while other classes have long queues in the morning and the afternoon while I'm the only mum from our class along with another father who seems to be on the phone all the time and I feel awkward talking to him. I'm wondering whether I'm going mad because of the mess and the sleepless nights but I'm worried I might miss some important announcements etc... what sort of actions shall I take? Or would you recommend just letting it go as it's only a Y1 after all?

Anything you’ll need to know you’ll get from school. As far as I’m concerned, having class WhatsApp groups and the like is just an excuse for one or two parents to be extra bossy and nosy towards the other parents. The fact that no one has contacted you as yet is a prime example. You’re feeling ostracised before you’ve even met these parents! You’re well out of it.

I'd expect the class teacher to inform you about PE days and other important announcements. Do you have a class Dojo or similar as they usually post key dates / reminders on there.

As for the class rep are you sure the class has one? Not every class does, and usually the school don't get involved in whatsapp or FB groups.

My daughter is in year 1 - her school send out a weekly newsletter and email any announcements. We do have a WhatsApp group but it's usually used to confirm what we have already been told! I.e 'it is pickup at 4.30 for those at Football club today right?!'

The school will tell you when he needs PE kit etc.

Our school said they couldn't get involved in WhatsApp etc so it was up to you talking to the relevant parents. That's obviously tricky if hardly any are dropping off! Are they all using breakfast/afterschool club or just late? Is there anywhere like Next Door or Facebook where there might be other parents around?

I don’t think we have ‘reps’. We do have a Facebook group and a WhatsApp group that someone or other put together. I’m a member of one and not the other and seen to run along absolutely fine without the relentless stream of school chatter.

I think first of all try and take a deep breath. I assume the school communicate via some app or similar? Directly you get info from the school add it to your calendar so you don’t forget. Then allow your child to make some friends and see if you can organise a play date. You might have to write a little card for your child to pass over with your mobile number on, but I think if you can just reach out to one or two people then the rest will fall into place in time.

I’ll be in your situation within a year and I can imagine it’s going to be tricky to get my bearings again and am already expecting it to take a long time to be accepted.

Our class doesn’t have a rep this year. I don’t even know if it had one last year as no one wanted to volunteer! Maybe someone eventually did, but I honestly don’t remember.

Don’t feel like they’re excluding you with the WhatsApp. When you get to know a parent, casually mention it and they’ll add you (I think everyone is an admin in mine). You will meet someone eventually.

Plus class WhatsApp groups are a PITA. You just learn who the most vocal / whiney / needy people are on it.

Has your child talked about any other kids yet? Is there a particular park / playground lots of the year 1 kids go to after school? Or a club that a lot of them seem to join? (Football etc). That could be a good way to meet other parents?

I had over 10 years of Primary school altogether and there was never a class rep or WhatsApp. I hardly missed anything
I can see that you want to get to know other parents etc but don’t worry about the WhatsApp thing

Have you checked that you are actually picking up/dropping off at the right time for your class? Maybe double check with the teacher.

If it's only ever you and one other parent there when you are, when are the other 28 children getting dropped off or collected? Maybe the classes that have lots of parents have a different time to your class?

I'm not sure our school office would know who class reps are or about any whatsapp/facebook groups. It's completely organised by the parents separately from the school. Perhaps try asking in a local town/village facebook group explaining that you've just moved to X with a child at X school and would like to meet some other parents of Year X children.

Are you sure there is a WhatsApp or Facebook group?
2 kids, three different primaries, and one class in one school had a group, and one school had a whole school fb page.
So that's a third with stuff, two thirds without. There may be nothing to connect you with.

@xyzandabc

Have you checked that you are actually picking up/dropping off at the right time for your class? Maybe double check with the teacher.

If it's only ever you and one other parent there when you are, when are the other 28 children getting dropped off or collected? Maybe the classes that have lots of parents have a different time to your class?

I'm not sure our school office would know who class reps are or about any whatsapp/facebook groups. It's completely organised by the parents separately from the school. Perhaps try asking in a local town/village facebook group explaining that you've just moved to X with a child at X school and would like to meet some other parents of Year X children.

That’s a good point - because of Covid, different year groups need to be picked up or dropped off from specific gates in our school. I’m not meant to go to my nearest one as that’s for other year groups.

@Soontobe60 ha ha you are probably right... I'm only judging by our Year R experience where whatsup was the best channel of communication.

@Whinge the school told me there are class reps and made me tick some boxes on their form that I can be contacted by them ha! Also, I've got zero communication from school and it can't be... or can it? I remember being bombarded by emails at our precious school and our whatsup group was the place where I could read a good summary about all the daily emails

@niki26 do you get weekly emails, no daily?

You should be getting this info from school. Speak with them and ask how they share the info. I'm on WhatsApp groups and ask to double check things sometimes but that's it. No one makes it their duty to share every key date that would be constant and unnecessary when school already tell us.

Your last school might have worked differently but it doesn't sound like this one is the same?

@BendingSpoons it's probably the combination of flexible drop off/pick up time and a breakfast/after school club because we've been told it's heavily oversubscribed (although we don't intend to use it at the moment)

Sounds like you've gone from one extreme to another!

We have a school newsletter every week which includes info for all years and then updates through class dojo from you'd child's teacher so more relevant.

@VHLV we get emails as and when.... we also have a portal with all info on. But the emails are helpful so we don't have to remember to log in!

I don't think we've had any emails so far this week, but we had a few last week - about the Harvest Festival, reminders about upcoming events for parents (Christmas quiz night etc!) details of upcoming school trips....

Every Friday we get emailed a newsletter.

@Transponster he he I'm slowly realising that whatsup groups are not great. I had a great experience in our last school that's why I'm expecting it this time I guess... my son made some friends because they all met at a judo class before.

Call or email school and ask if you're missing something. Our school has a school app where all the info is given (no letters home) so maybe there's something like that you need.

Check the school website, maybe there's a school handbook with the details.

I wouldn't rely on other parents to pass the info on. Especially if their not at the school gates they're probably working.

[quote VHLV]@Whinge the school told me there are class reps and made me tick some boxes on their form that I can be contacted by them ha! Also, I've got zero communication from school and it can't be... or can it? I remember being bombarded by emails at our precious school and our whatsup group was the place where I could read a good summary about all the daily emails[/quote]
The school requesting to send your information is unusual. Most schools have nothing to do with WhatsApp or FB groups. The school should be sending out newsletters and information via email or a service like class Dojo.

@xyzandabc local Facebook page is a great idea, I was thinking about it but never got around to post. I guess that a flexible pick up/drop off time on top of the breakfast/after school club lead to the situation where I don't see too many parents on our particular class

What’s a class rep?

@PeonyTime that what the school told me..

If you are not getting things from the school I would check that they have the correct details. It might be as simple as a typo in the email address that has been passed on to the newsletter admin or class teacher?

@WinoAnon yes I'm slowly realising that both situations are unusual.. I'll just contact the school now and ask them to add me to the newsletters mailing list etc