Yr 7 parent group

[MHhh]

Joining a new school in coming sept for yr 7, how to join the parent WhatsApp group?
No idea at all.

Do secondary school pupils have parents' WhatsApp groups?

I'd have rather gouged out my eyeballs. You don't need to join one.

My daughter is joining a school that had primary as well so some mums that were in Year 6 created the group and invited everyone new to join.

I’m assuming they got our email from the school, I vaguely remember giving consent to share my details with the PTA.

it’s a very active group and very useful to be able to ask questions about uniform, etc to parents that know the school.

Dont think they exist after primary school sorry.

The kids all have phones and make their own arrangements. Sometimes with a stern 'does their mum say its ok/do his parents know he is here/where we live etc'. Odd bit of number swapping of parents for specific reasons but no group chat.

Probably isn't one, some secondary schools have 300+ pupils in a year group.

Our secondary school doesn't have this. I have only (briefly) met the parents of DCs' best friends and I only have the phone number of one of them.

At DS's school there is a FB uniform and information group but is for the whole school. Invites came by word of mouth so to speak

AFAIK, no parents whatsapp typically at secondary.
DS has whatsapp groups for his class, his bus, and various friendship groups. I have the numbers from a couple of primary contacts, and 2 of his new friends. He's about to be Y9.
See if there is a whole school Facebook or Twitter account (I have Twitter just for school) for info.

We have one, although he’s actually going into year 9 in September, the WhatsApp is still going! It’s quite a small school though.

Are there local FB groups you could ask on? Just post what school your dc is joining and ask if anyone knows?

You know absolutely nothing when they are in secondary school. Only what the child tells you.

My youngest is in year eleven this year and my oldest is in year thirteen and I've never met one parent of any of their friends and I definitely don't communicate with them. They make their own arrangements.

Is that a thing? Id assumed not might be school specific though?

Our secondary school has class reps and WhatsApp groups - it’s a private school though and it encourages the class reps as there’s termly meetings with the head teacher to feed back any concerns or issues.

None of this there’s a (quite tetchy) fb page with not much on it. Parents far more hands off at secondary. You are on your own (unless you have existing friendships with other parents)

They generally don't exist. That's why we have 'year X threads' on this board so parents can talk to other parents in same year group. Even if in different schools the issues are generally the same.

My dd2 is about to go into y7. I'm in a WhatsApp group of a few of us from y6 from her primary but I won't be seeking out "The Y7 WhatsApp group". There's a FB page for parents in general and while it's been quite useful for some things, all I've gleaned to date is that a fair few parents feel the school can do no right and they think teachers are lazy. I'm bored of it already.

Dd1 is about go into y10. Different school. She tells me nothing. I'm not enamored with her GCSE options but her decision. She wasn't planning on telling me at all - I only found out because I can check her timetable online!

Secondary is mercifully much less hands-on!

Depends on the parents ... we don't have WhatsApp groups but in DD's year there is a FB group, because a few parents got together and decided to start/publicise one. No such group in DS's year.

Why not start your own?

My secondary school has year based WhatsApp groups. They are run and managed by the PTA and are generally very helpful and spam free.

Would be extremely unusual for there to be a parent WhatsApp at secondary. Unless you’re private school, I guess.

I'm on parent WhatsApp groups for my secondary kids, it's really useful as they remind you when it's a non uniform day, what time they're back from school trip etc. It fell off after GCSEs, noone bothers with a sixth form one.

At our school the school send out an email with the class reps details and then you contact them on email if you want to be on the group so no personal details are shared unless permission given.

They normally spring up in September once term gets going.

Our secondary school has fb page for each school year
I wouldn't like a WhatsApp group

The fb year page great for hearing about trips, vaccines, events and hand me down clothes
Our primary school did the same

The school I work in has a Facebook page for each year, set up by a parent. Tends to be useful information and a few moans x

Excuse x was multi tasking between mumsnet and WhatsApp to a friend

Ds1 secondary school had it's own platform which connected parents in year 7, it was great but they dumped it as it was too hard to run apparently.
DS2 school has a FB group for parents set up by parents, and a specific one for year 7 also set up by parents. I found both invaluable as the school is very large and can be very confusing in its communications while also being very rigid, so it has helped when DS is worried about whether he has the right ingredients for food tech or to find out what everyone else's definition of a Christmas jumper is (as the school said ONLY Christmas jumpers were allowed and anyone wearing anything else would be sent home!).
So maybe try searching FB?

Nope! Just catch your school emails and keep on top of your inbox and your spam - 3 yrs in about 1/2 still go to junk.

I'm on parent WhatsApp groups for my secondary kids, it's really useful as they remind you when it's a non uniform day, what time they're back from school trip etc.

Why do you, the parent, need to be reminded of when it's your secondary school child's non-uniform day? Don't they manage things like that themselves?