Teachers, can parents email you?

[OfficeDrama]

At the local high school, all the teachers email addresses are available via the website. At the local primary school only the school office email is available on the website.

What's usual where you work? I expect it's different everywhere but I was wondering if there was a link between available at high school and unavailable at primary.

If parents can email you, do you get a lot of negative messages? How do you deal with it?

Thanks :)

[echt]

I'm in Australia, in secondary, and parents have alway been able to email teachers.

Very few negative ones, and fewer rude ones. A lot are about clearing up roll-taking errors, admin stuff easily rectified and, of course I apologise for putting them about.

The unreasonable/rude ones? I make sure I'm following school policy, respond briefly in my finest forensic style, always invite them to write back and copy in the relevant managers so they know what I have to deal with.

[MrsHamlet]

English secondary. Our emails are not on the website but they do follow a pattern. Once you know it, guessing is easy.
Teams also gives access to emails.

Some stroppy, some downright rude, some pleasant enquires, some fulsome in their praise. I aim to reply within 24 hours but there's no policy.

[cheesecurdsandgravy]

Yes, they can. I’m secondary.

It’s not listed on the website (well, my SENCO one is I suppose, but it’s only companies trying to flog me stuff that email that!) but it’s in lots of letters home eg. For trips, resources etc. All the SEND & LAC parents/carers have it.

I probably only get a random parent email once or twice a year, and thankfully, no snotograms yet...! More likely to get something forwarded from the generic admin account.

If they wanted my email address they could ask their kids I suppose, it would be listed in their school email address book.

I’m happy to receive emails. Much quicker/easier to deal with than phone calls as we don’t chase each other round trying to call at the right time! and, it’s all in writing...

[OfficeDrama]

Thanks for the replies :)
Three emailable secondary teachers so far. I hope some primary teachers reply too.

[lurch3r]

I'm primary, parents can email me. I see lots of them after school now for pick up so I don't get many messages. They can call via the office on the phone after school if they prefer. I reserve the right not to reply after 4.30 or at the weekend but I do if someone is clearly worried etc. It's not on the website, but all my parents were given it during lockdown.

[RobertsUncle]

Primary. No, parents don't have our email addresses.
If they need to contact us they can speak to/ email the office team who will forward a msg on.
If I need to contact parents I do it by phone not email.

[GrammarTeacher]

Secondary and email freely accessible online. I'm worried about this at primary too. I will be doing very few pick ups/drop offs and I'm not contactable by phone during the school day.

[MaryBerrysBomberJacket]

Ours aren't but they follow a pattern as a previous poster has said, so they can and will email us. Usually had a few pain in the arse parents emailing a few times a week but over lockdown it became ridiculous, even emailing for issues with their behaviour at home, co planning about too much or not enough work, complaining about live teaching not being at a convenient for them time.... I'm so glad I left there!

[ladygracie]

No parents can’t email me directly at my new primary school. At my last school (which was a primary but independent) parents could & did email all staff.

[CraftyGin]

Yes, of course parents can email me.

The emails are always polite, even if their message might be uncomfortable. Usually, they are about something practical. Nastigrams go directly to the Head.

[spanieleyes]

We don't use emails to communicate with parents, but we do use Class Dojo and parents can communicate directly that way( primary)

[stdmumihope]

Primary and no, parents do not have our emails. All emails go through the office. Emails that concern are forwarded on. We type our reply, but office reply on our behalf.

[cheesecurdsandgravy]

Why isn’t it common at primary?

With my secondary head on it seems quite odd!

[Stargirl2707]

I’m in SEN. I give parents my email address and actively encourage communication to help build a good relationship. I don’t mind parents emailing at all and will often give them a call to touch base too sometimes

[SquashedFlyBiscuits]

Primary. Yes, parents can email me.

Normal years it isn't given out or on the website but I give it freely to parents who can't speak to me at pick up or drop off on the door. This year being issued to all parents as conversations on the door are not allowed.

[theluckiest]

Yep. Primary here. Our email addresses have always been available to parents & published on the website.

Most are respectful and polite. Occasionally, some...er, not so

I have learned the hard way never to check my email last thing at night. Stewing all night is definitely not good for work/life balance!!

[Hibbetyhob]

Primary and though initial contact is through school office, we then usually reply from own emails or eg for parents we know can’t do pick up / drop off we will specifically give them our email addresses.

I think the difference between secondary & primary is that over a week I see 29/30 parents of the children in my class. Most every single day. So it’s very easy for them to discuss things face to face. The only one I don’t, has my email address. It’s also a much more personal relationship because I only have 30 children to know about.

Obviously this year things are a bit different and we only see parents very briefly so they can all use class dojo as an additional communication method.

[ValancyRedfern]

Ours aren't given out but, like others, they are easily worked out. Mainly parents email via the admin email and emails are forwarded to us, and we do the same back. The idea is going via admin reduces the potential for unpleasant emails. I give all my KS4 students my email address so some of their parents contact me directly as they get it from the kids.

[kiwibee]

Primary. We talk to most parents face to face at pick up so there is less need for written communication.

A minority of primary parents write lengthy emails to harass teachers about water bottles, missing jumpers, spellings and “my son was emotionally scarred by your art lesson because it was about dogs and he’s scared of dogs”

For that reason I wouldn’t say emailing is encouraged.

[EffYouSeeKaye]

Yes parents have our email addresses (primary) and at my children’s school also.

[OfficeDrama]

Thanks for all the replies! Makes for interesting reading with the different approaches to communication.

I'm in a primary school where parents don't have teacher email addresses. I was thinking about if parents evening appointments end up happening online. If we use teams, people can see each others email addresses. I guess there's ways to get around it/other platforms available. I'll Google!

[RobertsUncle]

I've never had emails for my children's primary teachers either.
We had separate email addresses set up for lockdown - if we need to email parents to set appts then we'll use that one.

[Flagsfiend]

Secondary, parents can email me but rarely do - I sometimes email them and they reply. Students email more often, mostly post-16 about work, but occasionally lower school although they usually just want passwords resetting to various websites we use. Anything remotely rude or difficult from parents we just forward on to someone more senior to deal with.

[ChristmasinJune]

Yes I'm SEND Primary. Parents can email me or message through a website. I try to reply as quickly as I can. Never had a nasty email. I'd far rather parents make contact and feel listened to quickly and easily than sit and stew and get worked up about something.

[wasgoingmadinthecountry]

Primary. Parents email me - just been having a discussion with a parent tonight. Children going in tomorrow after quarantine so she wanted to chat about a couple of things. No need or expectation for me to answer out of hours but am also management to an extent and these are strange times. I have mostly positive emails from parents in our lovely little school.