hopeytg Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Short of stapling each letter we send home to the child's forehead can anyone give me a method for communicating to parents. I currently email, put hard copy in a file they are supposed to check every session, put another copy on a board - This Week's Letters - and write reminders on our daily notice board - yet still they say they do not know about events. Graduation today - some turned up for normal session - others went to the wrong place - I despair!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristina Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Sounds so familiar!! I despair sometimes as I also email put a hardcopy in every childs draw and put a copy on the parent info board and write reminders on a blackboard outside!! Nothing seems to work, we have an inset day tomorrow been on the last 4 newletters etc and this morning a parent said she hadn't known and was working tomorrow and what was I going to do about it!! Not a lot was my reply! Kris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
langwithbassettpreschool Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Short of stapling each letter we send home to the child's forehead can anyone give me a method for communicating to parents. I currently email, put hard copy in a file they are supposed to check every session, put another copy on a board - This Week's Letters - and write reminders on our daily notice board - yet still they say they do not know about events. Graduation today - some turned up for normal session - others went to the wrong place - I despair!!!! im with you there i despair too. last day today for the 6 weeks and lots of parents asked when are we back, so i said it was on your letter i sent out on monday and surprisingly not one of them had had one. I put childrens names on all letters so that im sure everyone has had them. If anyone has a 100% way to ensure parents recieve our letters, please let me now lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hopeytg Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 Its comforting to know its not just me - we had a committee meeting this week and a 'concern' was raised claiming a letter I had sent out was misleading - fortunately I had a copy of the letter and was able to prove that it was in no way ]misleading but may have been misread!! - Didn't do me any good as I still had to write another letter re explaining what I had already written - like I've got all the time in the world!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Yes I'm with you too - I get so pleased with my communication methods: email, hard copy, posters - and I too had a poor attendance for a trip this week and a parent say 'I never know what's going on' - you can't bloody win! I email all through some evenings with silly requests and reminders - and that's still not enough!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristina Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 The parent today when I mentioned it was on newsletters about inset day actually said "I never read them I've got 5 children your know!!". At which point I gave up! Kris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hopeytg Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 One parent did read a notice I put up last week reminding them to only put water in the children's drinks bottles - after a 20 min rant to a member of staff - the staff member came up with the best one liner - ' I wouldn't worry about it - there is only a week to go' (her child left today) - that is now our motto on the staff notice board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 having had many parents over the years who are illiterate i'm afraid i have resorted to talking ...i just keep on at them (oh and send out all the letters/notices etc) alsopester power works a treat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louby loo Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 alsopester power works a treat Well I admit I've had a glass (or two! end of term gift) of wine.........but it took me a while to work that out!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SazzJ Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Large blackboard located right next to where they sign their children in displays upcoming events and important dates. Only introduced this week but lots of postive comments already. It's the first thing they see when they come in and I paid £16 for the easel from IKEA. Best idea ever I think lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 sorry looby loo...and that was before the wine!...but i have packed up the whole of the pre-school into boxes today (well that's my excuse and i'm sticking to it) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panders Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Generally, I find it usually the same parents who complain they don't know what's happening or going to happen - each year produces at least 2 maybe 3 of them. Once I spot them I just buttonhole them and tell them only as far in advance as I think they need to know. They are also the ones who forget their child's library books, or lose their library book, or borrowed clothes don't get returned, they are just disorganised people at the end of the day, whereas we good folks on here are super organised! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louby loo Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 sorry looby loo...and that was before the wine!...but i have packed up the whole of the pre-school into boxes today (well that's my excuse and i'm sticking to it) Actually I have decided I like the word 'alsopester' and I have also decided this is the official word for the above parents that never take note of what's going on!!! We've had our share this week too........ Que- tomorrows party and the alsopester parent that says 'oh... I didn't know I had to donate XXXX'... and then I show them their signature on the food donation list from a week or so ago Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hopeytg Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 Panders you are so right - definitely the ones who don't read letters are the ones who 'forget' library books etc etc - another classic this week - 'I didn't know they had to dress up' - for the party - said in front of the notice saying it was fancy dress!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redjayne Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Best method I have found is to text - I have a cheap mobile with all the parents mobile numbers on it - regularly updated , and I just send a text to all for INSET/closures reminders etc . 10p a text approx 100 parents, cost £10 - no ink no paper, no hassle and most of them will read a text. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 My daughters high school has now added generic text messages to their methods of communication (only for important messages I hasten to add, like certain deadlines or school closures). It does make you read the message when you get a text through - but I can imagine it could be time consuming too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristina Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 I think the generic text messaging can work out quite expensive, my daugters school use a company to generate the texts through and I know when I looked into it the cost was quite high for a small setting. Kris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dottyp Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 redjayne - that's a good idea - will look into purchasing a mobile phone for work over summer hols. dottyp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 I suppose it depends on how many texts you are sending, versus how much paper, ink and time it takes to make a letter. I know what you mean about parents reading texts - it also highlights the need for phone numbers to be kept up to date. Not everyone has a mobile though, so you need to factor that into the equation too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest heleng Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 We are a school, so it might be a bit different for us but we use a system called Parent mail. The parents either sign up (or not!) at the beginning of the year. This means they receive all info through e-mail and they are also sent texts with important information as needed. Any parent not signed up for whatever reason is sent a paper copy of the letters and a list is generated by the parent mail program everytime telling us who on roll hasn't received an e-mail so we can sort them out a letter. It works for us because of the number of children we have and it also means people can be grouped for messages i.e. parents, staff, governors, Friends (PTA) etc so they get sent particular and relevant messages. We put up notes saying when parent mails have been sent, along with a hard copy on the notice board. We still get the same complaints - I didn't know it was sports day, teddy bear picnic, non-uniform etc! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ShelleyT Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 OfSTED told us to text. Apparently this is the way forwards! x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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