I have one source that sends me more letters than any other. Not the bank, buidling society or utilities company. Not - sigh! - some distant chatty friend or secret lurver. Nope - it’s my Offspring’s school.
I’m grateful that the school - or at least, various personages within it - take the time and effort to write, photocopy and distribute all these pastel missives. So many of my posts are about the value of communication, after all. I also appreciate that the school has established and sought to use an edubuzz blog, and has explored the possibility of using email instead of paper copies.
My grouse, if I have one, is more to do with my side of the deal: trying to keep track of which slip of paper has to be filled in and returned by which date, and making sure that the useful letters don’t get shoved in the recycling with the ones which are completely irelevant to our circumstances. It’s not just that I am hugely disorganised, because I’ve chatted with other, far more competant, parents about this perennial struggle.
I was wondering if it would be better to have a ‘letter day’ - letters are grouped together and come home on - say - a Tuesday and slips always have to be in by the next Tuesday. At least there’d be some coherence to it. But, given our propensity for missing even the regular items to be stuffed in school bags, there’s no guarantee I’d get it right all the time.
Funnily enough, Microsoft have gone this way with their security patches for Windows, and - spookily - have even chosen a Tuesday.
The day, once per month, is known as “Patch Tuesday”.
(That then led to the emergence of Exploit Wednesday, but hopefully there would be no need for a school equivalent of that!)
Maybe we could help by putting return dates for things on school web site event calendars.. or perhaps some sort of email, or SMS/Text reminder service that people could subscribe to would help?
Tuesday is often chosen for medical procedures for much the same reason - time to cope with complications before the weekend!
I think consistency and rhythm would be half the battle - for schools, surely, as well as parents? But text reminders - now there’s an innovation! Great for last minute reminders and cancellations for parents’ evenings.
D’you think you could take it onto Dragons’ Den?
My children are in a school that sends home info every Friday via their red folder. It all comes home at once and you get the weekend to delve through the pearls. Can’t say I get around to reading it to often but the wife seems to love it.
Now I like the idea of a Letter Day. You may think it’s challenging having letters and forms coming home on many days. Try being the one giving them out to 30 children, twice or three times a week, along with the leaflet from the Sports Coordinator, the Drama Academy, the reminder about the Rugby tournament and the school dinner envelope!
And then finding out who left theirs on the cloakroom floor at 3pm.
Hi Charlie - thanks for visiting! I like that idea of a folder to gather all the stuff together - sounds pretty practical and civilised. Aaah - but how many kids forget to return them in time, I wonder?
And hi again Allsorts - I have to sympathise - there have got to be better uses of your time too! And all those fiddly crumpled slips of paper to return at the other end… Has your school considered or tried any paperless alternatives yet?
I promise you that once you enter the unknown that is High School, you’ll look back nostagically on all those letters and bits of paper. Enjoy them while they’re there!
We do occasionally, if not reliably, get global texts warning us that an important letter or report card is coming home or parents’ evening is imminent. And if one of the boys happens to miss registrtation, we get a phone call to the house, texts to both our mobiles and emails to work and home. Paperless communication is possible! HOwever, finding out the details of an upcoming event, if it’s not an all school thing, is another matter entirely.
Hi Mothersoup
When we sent out a questionnaire about homework to all parents recently we offered an email address to which they could reply if they preferred. Not one person used it!
We always put the monthly newsbrief on the school website, but also send it home in paper form as not everyone has access. We also have on there forms which can be printed out, but I don’t think anyone’s ever used it for that.
Funny, isn’t it? The Offspring’s school have repeatedly asked for email details and have repeatedly been given them, but have never used them…
gpm - I love the idea of a text to tell you that a letter is on its way: I hope it is helpful, but it sounds like technology just adding in another layer….
I still know a number of parents who don’t have regular access to websites and emails - but anyway, I have to confess that I’m not always that organised with my e-correspondence either - especially if it arrives as piecemeal as the paper letters! It’s predictability and consistency I need, whatever the format…
Predictability and consistency….oh for a week that was just like the last or even bearing a passing resemblance to the next…
Our eco schools lot http://ecoschools.blogspot.com) have asked for parents’ emails to sent letters, etc out to save paper…37 (I think) sets of parents, 16 replies. Not bad I think but a long way to go. All the stuff goes online too. It is, I think, an education process for all concerned….
There is, a guess, a certain value to paper letters in that the cost and hassle dimension should help to control them. Umpteen hundred sheets of paper (usually colourful, and therefore more pricey) cost a chunk of money. Getting them photocopied also costs. The school secretary (do they still exist in this form?) May have to type the letter and do the legwork…
If we had broad coverage of e-letters - free, quick and without the spontaneous peer-review proofing of every class teacher eyeballing them - would there perhaps be (gulp) even more stuff sent from school to home?
But would email engender a dialogue between school and home? Tear-off slips do not encourage the adding of comments by parents…?
I suppose it depends on whether or not you (the school) WANT the dialogue or not.
I don’t think I’d mind it if I were a head teacher…which I am now! How odd….ended up on the Isle of Muck. Yet another blogging opportunity: http://thisismuck.blogspot.com
Master of all you survey!
So - how many kids on the roll (role?) - and what is going to be your policy on parental communication for your brief reign? I can see that intermittent power supplies could add a whole new issue with emails…
I hope things work out well for you. There was a not-dissimilar situation within my wider family some years ago: island school, job with house, etc, although on a longer-term basis. Some people, at least, have some very fond memories of it.