Talking Point: School Group Chats

Elke Morice-Atkinson discusses why she left the school WhatsApp group

There should be a warning displayed on your smartphone before you join a school WhatsApp group. Something subtle like, ‘Abandon all hope ye who enter here.’

Class WhatsApp groups can be immensely helpful in those early-morning moments when you simply cannot remember whether it’s a PE day because there’s a captive gaggle of mums (usually) on hand to ask. But in my experience, having joined umpteen WhatsApp groups for nursery, infant school and now junior school, I’ve mainly found them to be an overwhelming source of stress and a place to develop new insecurities – and I really don’t know where your child’s jumper is either!

I recently made what many would consider an incredibly bold, and perhaps ill-thought-out decision regarding school WhatsApp groups: I left one. No explanation, no warning, I just left the group and then deleted it from my phone.