Purpose/Aims

St. Mark’s Parent Partnership (PP) will use several means to communicate relevant information to the parents and guardians of current pupils of St. Mark’s Primary School (who will be referred to as the Parent Forum).

These means of communication will include but are not limited to:

1. Mark’s Parent Partnership Newsletter
2. Mark’s Parent Partnership Page on the school website
3. Mark’s Parent Partnership WhatsApp Class Chats
4. Email and text messaging (sent by the school administrators)
5. Parent Partnership section within St. Mark’s Primary School Newsletter
6. Minutes of PP meetings posted on the PP area within the school website

 Related Documents

1. East Renfrewshire Council Social media handbook for business users
2. East Renfrewshire Council Social media policy and employee guidelines
3. Connect Communicating with the school community

 Moderation of WhatsApp Class Chats

St. Mark’s PP will canvass for a Class Representative from each class to deliver communications from the PP to the Parent Forum via the WhatsApp chats.  It is not the role of Class Representatives to moderate the conversation however any inappropriate comments will be highlighted to the PP.

Please remember if you have any concerns in relation to your child’s education you should contact the school in the first instance.

The WhatsApp Chats are intended for members of the Parent Forum only.

Any parent/carer/administrator posting to the class chats must be aware that all posts are public and traceable, hence politely reminded to act in line with the school values of Faith, Love and Understanding. Therefore, the following principles must be complied with:

1. It is not acceptable to use any language which may be considered offensive, abusive, discriminatory, intimidating, degrading or hostile towards any individual or group of individuals
2. No individual should be named on social media
3. No photographs of individuals can be used without written consent from both the photographer and the individuals within the photo

Any failure to comply with the above principles may result in the person/persons being removed from the class chat. Additionally, and if appropriate, the PP reserves the right to report inappropriate use to the police.

Topics of Relevance

1. Advertisement of PP meetings and events
2. Advertisement of the school website updates
3. Religious events taking place within the school/Church
4. Parental engagement events taking place within the school
5. Academic events of interest
6. Extracurricular activities

This list is not exhaustive.

Data Handling

The administrators and/or office holders of the PP may hold contact information of members of the Parent Forum, including email addresses for the purposes of communication with them under this policy.

Parents/carers who no longer have children who attend St. Mark’s Primary should be removed from the class chat.

If all users follow the policy as outlined, the St. Mark’s Parent Partnership social media presence is a valuable line of communication for all.

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