Newsletters from school ‘too harsh’ as staff take on parents

trialling compulsory £130 fines to deter parents who drive to the school gates to drop their children off.

Elsewhere, teachers have complained about “pushy” parents attempting to muscle their way into the running of schools, with teaching unions warning that academic staff are now “triple marking” children’s work to keep parents happy.

Rather than using school letters as a way to reassert authority, Ms Apps cautions against adopting a heavyhanded approach.

She identifies one letter – which accuses parents of showing “a blatant disregard” for other families and children, because of the “haste” and “manner of their driving” – as an example of where schools go wrong.

Commenting on the research, Prof Alan Smithers, director of the centre for education and employment research at Buckingham University, said: “Schools can get carried away with telling parents how they ought to behave, which seems to be going beyond just keeping parents informed.

“The education of children is a joint project between schools and parents and it doesn’t help the relationship if one or other party sees themselves in the driving seat.

“It has to be a partnership – it doesn’t help if the parents get pushy or the schools get authoritarian.

“It looks as though the newsletters are becoming a way of the school telling parents ‘we are in charge and please do what we tell you’.”

Mrs Apps, who works at the Research Centre for Children, Families and Communities, argues that aggressive messages actually erode the authority of the school, and show a “lack of control and composure”.

She added that the use of striking symbols and visuals alongside text can also be a problem, leading parents to become confused if they are being sent two different sets of messages.

She said of the stern items: “Sometimes these sit next to welcoming and friendly invitations to parents to come into school for shows and events.

“This could undermine how these invitations are viewed by parents.”

Ms Apps’ research, which she presented at the European Research Network About Parents in Education, also found some schools were guilty of being too negative. She recommended that headteachers prioritise thanking parents for their support and praising individual children to build a sense of community.