The never-ending juggle of managing school admin

From making Easter bonnets to non-uniform days, there is no doubt parents of school-aged children have a lot to juggle.

As schools return after the Easter break, many parents will be bracing themselves for another term full of dates for the calendar.

"I just can't keep up with everything," admitted Ruth Billingham from Cardiff.

She said life at home with her 10-year-old daughter Delyth often meant scrabbling around for a specific item of clothing, a pound coin or attempting to pull together a plate of party food when she had not been food shopping.

"We had a cake sale at the end of last term which in the end I didn't even contribute towards because I didn't even know about it," she laughed.

Ruth said while many of the activities were "really great for your kids", they could put a "lot of extra pressure" on parents.

"I'm a single parent... then I balance a full-time job as well on top of that."

Then there are the various methods of communication to keep across.

"There's too many ways that the school can communicate with you," said Ruth.

"We have a regular newsletter, then we have another sort of weekly newsletter, then we have another email update... then there's an app they launched this year, which I can never get into, one that's really stressful and then never remembers your password... then we also have Teams, then there's ParentPay... so it's just this myriad of communication."

That's all before the parent WhatsApp groups.

"To be honest, that's a lifeline for me," said Ruth of the WhatsApp groups.

"There are some parents who are maybe on the PTA or more involved and they seem to know what's happening and they share it... it's almost like we've become reliant on them to tell us what's going on."

So how does she keep track of it all?

"Quite badly," she laughed.

"It's kind of in my head and I will put things in my phone calendar and just keep track through the WhatsApp group where somebody will say, 'oh, remember, it's wear red day tomorrow', or 'remember they've got to take a packed lunch'."

Blogger Claire Kirby identifies with the juggle all too well.

She lives in Southampton and is married with two boys aged 15 and 11.

"There was a point when I had nine different apps on my phone just for school stuff," she laughed.

"And that's without the emails and text messages and the WhatsApp groups as well.

"It almost feels like a full-time job keeping on top of it all sometimes."

Through her blog Life, Love and Dirty Dishes, Claire shares stories from her family life with a focus on parenting, mindfulness and sharing advice on family organisation.

"I've always been organised," she said.

"It's something I'm naturally quite good at so I share tips and things on that as well."

• Put all the information in one place. Claire uses a shared family calendar on her phone "because it makes it not just my responsibility, it's a family calendar so everyone can see it, everyone knows what's going on"
• Write all the information down as it comes in: "As soon as you get a notification on the app that something's happening, add it to your calendar because if you think 'I'll do that later' you won't. If you haven't got time to look at the notification don't open it"
• Colour code your calendar: "I have pink for school stuff and appointments might be red or something. It just means the school stuff is separated and stands out."
• Keep all school-related apps in one folder on your phone and plan ahead: "In September I go through and add in all the term dates for the year and the inset days"
• Set reminders - if a fancy dress costume is needed on a certain day put in a reminder ahead of the date
• Make use of parent WhatsApp groups
• Keep a stock of birthday cards and gifts you've picked up in the sales for kids' parties and RSVP to invites as soon as you get them
• Keep a jar of change: "They'll always need a pound or something so... it just saves you scrabbling around"
• Have a routine as it "really helps with homework and things"
• Give some responsibility to the children for tasks such as getting their PE kit together and get school uniform out the night before
• Do a Sunday reset and "check their wardrobe and that they've got enough stuff for the week" and check your calendar for the week ahead
• In two-parent households make sure both parents are on school email lists
• Don't feel guilty if you drop a ball: "There is so much and you know you can't go to every single event at school"
• Recognise when you are feeling overwhelmed and set time aside to switch off and unwind and ask other family members for help