There’s plenty going on at school around Christmas time and keeping parents up to date can be a big administrative problem. If you want to make sure that everyone has the right information at the right time, developing a school app is a good idea. It’s cost effective, easy to get up and running and cuts down on the time you spend on administrative tasks.
Send a Yuletide Greeting
You can wish all your parents and children a merry Christmas by a simple click of a button rather than sending out cards or text messages. The great thing with a school app is that you can tailor it for all sorts of festivals and events throughout the year, not just Christmas.
Sell Tickets for the School Play
Most schools either put on a play or nativity event and invite parents to it at Christmas. If you are selling tickets, then you can now do it online via your school app by simply linking into the right page on your website. You can also remind parents that an event is coming up so they can put it in their diary. Don’t forget, parents are also going to be busy over the Yuletide period and the odd notification here and there will be much appreciated.
Bad Weather
There’s one thing that can disrupt the Christmas period and that’s if we get a spell of bad weather. While it’s been quite mild over the last couple of years, the next snow storm could be just around the corner. A school app is a great way to keep parents informed. If you must suddenly close early because of a heavy snow storm, you can contact parents with notifications to come and pick up their kids early. It gives parents plenty of time to find alternative arrangements and means school staff aren’t hanging around trying to get in contact with everyone.
Access Information
It’s not just about notifications at Christmas. The flexibility built into most apps allows parents to get the information they need when they want it, whatever the time of day or where they happen to be. That can include looking up term times, checking out timetables, booking appointments and even seeing photos and videos of their kids at school.
The good news is that a school app is easy to set up and can be tailored to your institution’s needs. That means you can start off with just the basic facilities and see how they work out. You can then add in more usability as you begin to see the benefits of communicating in this way.
Most parents and a good few pupils now have smartphones and tablets which they use daily. It makes sense to utilise this technology as much as possible to make things easier, especially at times like Christmas. Not only is it cheap and easy to run a school app, you’ll find yourself saving money because less time is spent on admin. What’s more, your parents, staff and pupils will all be better informed!