Millions of us nowadays use our smartphones, essentially to run our lives. Whether that’s keeping in touch with friends and family, organising the kids or making sure we get to that work appointment on time, there’s a lot can be done on these mini power packed computers. Most of us now wouldn’t know what to do without them.
One tool that is beginning to become more popular with parents is the school app. If you have kids, you know how important it is to keep track of what’s going on in their lives.
What is a School App?
You download it to your smartphone or tablet and get instant access to what’s happening at your school. That includes updates to timetables, when the next parent’s evening is, important notifications that you need to know and a whole host of other things.
The good news is that these are now much cheaper to produce for schools and can help reduce costs and improve communication with parents in the process.
A few years ago, you would have had to hire a dedicated design team to produce a school app and that could have cost a significant amount of money. Parent Apps can offer a bespoke service and produce the kinds of apps that schools are looking for, all at a fraction of the cost.
The Benefits of a School App
Parents don’t have to go hunting for information. They get the app on their smartphone and simply tap it to open up a world of school information. They can arrange to get notifications that are important to them, sent immediately to their phone. For instance, if there’s bad weather on the way and the school needs to close, a quick notification can alert parents they need to pick up their children early.
A school app can certainly keep parents more connected but it can also make them more engaged. When there is such easy access, parents may be encouraged to take part in events, sign up for vital information and take better notice of what is happening in school. They can check the online timetables to see where their child is and prepare better for the week ahead because they know what is coming up.
It’s all very well having a website online but parents need to go online and find the site if they want to discover the right information. Schools can also tailor the kind of information they deliver to meet different parents, for example, notifications in a different language or making certain data available to individual group years.
For schools, it’s also a way to reduce administration costs. In the past, if a school wanted to get hold of parents suddenly it would be a case of everyone in the office manning the phones. Now, with a dedicated school app, it’s simply a question of someone loading the information onto the app and pressing the send button. It goes to the parents directly and immediately.
School apps are becoming the norm rather than the exception. They provide an economical and efficient way for a school to communicate with parents and pupils. If you’d like to find out more, contact Parent Apps today.