For most schools, the logistics of staying in contact with parents has long been problematical and costly. Printing out information and making sure everyone has got a copy means that many organisations are using a significant amount of their operating budget simply trying to communicate often mundane, every day information.
From timetable changes and upcoming events and field trips, it seems the list of things schools need to tell parents and pupils is never ending.
Printing out costs money
The traditional way of telling parents of an upcoming event or important issue is to send out a hard copy letter. Of course, this needs to be printed out, put into an envelope by staff and either sent out or given to a pupil to take home. For large schools with many students this represents a drain on resources and time which could be better utilised for other things.
All schools are working hard to make sure they reduce their carbon footprint and contribute to a more sustainable and greener environment. Over the course of a year, an average sized school may well go through several hundred or thousands of reams of paper to make sure that their parents are kept up to date with all sorts of issues.
Whilst the latest multi-function printers are designed to be more eco-friendly, they still use a large amount of electricity as well as resources such as toner and paper that are a drain on finances and damage those important green credentials.
Staff time
Not only do you need to have the printer and paper to send out information but you also require the staff to carry out each job. That means an administrator might well be tied up at the printer and sorting letters rather than doing something more important. That doesn’t take into account when there is an emergency and staff have to man the phones to inform parents.
Changing the way we do things
Fortunately, there are now ways for every school to help cut down the costs and reduce that carbon footprint. By simply introducing a school app for parents and pupils, communication suddenly becomes much easier and a lot more effective.
Parents can download a school app onto their mobile phones and receive all information via push notifications and stay up to date. Most schools already use their website to keep interested parties informed but the great thing about an app is that parents can access it anywhere and at any time. Whether it’s on mobile or tablet, information is available at the touch of a button and notifications can be accessed instantaneously.
Not only does it make things easier and more accessible for parents, it makes all that expensive printing and posting a thing of the past, releasing valuable resources that can then be put into more important areas of the school. With most of us now owning some sort of mobile device, there is certainly little doubt that the move towards better connectivity is beginning to make a big difference in our schools.
Image sourced from Calico Spanish via Creative Commons