Communication has always been important for schools. Making sure that parents are kept up to date and have all the information they need at their fingertips has thankfully changed over the last decade or so.
In the past, if you had an important message to send out, it required the whole admin department to come together and send out the information. That either involved printing out letters or sending email or text messages. More and more nowadays schools are relying on better digital communication software to stay in touch.
Of course, the big innovation in recent years has been the mobile phone or our smart devices such as tablets. These have become increasingly popular and there are not many families now who don’t have access to the technology and use it in their everyday lives. With smartphones, we can download useful apps that can help us do everything from managing our time, taking great photos and video to shopping and communicating with each other via social media.
While there are platforms such as Esmodo and Pupil Asset that teachers and parents can use, many schools are now developing their own, dedicated apps to help improve school to parent communication. In the past, creating a school app would have cost a lot of money and taken a good deal of time working with a local software designer.
Things have changed as the technology has grown and you can now get your own personal app for a low cost, tailored to your school’s specific needs. This is undoubtedly one of the biggest communication developments in recent years and has numerous benefits.
- It means that keeping in touch with parents suddenly becomes a simple process.
- An app can be downloaded onto a smartphone and give parents access to all the information they need at the press of a button.
- Schools can send immediate notifications to parents – for instance, if there’s a problem and the school needs to close early, then reaching out to parents is as simple as typing out a message and posting it to the platform.
- School apps save time and money. Admin staff aren’t tied up sending out information and can be better used for more important work. Teachers don’t need to worry how they get in contact with a parent when they need to.
- The app can be used to send out reminders for upcoming events so that engagement with parents is improved.
- Your school app can be tailored to your specific needs. That means you can include important documentation or links to information that parents are likely to need.
- Finally, cutting down on paperwork and making communication with parents digital through communication software means that you are operating in a greener way – saving the planet in your own small way.
For parents, it also means that they no longer worry about getting information on what’s happening at school. They can keep up to date by simply downloading the app and receive important information wherever they are. The development of the smartphone has revolutionised the way that schools are now able to communicate effectively, saving on costs and time. If you want to see how dedicated school to parent communication software can benefit your school, contact Parent Apps today.