Blog

2020 is here, marking the close of another decade. For ParentMail, it promises to be an exciting year – we are fast approaching our 20^th birthday! But, before we plough ahead with the coming 12 months, there is much to look back on and celebrate from the year just gone.  Here’s our review of 2019!

Your year 

2019 was a busy year for our schools and we have the stats to prove it. Over the past 12 months: 

• You sent nearly two million emails, keeping parents up to date with the latest school news and information 
• Over 11 thousand parents’ evenings were arranged using our paperless parents’ evening platform, with more than 2.5 million parents booking appointments online 
• You sent over 125 thousand online forms, gathering over 2.5 million paperless responses. 

You’re busier than ever and we’ve been working away behind the scenes to support you; here’s what we got up to during 2019. 

Product updates and new functionality 

Without our customers, we wouldn’t be where we are today. With your help and feedback, we continue to enhance and develop our platforms to meet the ever-changing needs of schools.  

In summer 2019, we set out to upgrade +Pay to make online payment management even easier for parents and schools. 

New advance bookings functionality streamlines wraparound care, breakfast clubs and school dinners, keeping things simple for schools. Parents can book club places and pay in one simple process; for school lunches, parents choose menu items and top up lunch money with a few clicks.  

Want to know more? Read the blog. 

We became part of something bigger 

Two years after being bought by IRIS Software Group, today ParentMail is one part of IRIS Education, a family of leading software providers including PS Financials, BioStore, FasTrak and Contact Group.  

We’re busy exploring opportunities to integrate our platforms, with the objective of delivering an even better experience for schools.  

Looking ahead, we’re also excited for IRIS World, set to take place on 11^th February at the ICC Birmingham. School leaders from across the country are gathering under one roof for a day of knowledge-sharing, networking and sector news.  

Haven’t booked your place yet? Check out the agenda and save your seat now. 

Webinars 

What better way to explore ParentMail than with our new webinar series? Schools across the country took the opportunity to see our platform in action last year, setting aside less than an hour of their day to see what else ParentMail could do for them.  

For those too busy to join us, don’t worry – you can find our webinars here, available to watch at your own convenience.  

Psst! With parents’ evening season just around the corner, now is the perfect opportunity to check out the Parents’ Evening Manager webinar. Paperless event planning is just a few clicks away! 

App-solutely brilliant 

We continue to develop our free mobile parent app to make managing school life even easier. This year saw a number of updates to improve the user experience and all our hard work must be paying off, with many users leaving us some fantastic feedback over the year! 

“At last a parent friendly parent app!”
“Safe and reliable.”
“Easy to use. Keeps me up to date.”   

We wouldn’t be where we are without our schools and we would like to take this opportunity to thank every one of our valuable customers for choosing ParentMail to upgrade their parent engagement.  

We’re excited for everything 2020 holds and wish you all a productive and successful new year! 

Ready to upgrade your parent engagement? Let’s chat! Book a free demo or get in touch to find out what ParentMail can do to support your busy team achieve amazing things this year.

We at ParentMail are really excited to be taking part in IRIS World 2020! Set to take place on 11th February 2020 at the ICC Birmingham, IRIS World has fast become known as a fantastic opportunity for leaders across the sector to gather under one roof for a day of news, networking and knowledge-sharing.  

As a key part of the IRIS Education software portfolio, ParentMail has been working closely with IRIS to make the conference a must-attend event for everyone in the education sector.  

With a jam-packed agenda in the making, we’re excited to share three reasons why you should attend IRIS World… 

1. Insight 

Industry experts, school leaders and ParentMail gurus are hosting a variety of talks throughout the day, sharing valuable insight into the latest changes in the education sector. 

The general election, staff retention and increasing pressures to improve efficiency; the current climate sees an unpredictable future for schools. However, against all the odds, school leaders continue to achieve outstanding things for their school communities. 

With input from education experts, we’ll investigate best practice and confront the issues impacting both the classroom and the management of schools today.  

2. Network 

What’s an event without a spot of networking? Grab a coffee and get to know fellow school leaders and users of IRIS Education software. Our team of experts will be on hand throughout the day to share their expertise and answer any questions you might have about your software. 

We’ll also be showcasing the latest innovations to your platforms, including ParentMail, PS Financials, PS Connect, BioStore and Contact Group. Join us to find out how IRIS Education is developing to continue meeting your needs, enabling you to look forward with confidence. 

3. Discover 

Demands to continually create new efficiencies places great pressure on the shoulders of school leaders; any opportunity to save time and protect the school budget must be taken advantage of. 

IRIS World is the perfect environment to discover ways to achieve these goals, by hearing about the latest innovations in EdTech within the context of tensions facing the sector today. Learn how IRIS is investing in our technology to meet the needs of schools, from parent engagement to asset and people management.  

And don’t forget the IRIS Awards 

And these aren’t the only reasons to take a look at IRIS World. On the evening of February 11th, we’re hosting the IRIS Customer Awards 2020, celebrating the outstanding performance of our customers with a black-tie dinner and awards-giving. 

With five awards up for grabs, this is a great chance to showcase all the amazing things your team achieves for students, staff and parents, every day. Whether your school has improved parent engagement with digital communications or supported staff with powerful EdTech, we want to hear from you. 

This is the first year IRIS World is opening its doors to the education sector and, as such, we’re excited to make it a day of thought-provoking news and networking for every one of our guests. Join us on February 11th at the ICC Birmingham; reserve your seat today. 

We asked schools to share their top tips, best practice and advice for using the ParentMail platform to its full potential. Now, we’re excited to share your feedback with the ParentMail community! 

Here are our top five favourite suggestions for making the most of ParentMail to save time and streamline admin, every day: 

Save time with templates 

“Make your templates – these are then handy and easy to use – SMS, email, forms… We use them daily for just some of the following: child not collected, no lunch booked, bumped head, football Friday. Also, get parents signed up by app by offering incentives.” 

“Search for an old template, i.e. last years’ letter and change the dates rather than re-write the whole thing! Anything with a green dot has new, ‘undealt-with’ info on it!”  

Test your communications 

“Create a fictious parent and child to test out new applications/forms etc. I have Betty and Billy Anyone linked to my personal email address and it’s great to be able to see ParentMail from a ‘parent’ perspective.”  

Registering parents 

“Don’t give parents a choice regarding registering. Be a cashless school and refuse to take cash.” 

Reporting 

“Work through the reject report, it’s not that daunting once you get used to it. We now have 100% of email contacts. If you don’t have contact details phone the parent!” 

Thank you to everyone who shared their top tips with us!  

Did you find these tips to be helpful? ParentMail should be supporting you to save time, reduce workloads and save money. If you aren’t not feeling the true benefits of your platform, you might benefit from a hands-on refresher with a ParentMail trainer.

Our on-site training is ideal for teaching new staff, training up teams and keeping your ParentMail knowledge up to date. We’ll visit your school for either half or full day and tailor training to suit your needs, ensuring you get the most of out of your session. Get in touch to find out more.

Our School Support Team are masters of all things ParentMail, offering up expertise and knowledge to support schools every day.  

While they’re always on hand via Live Chat when schools run into trouble, did you know, you can also arrange for a ParentMail professional to stop by your school to deliver training on-site? 

Depending on your needs, we’ll tailor your session to support your team. Whether you’re in need of a general refresher or want to train up new colleagues, our on-site sessions are the perfect way to soak up wisdom and hit the ground running with your platform. 

Training for ParentMail newbies 

Face-to-face training is the perfect way to start your ParentMail journey. Our trainer will support with the ‘go live’ process and provide a hands-on tour of your new platform. It’s also a great opportunity to get to know us! 

Training new team members 

Time is precious, so rather than spending hours guiding a new colleague around the platform, arrange a half or full-day training session and we’ll do it for you – so you can get on with the day job!

While we’re there, we’ll support your wider team to brush up on ParentMail best practice and answer any burning questions you might have. We’ll train up new staff using your existing account, too, ensuring the session is applicable and relevant to your school. 

Learning about new solutions 

Adding a new solution onto your ParentMail platform is super easy, especially with the helping hand of our experts. We’ll show you around your new solution and help you to develop any relevant content required for your school.  

Refresher sessions on your platform

Whether it’s the start of a new term or you’ve recently become responsible for managing parent communications, we’ll tailor training to suit your strengths and weaknesses, targeting specific areas requiring attention. We’ll explore areas of the system less familiar to you and even investigate and resolve any data related issues.   

On-site training is a great way to consolidate your team knowledge and iron out any areas raising problems, empowering you to truly make the most of ParentMail and all the benefits it has to offer. 

Every session provides an ideal opportunity to check in on your existing ParentMail solutions, ask questions and find out about the latest updates and product enhancements. It’s also a great chance for you to share your feedback and suggestions for what you’d like to see from the future of ParentMail.

Enquire about on-site training.  

We’ve seen the trends of parent communications change over the years. From the death of the paper newsletter (good riddance!) to the dawn of text messages and email, schools have taken advantage of every opportunity to avoid the frustrations of pupil post. 

While text messaging has proven handy over recent years, SMS is struggling to keep up with cheaper, more convenient solutions; email, in-app messaging and even WhatsApp have proven better for circulating messages to the parent community. 

Habits can be hard to break, particularly when reviewing processes which have been in place for years. However, chances are, if you’re still sending text messages to parents en masse, there are huge time and money savings to be achieved. Here’s why… 

Taking over text messages

Before the era of smartphones, text messaging enabled schools to send important messages directly into the hands of parents, for the first time. Suddenly, parents were no longer discovering out of date letters at the bottom of school bags. Convenient but clunky, SMS presented schools with a quick and easy way of keeping parents up to date. 

However, for sharing anything other than short and sweet messages, SMS can cause headaches. Character limits don’t leave much room for personality or a professional touch; they also don’t allow for attachments. For parents, sifting through their personal inbox to find a single school message, sent days before, can be frustrating.  

In addition, the cost of sending texts in bulk quickly adds up. So, while you may have enjoyed some cost savings upon ridding your office of print and paper, the price of potentially thousands of texts sent over a school year can still push the budget. 

What do parents want? 

Staying on top of homework, afterschool clubs, trips and events is enough to make the most organised parent sweat. What they really want from school communications is simplicity; the relevant information sent to the right place, at the right time. 

Cluttered email inboxes make it easy to miss important information, while WhatsApp groups raise concerns around security and accuracy; with 30+ parents in a single group, notifications can quickly spiral out of control. 

Custom communication channels 

“It’s a really nice touch that we’re sending our information home to parents through our very own app, it makes our communications unique to us!”  

Brookside Primary School 

When collecting data or sharing school news, security is a priority. Parents need to be able to trust that the information they receive from their school is accurate and applicable to their child.  

At ParentMail, we believe that technology should empower communications, rather than setting limits. Software should bridge the home/school divide with efficient, effective parent engagement. 

A dedicated platform for messaging is within reach for all schools and parents today. From local primaries to large MATs, many schools are making the most of technology to implement strategic communications to strengthen relationships with their parent community. 

“The majority of parents use our mobile app, which means messages are sent home as free in-app notifications, popping up to alert parents of important school communications. As a result, we have saved on text credits as we are no longer sending any SMS and instead send all our communications through email which arrive in one single, school branded feed rather than a busy email inbox, improving our parental engagement as a result!”   

Kesgrave High School 

ParentMail’s Messaging solution provides total flexibility; schools can manage mailing lists to send messages by class, year group or individual. Handy reporting enables staff to monitor communication performance, providing an overview of messages received and unopened; no more chasing students for responses, no more character limitations or text credits. 

Our free mobile app is a favourite with parents. Handy notifications and reminders ensure they receive important information instantly, with all school messages stored neatly in one place. 

An effective solution proven to save time and improve parent engagement, Messaging is a powerful stand-alone solution. When utilised alongside ParentMail’s other engagement solutions, the system does so much more for schools, professionalising communications and reducing costs in the long term. 

With cold weather settling across the country this winter and a busy festive period approaching, it’s time to plan ahead for home/school communications. Get in touch to find out more about our Messaging solution. 

Efficiency, security, reliability… just a few of the wonderful things online payments promise to deliver. 

However, many schools are being short-changed by their provider. Establishing a cashless culture that works for everyone (from staff in the school office to busy parents paying at home) is easier said than done. It takes time and patience to seek out a system that benefits everyone. 

Whether you’re switching suppliers or considering online payments for the first time, start out on the right foot with our checklist of the top ten areas to consider to guarantee a stress-free cashless culture…

1. Reliability 

A system which leaves you high and dry during the busiest periods will only lead to frustrated parents and more work for your team. Challenge new suppliers to provide evidence of system accessibility for schools. It’s also worth carrying out some research on social media, too, to investigate parent experiences with payment providers.

2. Payment methods 

Check which payment methods a system offers for parents; for example, can parents pay with PayPal, credit, debit card or PayPoint? Your system needs to be socially inclusive to support all parents, as well as able to cater for cash payments when necessary. 

3. Flexible reporting 

Ask your chosen supplier about reporting tools. Is it easy to look up accounts, balances and payments so you can keep arrears in check? Are reports flexible and easy to access? Your system should offer a helpful insight to support school teams; for example, data on popular dinner choices could help to reduce waste and manage suppliers. 

4. Mobile 

Most parents are rarely far from their smartphones, so ensuring your payment system is mobile friendly is essential. A convenient, reliable and secure school payment app is guaranteed to support speedy payments. 

5. Cashless catering 

Choose a payment system that integrates with your cashless catering system, ensuring it offers low balance reminders and payment-due alerts to keep parents up to date on payments due. Extra benefits such as the ability to view their child’s dinner choices or the option to pay for particular items in advance are also sure to impress parents and improve uptake. 

6. Payment options 

Support parents to budget for more expensive items, such as trips or events, with payment instalments, providing information in advance so both your school team and parents can plan ahead.

7. Segments 

Investigate the system functionality for setting up year groups, classes and other pupil groups. This way, you will be well placed to communicate with groups about specific payments, making it easier for parents to see what they need to buy.  

8. Options

Increase order accuracy by choosing a system which offers multiple options against payment items (for example, sizes of PE kit or school uniform items). 

9. Integration 

For administrative purposes, ensure the system integrates with your school’s MIS. This will enable you to easily upload new pupils onto the system at the start of the school year.  

10. Switching 

And last, but by no means least, ensure your new solution can be easily migrated from old systems with ease, allowing you to transfer balances and re-create ongoing payment items. 

Our free Online Payments Guide explores in detail the potential issues and vital considerations for schools adopting a stress-free cashless culture. We share first-hand experiences and best-practice advice from schools utilising online payments providers today.  

Download the guide  

Today, a huge 85% of schools run breakfast clubs, setting students up for a day of learning and offering a lifeline for busy parents. 

Beyond the well-known benefits of a good breakfast, research suggests that these clubs have a much deeper positive impact on children’s learning. A 2014 audit of school breakfast provisions found that 45% of schools saw attendance improve as a direct result of breakfast clubs and nearly 50% noticed an increase in student concentration. 

With the rising popularity of breakfast clubs, the school day no longer starts at 8:30am. Thousands of primary schools are opening their doors as early as 7am to sleepy students and panicked parents in a rush to get to work on time. For some children, breakfast club may be their only opportunity to enjoy a good meal before a day of learning. 

When it comes to putting plans in place for this all-important provision, there are lots of things for school teams to consider that go far beyond choosing whether to serve toast or cereal! 

Picking your team 

Organising staff cover depends on the number of students that will be attending each day. Some mornings may be busier than others, so knowing this number in advance is important. Many schools rely on the support of teaching assistants but, if resources are running low or your school has a reliable PTA or Friends Association, consider asking parent volunteers to lend a hand on a rota basis.  

For schools in the early stages of setting up a breakfast club, it has also proven beneficial to involve a senior leader or headteacher in the planning process. They will be well-placed to connect the initiative with other school efforts, such as strategies to improve attendance and punctuality, enabling staff teams to share resources and achieve a shared goal. 

What’s the point? 

Schools run breakfast clubs for a variety of reasons. For those operating in deprived areas, the priority is to provide healthy food options and improve attendance; for other schools, breakfast clubs offer reliable and affordable childcare for busy parents.  

Depending on your school’s priorities, you may wish to open breakfast clubs to all students or encourage a particular demographic to attend – those receiving Free School Meals, for example.  

Talking to parents is a great way of making decisions around the practicalities of your club, from what time to open the doors, to what food to include on the menu. Ask questions and act on feedback from those who will use the club (and possibly even keep it running) to start on the road to success. 

Funding and payments 

The cost of running breakfast clubs often relies heavily on the school budget so deciding a pricing structure is important. Many primary schools charge a nominal fee for attendance, be it an hourly price, an itemised list of menu items or a wraparound care ‘package’. For FSM students, some schools charge a very small amount so food isn’t perceived as a hand-out.  

Collecting club fees and payments can be the source of a great many financial frustrations. Thousands of schools have seen the benefit of opting for cashless payments for fees; online payments help schools reduce dinner money debt and parent arrears, too. Choosing a platform which works for both parents and schools is key for protecting the budget. Fortunately, we have the perfect solution for you… 

Crunch time 

So, you know who’s involved, what’s on the menu and determined a payment structure. Now it’s time to serve up success!  

Ensuring your club doesn’t become an additional admin headache is vital. We’ve heard from many schools about the issues associated with wraparound care. Saving time and streamlining processes for schools is what we’re all about, so we set out to develop a solution to ensure the smooth running of breakfast clubs this year.  

New to +Pay, Advance Bookings functionality enables schools to request menu choices and club bookings early; parents select menu options, make bookings and pay, all in one easy process. This means schools can plan resources well in advance for upcoming breakfast clubs, from staff cover and volunteers to the food on offer, reducing kitchen waste and unnecessary stress – because who wants stress first thing in the morning? 

The flexible platform also allows for clubs to be split into separate sessions. For parents who wish for their child to attend only the latter part of a breakfast club, for example, the system allows this and updates available spaces in real-time; this is particularly helpful for clubs with a limited number of spaces, leaving the remaining half of the session free for others to book. 

Advance Bookings supports schools in saving time and protecting budgets whilst improving communication with parents. With our handy mobile app, club bookings and payments are easy for parents, so schools receive a great response. With payments made upfront and in advance, arrears remain low and budgets balanced, enabling schools to plan for a sustainable and financially-healthy future. 

Take control of your breakfast club management with a helping hand from +Pay. Arrange a demo with a ParentMail pro or get in touch to find out more. 

If I had a pound for every time I asked my children how their day was, and they replied, “Fine”, I’d be a very rich woman! It got me thinking about better ways to get kids to open up. 

Some children love talking about school. With others, encouraging them to share even a few details can feel like fighting a losing battle, especially if things are going wrong at school, such as bullying, friendship fall-outs or exam stress.

If your child is on the quieter side or particularly private, there are still ways to ask questions that will open up a conversation rather than shutting them down in an instant.  

I’ve noticed that, often, when parents hear “fine,” they react in one of two ways. Some parents will go on to ask lots more questions, in an effort to get the conversation going. However, studies have shown that asking too many questions can feel invasive, especially to teenagers, causing them to clam up and withdraw – the very opposite of what you’re trying to do. 

Other parents, tired of hearing the usual response, may stop asking altogether. However, research has shown that children who share limited communication with their parents when growing up report more mental and behavioural health difficulties.  
 
So, it’s a fine line between asking and demanding. It’s important to consider your tone of voice, body language and intentions. The best way is to relax and ask genuinely interested open-ended questions; you have two ears and one mouth for a reason – to listen more than you speak! Often children prefer it if you are doing something else at the same time, such as driving, walking the dog or peeling the potatoes.  

Active and enthusiastic parental involvement can positively influence your child’s engagement at school, their academic success and help them to achieve long-term educational goals. Simple and positive communication, every day, strengthens your child’s self-esteem and confidence and develops long-term happy childhood memories. 

Communication at different ages 

With young children, school day conversations usually revolve around school subjects, new friendships or concrete experiences. For example, a young child might share with you: 

“I played on the slide at lunch time today with Emily!” 

Start by asking an open-ended question that opens up and expands the conversation rather than closing the conversation down. Steer away from a response that requires a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer: 

‘Oh, that sounds fun, what did you play after that?’

At around 7-9 years old, friendships become increasingly important to your child. They may be more interested in talking about their friendships than about their schoolwork, so show an interest by asking about their friends, such as:

“Tell me about Joe. What does he like to play at breaktime?”  

Children between 9-11 might begin to see your questions as nosy, which can lead to less information sharing. So, change your questioning style to be less intensive. Instead, approach questions by asking about your child’s friends to kick start a conversation:  

“What do your friends think about the new P.E teacher?”

Talking with teens

Children are turning into young adults during teenage years and, as such, you have to change your style of relating to them to remain connected but not intrusive. Find simple things you can do together – walking the dog, eating together regularly, watching sport or pursuing an activity such as baking or arts and crafts, so conversations naturally flow from there. Stay involved in your children’s lives and show interest, but steer clear from seeming overtly inquisitive. Create opportunities for conversations and don’t get caught up in only nagging!  

Most importantly, maintain the long-term, bigger picture of your relationship in mind and keep conversations positive. Focus on asking your child about their opinions and thoughts, instead of just telling them yours, and try getting them involved in some family decision making.  

Remember, it’s normal for your teenager to seek out more privacy and share less information with you. They are growing up and transitioning into a young adult. So be flexible and respect your teens privacy when they need it.  

If you find yourself exasperated, frustrated and completely at a loss to get your kids chatting, here are a few starters: 

• What was the favourite part of your day? 

• What made you laugh today? 

• Who were you kind to today? 

• What new fact did you learn today? 

• When did you feel most proud of yourself today? 

• What rule was the hardest to follow today? 

• What games did you play at break time today? 

• Was there anything that happened today that made you feel bad? 

• What did you do in school today that you really enjoyed? 

• Who inspired you today? 

As you’d expect, children often feel quite tired at the end of the school day. If they aren’t up to talking straight away, hold back on your questions until they have had time to relax and unwind. Once refuelled, they may be up for sharing.  

Parental engagement apps are a great way of keeping on top of what’s going on in your child’s school day. By keeping in touch with the latest school news, you’ll be better placed to have a conversation about lessons, homework, trips and activities.

So, if your school uses an online engagement platform to stay in touch with parents, it’s super important to make the most of it.

Regardless of your child’s age, keep in mind that it’s the quality of frequent but small positive conversations that you have over time that will make the biggest difference – so keep trying and don’t give up!

With a busy September behind us, we caught up with Langstone Junior Academy to find out how they’ve got on enrolling new parents and welcoming back returning ones this year.  

Back in July, we spoke with Administrator, Lorraine Reeves, who reported the school had saved a huge £9000 during academic year 2018/19, with a helping hand from ParentMail.   

Within the first six weeks of this year alone, Langstone Junior Academy has saved a further £2000 in staff time and resource, all thanks to ParentMail Messaging and Parents’ Evening Manager. 

“We’ve found that if you make time at the start of term to support parents with ParentMail, it pays dividends in the future,” says Lorraine. “In fact, we’re in the habit now of speaking with all new parents in advance of September to encourage them to register before their child actually starts at school. That way, we hit the ground running at the beginning of term, with all parents receiving important information immediately.”  

A little over a month into the new academic year and the school already has 100% of parents registered and nearly 90% using the ParentMail app to stay on top of important school news.   

“The vast majority of parents are more than happy to use ParentMail to engage with us. Modern-day, busy parents see the benefits of receiving school information via an app; they love how user-friendly and reliable it is, and they’re never without their mobile phones.”   

“But, for the few who are a little more tech-adverse, we don’t let them slip through the net! Some parents need a helping hand or persuasion to give it a go. I invite those parents into the office, where I explain the benefits of ParentMail face to face, run through how to use the app and get them signed up there and then. Sometimes, I’ll download the app and do the registration process for them. By the time they leave, they know how to navigate the app and how to read messages – which is great for them, but also handy for us in the office, too.”  

With parents’ evening just around the corner, Lorraine has another trick up her sleeve for persuading the last lingering few into using the ParentMail app.  

“I explain, we use Parents’ Evening Manager when it comes to managing parents’ meetings and appointments, and they’ll find it far easier to book a meeting of their choice if they use the app. So, install it now before we send out invitations, and you’ll benefit in just a few short weeks!”  

“The reports provided on the platform are very useful; we monitor open rates and can clearly see those who haven’t clicked on school messages.”  

“While we use ParentMail regularly in the office, teachers also really benefit from the system in the classroom. We’re proud to be a completely paperless school and, at this time of the year, when there’s so much to share with parents, an online system is far superior to print and paper. Teachers don’t need to waste valuable time chasing parents for responses or handing out endless paper letters at the end of the school day.”   

Langstone Junior Academy receives a gold star for their parent uptake efforts this year and are enjoying all the benefits as a result, with the financial savings quickly adding up. Now, with parents’ evening approaching, the team are looking forward to a smooth and organised event.   

“Parents’ evening is simple with Parents’ Evening Manager. We have no worries when it comes to making plans for the night. It’s so easy to set up. Teachers are organised, parents are prepared – it’s easy!” 

Find out how ParentMail can support your school with huge time and cost savings this year. Get in touch to speak to the team!

Parent teacher evenings are a wonderful opportunity for parents to get involved with their child’s education.

Usually held twice a year, autumn term meetings serve as a good opportunity to build strong and productive relationships with teachers, with spring meetings ideal for picking up areas requiring attention before the end of the school year.

In secondary school, the format changes. Rather than just one meeting with their child’s class teacher, parents sit with individual subject teachers, attending multiple short sessions throughout the evening. For new parents, meetings may feel a little rushed, occasionally bordering on hectic. However, secondary school parents’ evenings remain a great opportunity for teachers and parents to catch up and, for this reason, it’s important to prepare in advance and make the most of the short window of time you get.

School staff spend many hours collating data and information in preparation for parents’ evenings. Unfortunately, sometimes the parents’ perspective can be overlooked when planning for these important events.

Feeling rushed

Time is always at a premium during parents’ evenings. Busy teachers can have over 30 sessions per evening depending on their class or year group. However, in my experience as a deputy head and class teacher for 25 years, as well as working with parents and families as a parent coach, it’s a good idea to ensure parents don’t feel rushed.

For the evening to be a productive experience for everyone involved, parents need to feel listened to, as well as spoken to. There’s nothing worse than feeling like a teacher is clock watching. A parent who leaves feeling as though their appointment was both meaningful and beneficial will feel positively engaged with their child’s education.

It is almost inevitable that meetings will overrun, so try to allow time between appointments. While extending the time of all appointments is impractical for most schools, providing the opportunity for parents to book another time to continue the conversation always works well, be it a phonecall, face to face or Skype meeting. A brief follow-up email has also proven successful for many schools, improving relationships whilst solving any time-related issues.

Flexibility, mobility and convenience

Whether balancing work commitments, child-care or family life, parents often struggle to book appointments to suit their busy schedules. This sometimes results in families opting out of parents’ evening completely; this is also a consideration for divorced parents attempting to navigate the choppy waters of joint meetings.  

Making the booking process quick, simple and convenient can vastly improve turnout on the evening; this is something that ParentMail has taken into account when building their free mobile app and Parents’ Evening Manager platform. For parents, selecting appointments is speedy and secure. Schools can send multiple invitations to various family members, facilitating the needs of split families to ensure both parents have the opportunity to attend this all-important event.  

There’s more to raising a happy, confident child than their data

Of course, communicating grades and information is important for a child’s progression, particularly for those studying for GCSEs and A-Levels. However, many parents still appreciate hearing less about data and more about their child as an individual. Data means only so much to a parent, with many preferring a holistic view of their child; their friendships, mental wellbeing and happiness, behaviour in class and attitude towards learning, for example. For parents, this information is just as important as their child’s academic performance.

Don’t play things down

While most parents will argue they want the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth on parents’ evening, it is vital for teachers consider the way in which they deliver such truths!

Sharing difficult information with parents is tricky, no doubt about it. However, there are ways to do so without causing offence or hostility. From personal experience, I find maintaining a positive and enthusiastic attitude very helpful while delivering difficult information. Be prepared with an anecdote of the child’s personal strength. The ‘sandwich technique’ bookends constructive feedback with praise; in other words, feedback ‘sandwiched’ between two layers of positivity.

While it may feel daunting to feedback negativity about a child, most parents understand how important it is for a teacher to communicate honestly about their child’s behaviour and academic performance. Building bridges between home and school has been shown in many studies to aid the wellbeing, success and academic achievement of children.

Co-parenting

Most schools are aware of catering for divorced, separated and step-families. Building an environment in which all members of the family feel welcomed and comfortable goes an awfully long way in supporting students, with mindful communications between parents and schools helping to ease tension or awkward encounters. Home/school communication plays a very important role in the run-up to parents evening.

It’s important to make sure that every parent or care giver has the opportunity to be involved in their child’s education by knowing the dates and times of parents’ evening. So, by simply checking and updating contact details, schools can make the difference between a positive or negative experience for parents. This level of attention to detail and proactive thought will be greatly appreciated by parents.

Additional needs

Parents’ evenings play a vital role when it comes to supporting children with special educational needs. It’s important for parents of children with additional needs to feel that their child is being nurtured and prepared well through their Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) – parents’ evening may be one of the few opportunities for parents to understand how the school is supporting their child.

An essential part of becoming an informed partner is knowing the right questions to ask on both sides and to work in partnership towards the best outcomes for the child. It’s also beneficial for parents and teachers to book in a regular review meeting so they can work together to monitor how the child is progressing. More frequent communication, such as requesting a quick telephone catch up or a weekly after school meeting can also be a good idea, especially if a new programme of support has recently started.

Re-defining parents’ evenings

Back in 1997, the government’s white paper ‘Excellence in Schools’ suggested that providing parents with information is a key element in building successful home-school partnerships.

The good news is, schools are increasingly utilising technology to improve the quality of contact they have with parents. It is equally important for parents to stay up to date with the methods and channels schools use to engage and share news with them. If there is an app, for example, parents need to download it.

Parents’ evening is a fantastic opportunity to join forces and work together as a cohesive team for the benefit of children – so make the most of it!

IRIS Software Group is today launching IRIS World and IRIS Customer Awards 2020. Set to take place on Tuesday 11^th February at The ICC Birmingham, school leaders will hear about the latest advances in EdTech from industry-leading teams, including experts from ParentMail. 

For the first time, IRIS World will bring together esteemed customers from education, as well as accountancy, HR and payroll. Teams from ParentMail will be on hand to discuss the latest releases in financial management and parent engagement systems to revolutionise school operations. 

The IRIS Customer Awards will recognise leaders, individuals and managers, as well as schools and education organisations, who deliver excellent services and results for their communities. The deadline for entries is 29^th November. 

Challenges continue to impact every sector. Whether political, economic, social or technological, business and public sector organisations are striving to make efficiencies, increase productivity and improve engagement to achieve their business goals. 

The event will provide school leaders with the opportunity to explore software designed to strengthen home/school relationships, protect budgets and improve efficiencies for the benefit of staff and students. Attendees will have the chance to discuss and debate key issues with peers, education experts and teams from IRIS Education, to find out how their schools can make the most of the latest innovations in integrated back-office management systems to achieve outstanding results. 

Click here to register for IRIS World 2020.

To enter the IRIS Customer Awards, click here.

While school staff spend hours collecting data and information in preparation for parents’ evenings, we don’t often take the time to ask parents for their feelings on this important event.

Gathering feedback may prove an impossible task for your busy team, so we set out to discover what parents think of parents’ evening with a good old fashioned survey – and the results might surprise you!

Time after time

Multiple parents referred to feeling rushed during meetings, with many stating they need more time with teachers to make the appointments feel truly beneficial. While extending appointments is impractical for many schools, providing the opportunity for parents to book in a telephone or Skype meeting with teachers at a later date is a good way of solving any time-related issues.

Communication between parents and your school in advance of the evening iis a great way to enable teachers to plan for appointments. Enable parents to raise questions or topics they’d like to discuss so teachers are ready to make the most of their short time together.

“That they actually run on time! I went to my daughter’s evening and we had 8 appointments, 10 minute slots for each with a 10 minute buffer in-between. We were there for 4 hours.” 
Mel Nicholson

Flexible and functional  

Busy parents often struggle to book convenient appointments, with many opting out of the evening completely due to their inability to either book meetings at all or schedule appointments to suit their busy lives. 

Paperless parents’ evenings have proven a huge success for thousands of schools across the country, with parents able to book appointments, in seconds, online or on an App. For schools, managing online timetables simplifies processes and saves hours of time – it’s a win, win! However, there will always be parents who prefer the traditional method; so if you’re a paperless school with a focus on all things digital, it is vital that you still have the flexibility to accommodate manual bookings.

“It always feels rushed. The teachers do the best they can but we’re all tired from a long day! Also as a working parent I find it hard to get the appointments I need because they are put up outside the classroom and I don’t drop off or pick up!” 
Emma Jane Paterson

More than just grades 

Communicating grades and performance data is important for a student’s progression, particularly for those studying for GCSEs and A-Levels. However, many parents shared that they would appreciate hearing less about progress and attainment and more about their child as an individual; their behaviour in class, their friendships, attitude, manners and more. For parents, this information is just as important as their child’s academic performance.

“Honesty. And more of an all-round view of the child. I was told my daughter was fab at everything blah blah. She asked, ‘Do you have any questions?’ I said yes, is she supportive of others, does she have friends, is she a good kid or badly behaved in class? She laughed and said all was well on all fronts. I’d rather parent a decent all-rounder than a lonely genius.”
Eve-Marie Ford

Don’t sugarcoat it

While it might be intimidating to express the ‘real truth’ about a student, many parents expressed how important it is for a teacher to communicate honestly about their child’s behaviour and academic performance. 

Whether it’s about behaviour and attitude, missing homework or general academic achievement, it’s vital to share the truth. A team effort between home and school is proven to support students in the classroom, and only by knowing the whole picture can a parent take an active role in their child’s education.

“Honest appraisal with some stats and benchmarks if possible and less fluff.” 
Fran Vale

“Honesty rather than just general waffle. I want to know more about my child and if they are where they should be with milestones and general behaviour etc.” 
Sarah-Louise Smith

“Honesty, good or bad.” 
Rachael Oakman

Inclusivity 

Numbers of blended families and parent separations are on the rise, so ensuring school communications reach all of the appropriate people in the run-up to parents’ evening is important. Make sure every parent has the opportunity to be involved in their child’s education by checking contact details are up to date and lines of communication between your school and families are open, to ensure your plans and appointments include all types of family structures. 

“We never get to go to my step sons parents’ evening as the school only inform his mother. We get homework to do on a weekend but no communication to say how it is received. In this modern time I think more effort is needed to include all parents.”
Lorraine Finn 

Particularly for parents of children with Special Educational Needs, sharing specific information about their child’s development plan and progress is key. Ensure teachers are prepared with the appropriate information for each appointment and take the opportunity to open up lines of communication so parents feel supported and encouraged to engage with your school in the future.

“To know what my children are really like rather than if they are hitting Government targets … both mine  have high functioning autism and are without an EHCP (Education, Health and Care Plan) because apparently they don’t need one … so give me the truth of what they are capable of and what you’re going to do about it.” 
Marie Grantham

Action plan

If it’s broke, fix it – tackle parents’ evening headaches head on this term, and impress parents in the process. Your school spends a long time putting plans in place for this all-important event – make sure your efforts aren’t wasted!

Parents Evening Manager provides all the flexibility your team needs to make your next evening a success:

• Impress parents with ParentMail’s free mobile App. Busy parents can book appointments on-the-go in seconds, ensuring schools receive a great response. 
  
• Take the paper out of planning with schedules, appointments and reports stored securely online, reducing reliance on pesky paper slips and print-outs.
  
• Parents’ Evening Manager syncs with SIMS and other MIS, for easy class and student selection, ensuring all parents receive information when it matters most.
  
• The flexible, functional platform allows staff to preset appointment durations in advance; parents can even leave comments and questions when booking, enabling teachers to plan ahead.
  

A time-saving tool that won’t break the bank, Parents’ Evening Manager is available from as little as £169. Take the step now to make your next parent’s evening a breeze. Get in touch to find out more or book a free demo.

St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School have used ParentMail for several years and rely on it as an all-in-one communication tool. Recently, they also added +Pay, our integrated payments solution and have saved hours each week as a result! 

They initially chose to use ParentMail to improve their school-home communication and reduce their paper use, but now see the extra benefits of time-saving and better processes for parents.

Staff at St Patrick’s School took part in +Pay training during their initial setup, with a member of the ParentMail team coming into school to talk them through the system and how they could get the most from it. We spoke to Sarah Taylor, Office Manager about her experience.

“We had on-site training for three office staff. This really helped us hit the ground running with +Pay. Moving to an online payments system has noticeably saved us the time spent doing manual jobs! Our trainer, Leon Warner-Bradshaw, made sure we were really confident setting up payment items and running off reports. He also helped us get more out of the ParentMail system.”

“ +Pay training, in particular, has reduced the time counting, collating and banking. Managing the money for trips and events can be very time-consuming, but ParentMail has streamlined everything!”

Thanks to their on-site training, office staff at St Patrick’s have maximised the value they get out of +Pay. This has had a knock-on effect, giving them more time to focus on the pressing issues that really matter to them.

What do parents say about +Pay?

St Patrick’s have been using the system for over a month now, and so far have had a lot of positive feedback.

“Parents have found it very useful. Some have initially been nervous about paying online, but for those now using it, they say it’s a far easier system than cash and paper copies. ParentMail makes everybody’s lives easier.”

Would you recommend ParentMail training to another school?

“Absolutely – I would recommend ParentMail training without hesitation. Everything flows better in the office because it saves us time and parents have an easier way to receive important school messages and make payments!”

Our on-site trainers offer a half or full-day session packed full of ParentMail tips, tricks and insight, and can help you get the most value out of your software.

If you’re looking to free up office time by streamlining your processes, or if you’d like to know more about booking training for your school, get in touch today by calling us on 01733 595959 or emailing enquire@parentmail.co.uk

From the brains of two parents waiting at the school gates, to the offices of thousands of schools and multi-academy trusts across the country – ParentMail has been on a long journey over the past 20 years. 

When we first entered the EdTech sphere, pupil post and paper newsletters were plentiful. While home/school relationships remained a priority, managing parent communications was costly and time-consuming. Printed forms requiring signatures, newsletters and envelopes containing cash, cheques and loose change remained buried at the bottom of book bags for weeks, if not months; progress reports and appointment slips were often neglected, causing school staff to set aside hours every week to chase responses.

All the while, schools were losing thousands of pounds in print and paper-related costs and parents were losing track of various important notes and newsletters.

Enter ParentMail!

Our objective remains the same today as it did in 2001: to improve home/school relationships with innovative technology designed to support both schools and parents.

Today, we’re proud to be a household name, with millions of parents using our free mobile app to manage busy school life. In fact, we’re proud to accompany many parents throughout their child’s education, from nursery to primary school, secondary school and beyond. Whether booking parents’ evening appointments or granting permissions with online forms, parents rely on ParentMail to engage with and support their children’s education every day.

We’ve worked hard to develop a platform that benefits both busy school staff and parents. The services and business we choose to partner with, then, are equally as important to us. 

Perfecting payments

We joined forces with PayPal over three years ago and, during these few short years, we’ve enabled millions of parents to pay for school dinners and other school items with just a few clicks. 

In our digital age, the millennial parent expects a certain level of convenience when it comes to paying for school items, not to mention a trustworthy service. Over 20 million consumers choose PayPal to pay for everyday items today. For topping up dinner money, paying for school trips and purchasing uniform, it comes as no surprise that PayPal remains the method of choice for busy parents. Using a reliable and recognisable brand like PayPal also offers peace of mind for parents still getting to know ParentMail, too. 

When it comes to developing our technology, we know how important it is to first understand the challenges schools are facing. Offering a variety of socially inclusive payment options is vital for schools collecting regular payments today. Our new Advance Bookings platform (a function of +Pay) makes choosing school dinners and booking club places quick and easy. With just a few clicks on our free mobile app, parents can arrange wraparound care places and enjoy all the benefits offered by PayPal, too. In the office, payment administration has never been easier. 

For schools managing parent arrears and dinner money debt today, the opportunity to offer a reliable method of payment is a need-to-have, rather than simply a nice-to-have.

This year, if your focus remains on saving time, cutting costs and improving parental engagement, look no further than +Pay. Thousands of schools are leaving the market leader and making the switch to ParentMail in search of flexible, parent-friendly and reliable service – is it time you made the change? Get in touch to book a free demo and to find out more.

How long does it take your team to plan parents’ evening? If you’re setting aside hours to manage bookings and relying on pupil post for appointments, it’s time to plan now for a stress-free parents’ evening – and we have the solution for you.

Parents’ Evening Manager syncs with SIMS and other MIS to make planning one of the busiest events in the school calendar straight-forward and easy. Eliminating pupil post with the free ParentMail app and handy push notifications enables busy parents to respond to invitations on-the-go, ensuring schools receive a great response. 

Why is this the year to choose Parents’ Evening Manager?

Communicate directly with parents

Improve responses and ensure a great turnout by sending invitations and information directly into parents’ hands. With the ParentMail App, parents receive a notification when it’s time to book, and can select convenient appointments to suit their busy schedules in seconds. Online communications take the paper out of parents’ meetings, with event details stored securely online – no more lost booking slips or side-stepped appointments!

Save time

Online communications and in-app bookings do far more for your team than simply reducing print costs. The flexible system makes planning the night quick and easy; pre-set appointment durations, determine booking windows and arrange reminders for parents yet to respond. Gain an overview of the event with the handy reporting suite and provide parents with all the information they need in advance (meeting locations, where to go upon arrival etc.) to ensure the evening runs smoothly.

Support teachers

While appointments may be brief, it’s important that everyone leaves feeling they got the most out of their time. Enable teachers to plan ahead for their meetings by providing parents with the opportunity to leave notes when booking appointments. Sharing timetables and notes with the staff team in advance ensures teachers are well placed to plan for individual meetings, with the relevant information for each student at hand – a sure fire way to impress parents!

Powerful platform

Parents’ Evening Manager utilises ParentMail’s market-leading communications platform to make managing this busy event simple and seamless. Parents’ Evening Manager is just one solution designed by ParentMail to save time and money for schools. Highly effective as a stand-alone product or as part of ParentMail’s wider parental engagement platform, thousands of primary schools turn to Parents’ Evening Manager to support their busy teams every year.

Cost-efficient

From as little as £169 a year, Parents’ Evening Manager is a cost-effective solution to take the stress (and paper) out of parents’ meetings. Depending on the size of your school, Parents’ Evening Manager costs are entirely flexible. Get parents’ evening ready before the big day – you’ll never look back!

In a nutshell

• Impress parents with ParentMail’s free mobile App. Busy parents can book appointments on-the-go in seconds, ensuring schools receive a great response. 

• Take the paper out of planning with schedules, appointments and reports stored securely online, reducing reliance on pesky paper slips and print-outs.

• ParentMail’s flexible, user-friendly platform makes arranging the event and managing responses quick and easy for busy staff.

• A time-saving tool that won’t break the bank, Parents’ Evening Manager is available from as little as £169. 

Adding Parents’ Evening Manager to your existing ParentMail suite is quick and easy. Introducing the platform as a stand-alone solution is a simple and cost-effective way of improving parent engagement in the run-up to one of the years’ most important events. Get in touch today to find out more and to book a free demo.

Another school year is over. As tired-out teachers make the most of some well-deserved down-time, there’s another group of hard-working individuals, dedicated to the successful running of their school, also in need of some rest and relaxation. That’s right, we’re looking at you, parent volunteers!

Many schools closed out the summer term with fairs, trips and sports days. For those lucky schools with a dedicated PTA or Friends association, these events were likely planned with unrivalled skill, vision and attention to detail. The event went off without a hitch, students had a wonderful time and the school coffers enjoyed a healthy hit at the hand of fundraisers, bake sales and donations. 

As a result of the hard work of parent volunteers, the attention of clock-watching teachers remained on the ever-expanding list of tasks requiring attention before the school closed for summer. 

All year round, small armies of volunteers join forces to arrange trips, discos and fundraisers. They band together to plan seasonal events, throw themselves into classroom activities and dedicate their talents for the benefit of students. 

When it comes to the 6pm disco, teachers still in the midst of a mountain of marking, parents arrive at the school gates armed with supplies, food, juice and balloons; the show will go on.

These unpaid, passionate few represent the beating heart of the school. The hard work and dedication they commit towards supporting not only students but staff, too, speaks wonders for the importance of community. It takes a village to raise a child, the phrase goes; we expect at the heart of that village is a highly organised team of parent volunteers.

And while the annual fundraiser, which enables the school to purchase new tablet computers for the IT room, is an undeniably fabulous feat, let it not be said that the small things don’t go just as far.

For those who attend school trips, who pop by at reading time to lend a hand, who brave the art room and leave covered in paint, we take our hats off to you. Because, for many busy schools today, a little goes an awfully long way.

Your determination to make your school a great place for staff and students is a wonderful thing. So, to all the parent volunteers and teams out there, we say thank you – and we can’t wait to see you what you have hidden up your rolled-up sleeves next year!

Breakfast is still widely considered to be the most important meal of the day, setting children up for a day of learning and fun. Today, a rising number of health-conscious schools and parents are keen to ensure children receive a healthy meal at lunchtime, too, with fresh choices available to all students.

Often, when the bell rings for lunchtime, hungry students are eager to eat quickly before heading outside for some much-needed playtime. The choice of what they eat is often in the hands of mums and dads. Whether it’s a packed lunch or hot meal from the school canteen, parents want to stay on top of their child’s diet.

School food matters

Only 8% of secondary school-aged children in the UK are getting their five-a-day. Almost one in five children are overweight or obese when they start primary school, with the number rising to one in three when they start secondary school. In fact, by 2020, it’s estimated that half of all children in the UK will be overweight or obese. The health risks relating to obesity are well known, resulting in not only significant physical health risks but mental health issues, too.

The Department for Education’s School Food Plan lays out guidance for providing nutritious meals and options throughout the school day. There’s an increasing emphasis on creating a positive environment in which children can eat and relax with friends, enjoy appetising meals and learn about cooking nutritious food. We’re seeing a cultural change taking place at lunchtime, both in and outside of the kitchen.

Stronger together – schools and parents

While healthy options are a huge step in the right direction, the importance of parental engagement when it comes to children’s diet also can’t be underestimated. In years past, parents were often unaware of what children were eating at dinner time; today, more schools than ever are offering parents an insight into their child’s meals.

When it comes to healthy eating, parents are a child’s main role-model. Parents have a large influence over what children eat at home, and the environment in which meals are prepared and eaten. While they may not prepare their child’s lunch boxes every day, it is still very important that they know what their child is eating in the school canteen.

Placing the responsibility of dinner selections into parents’ hands is a great way of assuring them that their child has eaten a healthy lunch. Parents are able to plan meals to complement school dinners and make selections according to dietary requirements. When schools and parents work together, it’s easier to develop a culture and ethos around nutritious choices in which children benefit both mentally and physically.

Good habits start in the (school) kitchen

Instilling the importance of making good food choices from a young age is a sure-fire way of starting children off on a road to good health. A nutritious, balanced diet also means children are more likely to feel energised and motivated to learn. In the classroom, a room of well-fed attentive children provides a much happier, serene learning environment in which all students can thrive.

Engaging with parents regularly and emphasising the importance of selecting their children’s dinner choices encourages good habits at home, too. For some households, access to a wide range of fresh and healthy food isn’t always available. Unfortunately, for some children, a nutritious school lunch may be the only proper meal they receive each day.

The stigma around free school meals (FSM) can make lunchtime an anxious experience for students. Some parents claiming FSM for their children may also feel uncomfortable when dealing with their school, building barriers rather than bridges around an important period of a student’s school day. Creating a supportive, discreet environment in which students claiming FSM can collect their dinner and eat happily is very important; maintaining positive and regular communications with hard-to-reach parents is equally as important. When parents feel supported by schools, students feel the benefits of strong home/school partnerships.

Practical steps to dinner time

Collecting dinner choices and managing parent payments is an unavoidable and time-consuming task. Fighting spiralling dinner money debt is an ongoing battle for schools across the UK. Add missing menu choices and managing suppliers into the mix, and schools are often left with unnecessary waste in the kitchen.

It’s clear that schools need a reliable, cost-efficient system which simplifies lunchtimes in the kitchen while supporting busy parents at home. Our new advance bookings functionality does just that.

Advance bookings from +Pay enable parents to make selections and pay for dinner items immediately or in advance, via a balance. Schools can set payment deadlines and request bookings and payments early, enabling kitchen staff to manage suppliers and reduce waste.

Our new functionality relieves stress in the office by streamlining what was once an on-going tricky task. With simple online bookings and payments, staff are no longer left chasing money and dinner choices from parents; instead, they simply set up menu items (or use saved menus for recurring options), send out to parents and collect online responses, quickly and easily. Automated reminders notify parents who are yet to make their selections, without the need for staff to manually contact parents. For parents not online, manual payments can be added to the system, ensuring all parents and students benefit from organised payments and meal choices.

For parents, selecting menu options and topping up balances is quick and easy. With our free mobile app, parents can manage school communications on-the-go with just a few clicks. Our online payments system offers a range of payment methods to suit everyone, including PayPal, debit and credit card and PayPoint. Parents can see an overview of how much they have paid, for which items and over what time period. They can also view how much is owed and where money has been spent, providing a transparent view of their child’s dinner choices.

Make the most of innovative technology to support hassle-free dinner times for staff and students with advance bookings. To find out more, book a free demo or get in touch.

There are just a few weeks left before schools break up for summer (pause for cheers and applause). As classrooms wind down in anticipation of a well-deserved break, teachers seek out activities to do with classes which feel that little bit – well, easier!

We’ve gathered a few fun ideas to serve as inspiration for tired-out teachers everywhere – enjoy!

Plan a picnic

Make the most of Britain’s fleeting summer and get outside with your class to enjoy a picnic. Children can bring along their own packed lunches, or you could even prepare some food together in advance. And, to give it that all-important educational spin, a picnic serves as a great opportunity to learn about healthy eating and seasonal ingredients.

Class quizzes

Who doesn’t love a good old fashioned quiz? Set students the task of creating questions and pick your favourites to add a competitive edge to your classroom. For a music quiz, this could involve putting together a summer playlist and challenging children to listen to different music genres. Run a vote for favourite team names and award prizes for category winners!

Get sporty

Chances are, your sports day is fast approaching, so hit the sports field to get in some last-minute practice!

Reading time

It’s the end of term and we’re all feeling a little tired. Even if they don’t seem it, students will likely appreciate a little downtime with a good book. If the sun is kind enough to show its’ face, head outdoors with some good books and enjoy a quiet hour in the shade.

Do something creative

Whether it’s unstructured arts and crafts, creative writing, music or cooking, let their imaginations run wild. Encourage your class to write a summer-themed poem, short story or even to build a sandy beach or miniature garden. Maybe get your hands dirty and plant some sunflower seeds together, a great way to learn about photosynthesis and the life-cycle of plants.

Game day

Allow younger students to bring along their favourite game or toy for a whole day of show-and-tell fun! Avoid lost property box havoc by recommending children bring just one thing each.

From the whole team at ParentMail, we hope you enjoy your last few weeks of term and wish you all a super chilled summer break!

The team at Langstone Junior School are self-confessed ParentMail ambassadors, having saved over £9,000 this academic year!

Langstone Juniors are a busy school with an even busier office team, with more than 330 students. Thanks to the help of ParentMail’s Messaging and Parents’ Evening Manager solutions, the school are excelling at all things parental engagement and reaping the rewards as a result.

“As a team, we wanted to make the most of ParentMail and everything it had to offer. I started from the beginning with the platform and learned everything there is to know to make it work for our school. Today, we wouldn’t be without it!” says Lorraine Reeves, Administrator.

“The results speak for themselves. This academic year alone, after staff time, paper and print, we’ve saved over £9,000. Before ParentMail we relied on photocopying and paper for our parent communications which was very expensive and inefficient. Schools can’t rely on children to pass along school newsletters and forms, and we can’t always rely on busy mums and dads to respond. ParentMail has made a huge difference to our parental engagement.”

“100% of parents are signed up to ParentMail which means that we can be confident that every single parent is receiving the important news and information they need. What’s more, nearly 90% of parents are using the free mobile App. We encourage parents to use the App at every opportunity. It makes staying in touch with the school so convenient for them – whether they’re at home or work, no one is without their mobile phone these days!”

“The reporting system is incredibly helpful. On occasion, parents may claim not to have been told about certain things. When this happens, we can simply check our report to see whether they received a particular message and even whether they opened it. When it comes to sending out parents’ evening invites, we have easy access to data which tells us how many parents have booked appointments and who is yet to respond to the invitation. I can then send out reminder messages to prompt parents into booking.”

“Parents’ Evening Manager is a huge time saver. The amount of time we’ve saved and the support we’re able to give to teachers now is fantastic; it’s no longer their responsibility to chase students and parents to book appointments. Instead, it’s down to parents to book. We send out a message in advance to let them know when appointments will be available and then watch bookings come in – it’s so easy!”

“There are so many ways to save time with ParentMail. The templates are very helpful. ParentMail has a selection of default templates ready to go but we’ve also built our own, and everything can be branded with our school letterhead. We run a variety of after-school clubs and arrange lots of trips and events; we have groups set up for all of these things, enabling us to share the appropriate information with the right parents – all of these handy tools save our team time, every day.”

“We don’t often need help with ParentMail but on the rare occasions that we do, we can rely on Live Chat. The Support team are very professional and friendly and any issues are resolved very quickly. Phone support is also really helpful. I’m always very impressed with the Support team when I contact them.”

“We’ve just signed up for four more years with ParentMail. Their flexible subscriptions are too good to miss and I wouldn’t be without the system today. Any schools looking into ParentMail as a solution to save time, engage with parents and save money, I would say yes, without a doubt – ParentMail is for you!”

If saving time and money are at the top of your agenda from September, get in touch now to book a free demo with ParentMail.

Ah, the school run. No matter how early it starts or how well it’s planned, somehow, it ends with a mad rush out the door. After school, the clock is still against us. The average nine-to-five day and long hours often conflict with school pick-ups, leaving many parents seeking additional childcare support.

It’s no surprise that school runs and collections leave many parents feeling stressed. The number of mothers to children of toddler age returning to full-time work is on the rise, having increased by over 10% from 1997 to 2017. Furthermore, the employment rate of fathers with children aged three or four is over 93%. Modern family life is busier than ever. Mums and dads are juggling the school run, childcare and long working hours on a daily basis.

While the benefits of a healthy breakfast are well known, for some busy families, squeezing in time to eat and drink in the morning is difficult. Equally, after-school clubs offer a cost-efficient, safe and reliable service to parents unable to collect children at pick-up time. Wraparound care is fast becoming a need-to-have, rather than just a nice-to-have, for reasons beyond simply providing healthy breakfasts for children.

For children

Research shows that children who attend extra-curricular classes benefit in a number of areas. From improved social skills to new-found confidence, after-school clubs offer more than just a safe place to stay after school.

Children who frequently take part in after school activities are more likely to show higher levels of attention and participation in class. They are also less likely to develop behavioural problems.

Extra-curricular clubs and classes provide children with the opportunity to engage in new interests and take part in activities otherwise unavailable to them. The opportunity to pursue new skills in music, sport or art, over video games, television or social media can only be a good thing for young people. Who knows, they might even get homework done on time!

For parents

In today’s busy world, work often interrupts family life. For parents, breakfast clubs and after-school activities offer a safe, reliable, and affordable childcare alternative, enabling parents to pursue careers and get to work on time.

When it comes to after-school clubs, many parents would prefer to know their child is happily involved in some kind of extracurricular activity than in another form of childcare.

In the UK, childminders cost approximately £5 an hour and babysitters can cost upwards of £9 an hour, on average. Two hours a day, five days a week; after-school care soon adds up, making after-school clubs preferable to many parents. For children, too, spending time with schoolmates and taking part in sports and activities makes for a far more enjoyable afternoon!

For schools

In the classroom, research found that children who eat breakfast are twice as likely to perform well in tests and assessments than those who start learning on an empty stomach. Children who attend after-school clubs develop better attention spans and confidence, making them more likely to take part in class, and behaviour in students who regularly participate in extracurricular activities is thought to improve, too.

Homework clubs provide children with a quiet environment in which to complete work, providing access to computers, Wi-Fi and additional support – important educational tools, which may be unavailable to some children at home.

Relationships between home and school are more likely to strengthen when parents feel supported by wraparound care services. And, when parents and schools work together, students benefit in the long-run.

Advance bookings

For schools, managing wraparound care can apply extra pressure to busy school teams. The planning and organisation required goes above and beyond that of day-to-day school operations. We have received regular feedback from schools suggesting that a new level of functionality for wraparound care management would help them better plan for breakfast and after school clubs. For this reason, we’re very pleased to announce the release of our new advance bookings functionality.

Advance bookings is our new feature designed to support schools to better plan and cater for pupil lunch choices, breakfast and after-school club bookings. The new functionality within +Pay allows parents to make selections, book places and pay upfront or in advance, via a balance.

The flexible functionality enables schools to set payment deadlines and request bookings and payments early, helping not only busy staff in the office but kitchen teams to manage suppliers and reduce waste.

When parents book attendance and pay for selected items, the system updates automatically, particularly helpful for planning clubs with limited spaces. For parents who need to book their child’s attendance onto part of a session only, the system ensures spaces remain available for the corresponding part of the club.

ParentMail’s free mobile app makes staying on top of busy school life super convenient for parents. Menus and payment details are clear and concise, providing parents with a handy payment breakdown over a period of time. Parents can see how much is owed and where money has been spent, reducing debt and arrears for schools in the long-run.

Automated reminders notify parents who are yet to make their selections, without the school office having to manually send alerts. For parents who are not online, manual payments can be added to the system.

We’ve built our new advance bookings functionality in response to the changing needs of schools and the challenges facing the education sector today. We’re dedicated to growing with schools and have supported their transition into the digital world since 2001. To find out more about new advance bookings, book a free demo and get in touch.

With the subject of off-rolling raising concerns across the country, Education Secretary, Damien Hinds, recently called on school leaders to reduce exclusions.

While protocol states that exclusion should only ever be a last resort, the number of permanent and fixed term exclusions continues to rise. The Timpson Review found that 78% of expelled pupils either had special educational needs (SEN), were eligible for free school meals (FSM) or were “in need”. In addition, more than 80% of parents of permanently excluded children said they received inadequate support in finding an alternative place for their child.

The reasons behind exclusions are numerous, with the most common including persistent disruptive behaviour, aggression against staff and students, verbal abuse and bullying. In such cases, schools often have little choice but to remove a student. However, studies have explored alternative preventative action to intercept poor behaviour before exclusion is reached.

A 2008 Ofsted study on Good Practice in Re-Engaging Disaffected and Reluctant Students in Secondary Schools investigated the ways in which 29 secondary schools (a total of 32,987 students) managed the behaviour of disengaged students – approximately 13% of the student population. Disaffection was defined as displaying one or more of the following: regular non-compliance, regular disruption leading to recurrent entries in school’s incident logs, recurring fixed term exclusions as well as absence of 20% or more of the school year.

Schools were successful in re-engaging 78% of disaffected students. Schools trialled a number of methods in supporting pupils, including sharing their commitment to helping students succeed with students and their families; communication with parents was considered a highly effective method in re-engaging distant pupils.

Communicating school news and information with parents is important in developing productive relationships. When it comes to managing behavioural issues and academic concerns, however, working closely with parents is also vitally important; once excluded, research finds that only 1% of excluded children go onto achieve five GCSEs. The risks of exclusion are well known. As such, it falls on schools and parents to work together in seeking the appropriate solution.

Research proves that disaffected students often benefit from robust monitoring of academic, personal and social progress. Working closely with parents to share observations ensures a consistent approach in supporting the student both at home and in school. When parents are included in their child’s education, teachers often feel supported in the classroom and are better placed to work with students in areas requiring further attention. For students, an extra level of support between parents and school staff can make a huge difference.

Busy parents and rising student populations can make crossing the home/school divide difficult for staff and teachers. The benefits of a socially inclusive platform in bridging the gap are proven. With a mobile App, parents can access school information and messages from home, work and at a time convenient for them. Flexible communications allow schools to manage communications on a student by student basis, as well as for whole classes and year groups.

At ParentMail, we know the numerous benefits of socially inclusive EdTech designed to meet the challenges of today’s education sector. Bridging the gap between home and school for the benefit of students has been at the heart of our technology since day one! If you’re a school looking to improve parent communications, get in touch today to find out how we can help.

As the summer term comes to a close, school staff are busy saying goodbye to their 2019 leavers and preparing for new starters. Summer events, exam season and the usual end-of-year wrap up makes the last few weeks in the run-up to the summer holiday a busy time for office teams. That’s why our summer roll-up process is designed to be anything but complicated!

For those moments where you could use a helping hand, our Support team are never far away. No matter how big or small your question or query, there’s a convenient way to get in touch with us; here’s how we can help your school this summer!

Chat to us

Our knowledgeable and friendly Support team are available via Live Chat to provide the help you need in moments. In fact, even during our busiest times of the year, on average, our team will respond to customer queries in no longer than 90 seconds – they’re so speedy, we think they should wear capes!

Simply share your question with a friendly advisor and they’ll be happy to guide you through the roll-up process or lend a hand if you encounter any difficulties, freeing you up to get on with your day.

Check out our Help Site

We’re regularly updating and improving our school help site for your benefit. Finding advice and instructions is easy with the handy search function powered by Google; simply type in a question or keyword and an answer is at your fingertips in seconds!

Our helpful videos demonstrate easy-to-follow guidance on many processes. The Help Site also offers a range of step-by-step instructions for carrying out your roll-up, from start to finish, for a variety of MIS. You can access the help site within your ParentMail account – simply click ‘Help’.

Training

Our on-site training is handy at any time of the year, but particularly for your summer roll up! Book a half or full day on-site session and a ParentMail expert will stop by to deliver training tailored to your needs. We can walk you through your summer roll-up, train up new staff and provide a refresher in any areas or processes that would be helpful for you – simply let us know what you need, and we’ll design a session to meet your needs.

We’ll call you

For those moments where you’d rather pick up the phone, simply arrange for a member of the team to call you back. To keep things clear and simple, we can remotely access your ParentMail platform during the call, guiding you through the roll-up process and answering any questions you might have as we go along.

During one of the busiest times of the year, we’re here to help. Email us at feedback@parentmail.co.uk to arrange a phone call with a support advisor or for support with any questions or queries you might have, or register your interest for on-site training. We’re waiting to hear from you!

It’s been more than three years since we began our partnership with world-wide payments provider, PayPal. To this day, it remains a match made in heaven!

Since launch, we’re proud to have enabled millions of parents to pay for school dinners and other school items in a matter of seconds. Cashless payments remain the method of choice for schools across the country and we’re proud to be the first school payments provider on the market to lead the way by offering PayPal.

At home, online payments are fast becoming the consumer’s preferred payments method. Purchasing everyday items on the web or via apps is quick and easy, and is often far cheaper than withdrawing cash.

Understandably, parents now expect the same level of security and convenience when it comes to paying for school items. Since our integration with PayPal in 2015, thousands of schools have recognised the importance of providing parents with a flexible method of purchasing school items. Through online payments, many schools have seen an improvement in school dinner debt and parent arrears.

Over 20 million consumers use PayPal every year. It comes as no surprise, than, that PayPal remains the method of choice for millions of parents when it comes to purchasing school items through our free mobile app. The numbers speak for themselves; during the first 12 months of PayPal’s integration with +Pay in 2015, nearly 30,000 transactions were made through PayPal. This number has soared in the years since; during the past 12 months alone, more than 1,640,000 PayPal transactions were processed for school items.

We endeavour to bridge the gap between everyday technology and school life with safe, secure and trusted online school payments.

With our free mobile App, handy low-balance reminders and push notifications help parents stay on top of school payments from the comfort of home or whilst on the go. Flexible payment options, including PayPal, mean busy mums and dads can top up in seconds; with over 99.6% scheduled up time in 2018, +Pay is a platform both parents and schools can rely on. Convenience, ease-of-use and social inclusivity remains at the heart of our technology, just as it did at the start of our +Pay journey.

When parents are given the right tools for the job, schools are better placed to manage budgets, reduce waste and make dinner-money debt history. Switching is easy – find out how +Pay could support huge cost savings for your school, get in touch today.

Until recently, whiteboards were blank canvases written on in dry-wipe marker. Now, they have several thousand times more computing power than the Apollo mission that first put man on the moon.

This shift in consumer and education technology has happened in just over half a century; tech changes at such a rapid pace that if you don’t make a concerted effort, you may struggle to keep pace. Every day, new tools are developed for an ever-evolving education landscape.

While EdTech isn’t the be-all-and-end-all of education, it’s undeniable that technology is driving the UK education scene, and the DfE are adopting a tech-led strategy. School processes and even teaching best practice must adapt with it if they want to keep up.

Simply put, EdTech changes the way your back office works and can help your parental engagement to take off – but only if you know how to get the most out of it.

Technology isn’t magic

If we aren’t preparing school staff how best to use these new tech approaches, we are setting them up to fail. Office staff have a host of responsibilities that can be streamlined with a software-led approach, but only if everybody adopts them with a unified approach.

Technology offers fantastic tools, but these are only as effective as their use allows; they aren’t magic! Users need to be guided in the use of these new technologies to ensure they’re cost-effective; unused software sitting neglected in the back of your intranet is a sunk cost that isn’t providing any value.

Learning to spacewalk

The staff operating these new software packages are undertaking the EdTech equivalent of the first spacewalk. School administrative technologies are a relatively new innovation, and office staff members are efficiency cosmonauts.

Imagine if a teacher couldn’t use an interactive whiteboard pen. How would they teach a class? In the same way, your office staff need to understand modern computing and software applications to get the most out of them.

EdTech training is a necessity to avoid any ‘Houston, we have a problem’ moments.

Training tackles the growing pains of innovation

EdTech paves the way for exciting new innovations – like the interactive whiteboard, which revolutionised the way teachers approach whole-class learning and discussion. However, bringing this technology into the everyday classroom was not without its difficulties.

Training helps staff avoid the worst of the growing pains of these new technologies. Changes are inevitable, but costly mistakes (like writing today’s maths sums in semi-permanent marker on an interactive board) can be avoided with the appropriate training.

EdTech exists beyond teacher training

EdTech training even goes one step further than teacher training. It not only enables teachers to teach better: it also hands schools the tools they need to save schools money. In the current funding crisis, this is needed more now than ever. For example, when used effectively, ParentMail’s home-school messaging feature saves schools thousands of pounds every year.

Modern teaching staff can also shoulder heavy administrative burdens that they could do without. EdTech automation and solutions can offer overworked teachers and back-office staff some sorely needed respite.

Driving efficiencies

EdTech training can drive efficiencies at every level of your school, from the frontlines to the office, and the time and cost savings are more than worth it.

Nowadays, training must be flexible and on-site to fit around busy work schedules. That’s why we design our ParentMail training courses to match the exact needs of each school, helping schools drive parental engagement, save time and money, and avoid growing pains. If you’d like to talk to us about ParentMail training for your school, register your interest here.

In today’s tech-savvy world, many of us rarely go a day without relying on handy Apps to chat with friends and family, post on social media, check our bank balance or transfer money, book a taxi and carry out all sorts of other routine tasks. It’s easy to forget the teams behind these Apps, working hard to develop new and innovative ways to enhance the user experience.

The ParentMail App is used by millions of busy parents to manage school life every day and we often hear from people that it makes receiving school communications so much easier! We want to shine a light on the brains behind our brilliant free parent App and learn a little more about the thought and work that goes into developing one of the education sector’s most popular parental engagement solutions.

Introducing ParentMail’s Front-End Developer, Richard Shergold!

How long have you worked at ParentMail and what does a front-end developer do?
I have worked at ParentMail as a Front-End Developer for nearly two years.

Front-end development generally involves working with coding languages such as JavaScript, HTML and CSS to create web applications that run on desktop and mobile browsers. My role with ParentMail is slightly different from that of a traditional front-end developer; the ParentMail application not only has to work in browsers but also as applications available to download from the Apple and Android App stores.

We have recently built a new version of the application to give us greater flexibility in delivering updates and improvements across all these platforms. This new version has been developed using the Ionic and Angular web frameworks.

What does a normal day look like for you?

I work remotely from home in West Sussex so I’m lucky that my day never begins with a commute – other than a very short walk to my office at the back of my garden! I usually try to start work at half past seven in the morning, which is also the time that most of my colleagues in the Development team arrive into the office; we are all early birds!

What I do on an average day depends on the current project we’re working on and what phase of that project we’re in. Most of the time, I am writing and testing code, but I also regularly have meetings with the Development team and other business colleagues at the ParentMail Head Office to discuss new requirements for the application.

If the initial phase of the project has finished and requirements have been signed off then I will be busy making the required changes to the App, sometimes working with other members of the Development team. After the testing process, the changes are released to our testing team. The ParentMail application needs to work across multiple platforms – all the major desktop and mobile browsers, as well as the range of iOS and Android devices – so both the development and testing processes can be quite challenging!

How does the development roadmap for the App take form?

We listen very carefully to feedback from parents and schools and also keep an eye on the market to see what innovations and developments are taking place. All feedback, whether positive or negative, is very useful to us. To ensure quality, we prioritise certain areas of development at a time. For example, currently, we are working on delivering Advanced Bookings functionality into the App which will allow parents to book and pay for their children’s dinners and club attendances in advance. This development will include a number of system enhancements to support schools and parents, and the release is fast approaching, so keep an eye out for it!

What do you enjoy most about your job?

Everything changes so fast in Information Technology, particularly the skills and technologies required for App development. As developers, we have to keep learning, otherwise, the industry speeds ahead and it’s so easy to fall behind. I love this aspect of the job, the fact that I am probably learning more now than I have ever learned in my life! Every day is a school day (which is quite appropriate for a ParentMail employee)!

This results in the other part of the job I love, the challenge of developing and enhancing the ParentMail App to be even more useful for parents and schools.

Can you tell us an example of a challenge you’ll (regularly) encounter as ParentMail’s Front-End Developer?

The biggest challenge for me is making sure that the code I write is going to work across all of the platforms that we support. As I say, that’s several desktop browsers and a large number of mobile devices. It’s very frustrating when something will work for 99% of users but could prove problematic for the remaining 1%!

What does the future look like for the App?

The challenge over the last year has been to get the new version of the application built so that we are in a position to better deliver regular updates. We have achieved this now and I am looking forward to our team being able to deliver some fantastic enhancements and updates to the application for all our parents to enjoy!

ParentMail is bridging the home/school gap with industry-leading technology! If you’re a school looking to improve parental engagement, we’re sure to have the solution for you – get in touch to find out more.

A new study published in the European Economic Review (volume 111) has revealed the real impact of parent-teacher meetings.

Asad Islam reported on a randomised experiment in rural Bangladeshi schools, communities which usually see little engagement between parents and educators. With the introduction of regular parent-teacher meetings, student attainment dramatically increased, suggesting the very real benefits of parental engagement. During the two-year intervention, children in years 4 and 5 learned roughly double across all subjects, including English, Maths and Science.

The experiment also changed teaching methods, with teachers utilising visual aids and real-world examples to teach concepts, rather than sticking to textbook learning. At home, parents and siblings became more involved in the homework process and students were more likely to receive private tutoring in areas requiring a little more attention. Students were motivated to spend increased time studying – confidence around exams grew and so, too, did their ambitions.

Breaking home/school barriers

While parent-teacher meetings are a long-term tradition in the UK, rising student populations and teacher-workload can make planning and preparing for evenings difficult. For this reason (and many others) monthly or very regular meetings are impractical for UK schools and parents. Both teachers and office staff are balancing their own heavy workloads, making it difficult to squeeze in time to plan appropriately, and today’s busy parents find it hard to fit appointments into their already booked-up calendars. In fact, even encouraging some mums and dads to commit to occasional appointments and respond to invitations can prove difficult! As in Islam’s investigation, a lack of confidence in approaching schools is often prevalent in ‘unengaged’ parents. Unfortunately, often this can be misinterpreted by schools as disinterest on the parents’ part. However, as proven in the study, once a parent is involved in their child’s education, their confidence around the school environment grows – so, too, does home/school engagement and students benefit as a result.

On the rare occasions in which parents and teachers do get the chance to discuss student progress, it’s important that both parties get the most out of the meeting and parents feel encouraged to come back next term. Parent-teacher conferences are a great opportunity to break down barriers and improve relationships with the parent community. For this reason, it is very important to make the experience a positive one. This means preparing staff and parents with all the information they need to ensure the evening is beneficial. For some parents, even finding their way to the right classroom can be a daunting experience. The devil is in the detail and utilising all the tools at your disposal can support your team in preparing a successful evening from start to finish.

Building parent/teacher partnerships

Parents’ Evening Manager makes booking appointments easy for parents, resulting in a great response for schools. Cutting out pupil post with the free ParentMail app and push notifications enables busy parents to respond to invitations on-the-go and at a time convenient for them. The flexible platform gives schools the option to allow parents to include notes when booking, enabling teachers to plan in advance. Schools can also provide parents with extra detail and information, such as instructions on where to go upon arrival and guidance on what to expect on the night. As such, parents feel prepared and confident to meet with teachers and appointments run smoothly.

In the office, staff are organised and able to report on timetables with ease. The platform syncs with SIMS and other MIS, enabling easy class and subject selection; appointments can be easily amended and deleted, and reminders can be re-sent to parents yet to respond.

Parents’ Evening Manager is supporting thousands of primary and secondary schools to plan smooth and seamless parents’ meetings. Get in touch to find out more and to book a free demo!

Parents are invested in their children’s education, and they’re going to ask teachers questions. That’s something that can’t and shouldn’t be avoided. However, when teachers are flooded by emails and messages from enthusiastic parents, this can lead to unhealthy out-of-work practices and a poor work-life balance.

Prior to outlining his new EdTech strategy at the Schools and Academies show, Education Secretary Damian Hinds argued for the need to ditch email culture to cut school workload. Educators need a solution to the issue of email overload, and the DfE is aware of this, but the problem isn’t always easy to diagnose. Technology isn’t the cause of the problem — the problem is that teachers’ email inbox is a white bear.

Your Email Inbox is a White Bear

Modern technology is capable of fantastic things, but it also forces you to be connected at all times. Switching off your phone or email inbox is a big no-no — besides, the second your phone buzzes or your computer pings, you just have to check it. In fact, just by trying to tune out an overenthusiastic parent, teachers cause themselves to think about them more often.

So why can’t teachers switch off and escape from school once they leave the classroom?

Try to pose for yourself this task: not to think of a polar bear, and you will see that the cursed thing will come to mind every minute.
Fyodor Dostoevsky

This is known as the white bear problem, or “ironic rebound”. The more you try to suppress a thought, the harder your subconscious works to make you think of it. If you try not to think of a white bear, for instance, it’s impossible not to.

This can give your email inbox an irresistible lure, and it’s a major cause of stress and anxiety. You don’t know if that message that just pinged into your inbox is important, and it’s gnawing away at your mind, much like the white bear that you shouldn’t have been thinking of. The more you try to resist thinking about it, the more present and threatening it becomes.

Solutions to Always-On Availability

Teachers already have enough stressors in their life, but email anxiety doesn’t have to be one of them. Rather than bringing their work home with them overnight, teachers should leave it at the school gate (marking excluded).

So how do we scare away the white bears?

The Usual “Solution”

Rather than replying to incoming emails as soon as they arrive, teachers can instead drop them into one of several different inbox folders. If emails are marked as urgent, they can be replied to as soon as possible — but not necessarily straight away.

This is a great way to stay on top of the flood of emails, but it doesn’t solve the white bear problem — it just delays it.

Social Media

Your social media accounts are a great point of contact for parents. Not only can you answer their questions directly, but you may find that the school community and other parents will help each other. This makes it optional for staff to join in the conversation, and their inboxes remain clean — not a white bear in sight.

A healthy school community has trickle-down benefits through every level of the school. It’s proven that strong home-school links and parental engagement have a direct positive influence on student attainment.

However, despite its benefits, you can’t rely on social media messaging to contact parents. What happens if they don’t see an important post in time?

Anti-White-Bear Technology

If you provide parents with all the information they need when they need it using anti-white-bear technology, parents won’t have as many queries for your teachers.

ParentMail is a white bear killer. It’s a one-way home-school communication app designed to prevent teachers from being bombarded with messages from parents. It makes it easy to provide parents with all the information they need, so there shouldn’t be a need to contact teachers for information.

Rather than sending home letters en masse, staff can send personalised messages to individual parents, so the information is fully relevant to them and instantly delivered where they need it most — their mobile phones and devices. Your school can even save money by sending push notifications instead of text messages, and you can cut down on the stacks of letters that would ordinarily need to be printed.

One-Way Communication

When teachers need instant responses from parents, they can gather information using ParentMail forms — again, without sacrificing anybody’s inbox. Capture exactly the information you need without having to read through endless emails, saving everybody time.

The forms module works within ParentMail, so all the important information you need is kept in a single easily accessible location.

Parents’ Evenings

You can even avoid the inevitable avalanche of parents’ evening questions with ParentMail’s Parents’ Evening Manager. Parents’ evening appointments are short-lived, and it’s important that both parent and teacher discuss everything that needs to be said in this time. By leaving questions for teachers ahead of time directly on the app, parents will get all the information they need from the meeting and will be much less likely to contact the school further down the line.

Schools have found great timesaving and organisational benefits to Parents’ Evening Manager, as it removes the student from the process — parents are contacted directly to book a slot.

If you’re interested in saving your teaching staff from email overload and improving your home-school communication, you can visit our website to find out more about ParentMail’s anti-white-bear technology:
https://www.parentmail.co.uk/services/messaging/

We recently conducted a survey to investigate current trends, attitudes and behaviours in school communications technology and parental engagement. Over 450 school leaders from primary, secondary schools and academies across the country took part to share their thoughts and feedback on EdTech solutions (not just ParentMail!), making the results particularly interesting.

With schools of all shapes and sizes facing their own challenges, from increasing student populations to tightening budgets and rising workloads, it is clear that parental engagement is more important today than ever before. We’re excited to see how schools are utilising EdTech to help tackle daily tasks and support staff, students and parents. Read part one and part two of the results and download our handy infographic to find out how your school compares.

To find out more about our innovative EdTech solutions, from parent communications to cashless payments, get in touch.

If your school is seeking a faster, more reliable method of collecting payments, a commitment to cashless is the solution for you. Still unsure? Here are the top five reasons why thousands of UK schools are choosing online platforms for efficient, parent-friendly school payments.

1. School budget

With dinner money debt and parent arrears raising concerns in schools across the country, a cashless catering and payment system is increasingly becoming a ‘need to have’ rather than a ‘nice to have’ to protect school budgets.

Whether it’s dinner money top ups, payments for school trips, uniform, after-school clubs or more, online payments keep things super convenient for parents – and when payments are simple for parents, schools feel the benefit! +Pay provides automatic low-balance and payment-due reminders, helping to keep parent arrears in check. The platform also offers multiple registers for after-school and breakfast clubs, and weekly settlement reports make managing budgets and reconciliation easy.

With some of the lowest transaction and subscription costs on the market, +Pay helps schools of all sizes achieve substantial savings.

2. Supporting the millennial parent

From managing finances with personal banking to ordering the weekly shop from the comfort of home, the modern-day parent is making the most of modern technology to save time on daily admin tasks and chores – and who can blame them? Between balancing childcare, work and errands, parents are eager to take advantage of handy shortcuts to keep life simple. As a result of busy routines, relying on parents for cash payments is impractical. A recent survey by Merchant Machine evidences the dramatic rise of card payments over cash; to guarantee an improved response to payments, it’s up to your school to give parents the right tools for the job!

With +Pay, parents can manage payments with the free ParentMail App while out and about and on the go. For extra convenience, +Pay saves payment details, enabling easy payments in seconds. Again, push notifications serve as handy reminders to pay during their busy day.It’s clear why cashless payments are a favourite with parents; in fact, market research suggests that the vast majority of parents prefer to pay for school items via a secure online platform, with a huge 89% stating they prefer cashless systems!

3. Social inclusivity

Unfortunately, the stigma associated with free school meals and other costly school items can prove difficult for some students. However, taking the cash out of payments can support a reduction in bullying and extortion on school grounds.

+Pay provides parents with a variety of payment options, including credit and debit cards, Amex, cash via PayPoint and PayPal; in fact, +Pay are the only online payments provider to offer PayPal as an option – a proven favourite with parents! Advancements in technology mean that children can now pay for their school dinners with ID Cards, fobs and even their fingerprint, so the need to bring cash in to school is completely abolished, and parents can be confident money is being spent on the right items.

With +Pay, parents can manage payments for all their children, across different schools, through their ParentMail account.  Plus, the ability to access their account on the App, a tablet or web browser helps ParentMail fit into the lives of parents

4. Efficiency

With rising student populations and increasing pressure to evidence efficiency, administrative tasks can take up vital time for office teams. Collecting, managing and banking cash payments can take hours, not to mention the tricky and time-consuming tasks of tracking parent arrears and chasing overdue money.

Technology is supporting schools like never before, automating administrative tasks, improving security and reducing room for human error. +Pay was designed with the needs of schools in mind; the system syncs seamlessly with SIMS and other MIS, allowing you the flexibility to manage registers with ease.

5. Secure and reliable

This last one is simple; reducing cash on school grounds is the safest way to operate and an online system stores student and parent data far more securely than paper records. It also cannot be denied that students often aren’t the most reliable carriers of cash!

2018 saw over 99% uptime for +Pay, providing parents with a reliable service, whenever they needed it. And, should you ever need us, our dedicated and friendly +Pay Support Team are on hand to provide any help you might need!

Hundreds of schools made the change to +Pay last year and haven’t looked back, with many switching from the market leader in search of reliable and professional service. It’s time to join the cashless revolution! Get in touch to find out more

Education Secretary, Damian Hinds, took to the stage at the London Schools and Academies Show earlier this month to reveal details of a new strategy for education technology.

The Department’s continued focus on the vital role of technology in schools demonstrates their recognition of the pressures increasing across the sector. Speaking of the variety of educational institutions across our country, Damian Hinds acknowledged such versatility as one of the education system’s ‘greatest strengths’. From local authority-maintained schools to faith schools and grammars, “all make an invaluable contribution to their communities and to young people.”

However, today, UK schools of all shapes and sizes face a range of unique challenges. While the Secretary spoke of the power of the MAT model (directly referencing the recent successes of a few, evidenced by improvements in Ofsted results) all schools continue to struggle under the weight of increasing student populations, budget cuts and poor staff retention. As such, the Education Secretary’s speech quickly progressed from praising school leaders for their successes, to discussing how the government intend to support these same leaders in tackling challenges on the front-line.

As other sectors continue to embrace the benefits of technology, schools often struggle in making the most of EdTech to truly support their staff and student populations. In fact, as stated by the Secretary, some school leaders refer to instances in which technology served only to cause more complications than the product promised to confront. Rather than be deterred, Mr Hinds spoke of the importance of not being ‘left behind’, stating, “(..) we owe it to all our young people to grasp the technology nettle.”

While technology plays a truly impressive role in the classroom, transforming learning experiences and inspiring young minds, EdTech is seeping beyond the classroom walls with tailor-made solutions for the office team. There are a number of areas of improvement for which technology can play a vital role in school administration. In his speech, the Secretary discussed behaviour management, referring to the number of valuable hours invested in tricky, manual processes, from information collection, data input to parent communications.

Fortunately, technology is streamlining processes and supporting staff like never before. For example, while workload remains a primary reason for the revolving door of teachers abandoning the profession at an unprecedented rate, online tools seek to lift the burden of parent communications from teacher’s shoulders. At ParentMail, our technology is designed and developed with the unique needs of schools in mind. And, as schools consider the challenges awaiting them in the future, we look for ways to support you in meeting these head-on.

Administration, parental engagement, workforce flexibility – just a few of the areas acknowledged by Damian Hinds in which our technology is serving to support thousands of schools across the country. Digital communications platforms such as our Online Forms, Messaging and Parents’ Evening Manager modules are bridging the home/school gap and supporting school staff with huge time and cost savings.

It is hard to believe that, only a few years ago, we still relied on pupil post to keep parents up to date with the latest school news. Our online platform and free parent App not only encourage parents to actively engage with their child’s education but serves to improve efficiency in the school office, reduce paper, print and postage costs, as well as improving data security. With thousands of schools realising the benefits of paperless and cashless processes, our online payments platform, +Pay, is paving the way for simple, parent-friendly payments for dinner money, school trips, club fees and more.

We realise the importance of unified, consolidated systems, enabling office staff to manage everything from day-to-day communications to school trips to payments from just one platform, reducing supplier costs and improving security. Social inclusivity remains at the heart of our technology, enabling schools to engage with hard to reach, busy parents at a time, and in a way, that suits them. When systems are simplified in school, so, too, are processes easier for parents. Our mobile App enables mums and dads to manage communications for multiple children, across different schools, from just one account, improving responses when it matters most.

Rather than ‘grasping the technology nettle’, we support schools to embrace pain-free and powerful EdTech to support staff, students and parents. To find out how ParentMail can help your school to streamline processes and protect the school budget whilst improving parental engagement, get in touch today.

We recently posted part one of our findings from our survey, which investigated current trends, attitudes and behaviours in school communications technology and parental engagement. Below we continue to share our findings with you so that you can see how your school compares!

We asked respondents to tell us about all the software they use, from all suppliers, so the results aren’t only about ParentMail, providing valuable insight into all parental engagement platforms and ed-tech in general.

Implementing new systems

What is key to the success of the implementation of a new software system? According to your responses, there are a number of equally important factors when it comes to a successful launch! The four most important things were: strong and positive parent adoptions; good preparation; a detailed launch plan and clear and easy to follow training, as chosen by 78% of respondents. Service provider support and staff engagement followed closely behind these.

What do you look for in a new parental engagement system?

This is a very important question for the ParentMail team; we want to know what is important to your school when it comes to introducing a new system. Coming top were good customer service, at 84%, and low price, at 78%. Understandably, company reputation was also important to our respondents, with 45% stating reputation is important and 44% agreeing that other schools using the service is key.

What does this mean?

Following the October 2018 budget announcement, there has been much criticism from school leaders regarding the government’s promise to provide an additional £10,000 per primary school and £50,000 per secondary school, to “buy the little extras they need.”

Primary schools, secondary schools and academies across the country are struggling with understaffing, rising student populations and increased workload, and we recognise that the pressure on schools cannot be underestimated.

Responses to our survey speak overwhelmingly of the role of technology in supporting schools in a number of areas. Not only does technology in the school office serve to encourage parental engagement for the benefit of staff and students, but it is also key in enabling schools to go cashless and paperless, improving security, protecting school reputation and supporting staff in the school office.

ParentMail solutions are supporting thousands of primary, secondary schools, academies and Multi-Academy Trusts to engage with parents, reliably and professionally, every day. From collecting payments and permissions to circulating the school newsletter and managing parents’ evening, our modular system meets individual challenges head-on, all from a single user-friendly platform. Whilst strong parental engagement remains a top priority in the development of our solutions, school staff also benefit from streamlined, simplified processes, as well as huge time and cost savings. Our technology is designed with both schools and parents in mind – we make things easy for parents so that schools receive a great response.

If you are already using ParentMail and would like to find out more about the other services which could benefit your school, or if you’re looking to implement a brand-new parental engagement system, get in touch with the ParentMail team and start to improve efficiency, reduce costs and work smarter within your school. Call 01733 595959 to speak to our specialist team or email info@parentmail.co.uk

In this day and age, a reliable, compatible mobile App is fast becoming a ‘need to have’ rather than just a ‘nice to have’ for primary and secondary schools!

With technology reducing our reliance on paper and pupil post, thousands of schools are making the most of free mobile Apps to stay in touch with busy parents. Whether it’s invitations to events and parents’ meetings, handy reminders for upcoming payments or circulating the school newsletter, sharing information on student education has never been easier and parents have never been more engaged!

In our latest video, Sue Atkins discusses how simple but innovative technology is paving the way for stress-free paperless communications for schools and parents.

Are you ready to take the leap to next-level online communications? Contact us today to find out more about ParentMail and our free mobile App for parents!

So, you’re planning the next school trip. Teachers have confirmed the destination and now it’s up to your capable and highly organised office team to manage all the details, from staff to students to parents. When done right, school trips run (fairly!) smoothly, especially once all of the tricky planning is out of the way. However, that part is easier said than done – fortunately, we have the tools to take the stress out of school trips!

Tripping over paper?

Usually, the first priority is to confirm the number of students attending. Once you know this, you can move onto planning other aspects of the trip, such as costs, food and transport. Finalising this number can be tricky, especially when relying on pupil post to communicate with parents.

Enter school trip solution number one! Our Online Forms platform is a speedy and convenient way of gathering parent consent and permissions. This should be your first port of call for an initial communication with parents. Setting up forms is super quick and easy, allowing you to share all the details of the trip (date, time, location etc.) whilst providing parents with a convenient way of responding within deadline. Once the form is set up, click ‘send’ and watch your parent permissions roll in!

The versatile system enables you to request more than just trip consents; in advance of longer trips or holidays abroad, many schools utilise digital forms to confirm parent contact details, dietary and medical information. Push notifications encourage parents to respond quickly and, for those who don’t, you can send a helpful nudge to prompt them when needed. With no more paper floating around between home, the classroom and school office, student data is safe, secure and easily analysed at a moment’s notice. A real benefit here is that parents receive the form through our free mobile App, which means it’s delivered straight to their hand, allowing them to read and respond in minutes.

“We usually see 50% of parents responding to a form within the first hour and this goes up to 100% within 24 hours – probably because it’s delivered to them instantly and they can complete it in just a few taps!” Brookside Primary School

Fielding parent payments

Now you know who’s coming, it’s time to request and collect payments. It’s no secret – cash payments are clunky, inconvenient and time-consuming. Encouraging parents to get money into school on time can be difficult, and once cash is on school grounds, it doesn’t necessarily reach the office. But, there’s a solution to keep things simple for parents, students and your office team; enter field trip solution number two; you’re already paperless, so keep it cashless, too, with online payments!

+Pay is the fastest-growing online payments system in the UK. Thousands of primary and secondary schools are collecting online payments for school dinners, after school clubs, uniform and other school items every day, making it the perfect solution for managing money for your next school trip. +Pay is designed with parents in mind, making it easy for them to pay on the go with PayPal, credit and debit card, Amex and PayPoint. They can pay in instalments, spread out over time (ideal for more expensive trips abroad), and receive reminders when payments are due. The flexible system integrates seamlessly with year, form and teaching groups for easy pupil selection, making admin and trip management stress-free and easy. What’s more, with all finances collected in one system, maintaining your school budget is straightforward and accurate!

“Parents receive an alert when the money is due and payments come through quickly as a result, meaning we don’t have to chase students for overdue payments.” Casterton College

Information shared with parents – check!

Payments, permissions and data collected – check!

Staff feeling cool, calm and collected – check!

With ParentMail, planning school trips doesn’t have to be a time-consuming, complicated task. Feel the freedom of paperless, cashless solutions for your next venture out of the classroom! Get in touch to find out more and book a demo.

It’s not just staff at Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School in Coventry who are feeling the benefits of +Pay; parents are thrilled to be making easy, cashless payments, too! Part of Romero Catholic Academy, the eight-school Multi Academy Company set out on a mission to go cashless to reduce school debt and support parents with easy online payments and are thrilled with the results.

The challenge

“Before +Pay, we struggled with dinner money debt,” says Lisa Harding, Office Manager at Sacred Heart. “When they were in arrears, we would remind parents to send children with a packed lunch, but pupils would still turn up without and we would always provide a meal for them.”

“The school is responsible for dinner money debt, at the end of the day, and it was only increasing. We had a lot of foot-fall in the school office, too, with parents queuing out the door waiting to pay, particularly at the end of term. Dealing with cash payments and parents could take up hours of staff time every day, time that we could ill-afford! Admin tasks were stressful and time-consuming. Numbers were often wrong in the kitchen, resulting in waste – cashless really was the only way forward!”

Working with parents

“We were already using ParentMail for home/school communications, so we were excited to try +Pay,” says Marie Taggart,  School Administrator. “With parents already using the ParentMail App to manage Parents’ Evening, messaging and Online Forms, most parents were pleased to be able to manage payments through the App, too.”

School staff worked very hard to support parents during the introduction of +Pay: “We communicated with parents, providing information, answers and guidance early on; we focused on sharing the benefits of the system with them and the uptake was great! We had an iPad set up to provide support in the school office. A small number were understandably wary of a new payments platform and some had concerns around security. However, the system is so flexible, we could work with these parents and provide barcodes, so all payments still went through ParentMail.”

Reaping the rewards

“Now the system is fully embedded in school, the benefits have been numerous.” Says Lisa. “With students preselecting their dinner choices, the kitchen can plan ahead, reducing waste and related costs. We don’t spend hours every day processing, counting or chasing parents for cash. It has hugely improved our productivity in the office. For parents, low balance reminders are really helpful. They can top up in the ParentMail App on the go and at a moment’s notice.”

“We were really pleased with the training and onboarding process. The ParentMail Support Team are always happy to help and our Account Manager has supported us every step of the way. It’s been great being able to support and rely on other schools in our Academy too. When we need help from ParentMail, Live Chat is very helpful – practically any queries are solved very quickly.

“We measure the success of +Pay by parent uptake and feedback, which has been fantastic. What’s more, when we log into the system every day, we can see how much money we are saving. We delivered the support parents needed at the beginning and are reaping the rewards now!”

“+Pay is a lot safer than banking lots of cash and we now have very few cash collections across all of our schools. The platform is reliable and secure and the implementation has been plain sailing – we would never go back. Would we recommend +Pay to other schools? Absolutely! It may seem like a big change and appear be a huge challenge initially, but don’t be put off; going cashless with ParentMail is absolutely worth it and parents love it, too!”

Join Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School and thousands of schools across the country enjoying the endless benefits of +Pay! Get in touch to find out more and to book a free a demo

We recently conducted a survey to investigate current trends, attitudes and behaviours in school communications technology and parental engagement.

We received a great response, with over 450 schools taking part and telling us about their school communications. As leaders in the ed-tech industry, it’s important that we stay up to date on the latest trends in technology and parental engagement, and we wanted to share our findings so that you can see how your school compares to others!

Of the 457 school leaders who responded, 57% worked in primary schools, 20% for an academy trust and 15% in secondary schools. We also heard from staff working for nurseries and clubs.

We asked respondents to tell us about all the software they use, from different suppliers, so the results aren’t only about ParentMail. This provides a valuable insight into all parental engagement platforms and ed-tech in general.

Technology in the school office

It is evident that email and text platforms are a priority for most schools, with 82% of respondents utilising an email and text system to communicate with parents every day. Also on the up are online payments systems, with 60% using a cashless platform to collect parent payments for school dinners and other school items.

Almost 90% of respondents stated they are satisfied with their communications system and almost 80% were satisfied with their online payments system, which means these systems are meeting the needs of both schools and parents.

Schools are clearly prioritising parental engagement, which is great news! Experience tells us that when schools prioritise a strong school/parent relationship, students benefit in the long run, and communication is key!

How does technology support schools?

We know the priority for most schools utilising an online communications system is to improve parental engagement, and almost 90% of respondents stated they use online systems to improve communications with parents; 67% referred to getting more parents engaged. Modern technology supports social inclusivity, with online platforms enabling schools to keep in touch with hard-to-reach parents like never before.

However, with increasing demands on schools to demonstrate efficiency and savings, we recognise the important role of technology in streamlining processes and saving time in the office. Technology is clearly supporting schools to be more efficient, with 69% of schools benefiting from reduced workload as a result of parental engagement systems, and 75% utilising software to improve efficiency in school. 60% of respondents stated they look to online systems to save money.

What technology are schools using?

Technology can play lots of different roles in schools, whether that’s collecting payments, sending important news straight to parent’s hands, gathering online forms and permissions or arranging parents’ meetings. With so many different systems, we asked you how many suppliers you use to perform different tasks; 56% of respondents use just one system, 27% use two and 18% use three systems or more.

With multiple suppliers providing different systems in the school, parents are using the same number of systems to stay on top of school information at home. 62% of respondents believe using multiple systems would reduce the effectiveness of school communications. Experience also tells us that streamlining processes in the school office can protect the school budget, too.

Over 70% of respondents stated they regularly look into new methods of communication for their parents. 40% of schools who don’t invest time into looking at alternative systems refer to a lack of resource in implementing new methods.

Interesting stuff – thank you to everyone who took the time to take part! If you’d like to discuss how your school could use technology to improve your parental engagement, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

It’s strange to think that, only 10 years ago, we still relied on the occasional paper newsletter to communicate with parents. Today, there are numerous methods of sharing important news and information with mums and dads; for schools, new technology is bridging the gap between school and home like never before!

Over the years, ParentMail has observed the world of EdTech expand and evolve; we’ve seen habits change both at home and in the school office. One particular platform which has seen a dramatic transition is SMS. In 2012, over 160 billion text messages were sent in the UK; year on year, this number has steadily declined, with almost half the number sent in 2017, at just over 80 billion. In the wake of the SMS decline, in-App notifications are fast taking the place of the humble text message, and it’s easy to see why.

Information overload

How many text messages are too many? When it comes to school messages, we think there should be a limit. Push notifications offer flexibility unrivalled by the outdated SMS. Text messages can be intrusive, causing parents to feel the need to respond instantly. On the other hand, smartphone users are accustomed to push-notifications appearing on their screen; in App notifications don’t require an immediate reaction, serving as a handy reminder to new information, instead.

For most school communications, not all messages are considered critical or require an instant response. Often, messages are alerting parents to news, payments due, bookings to be made etc. Whilst these messages are important, they are rarely categorised as urgent and, for this reason, push notifications are ideal, helping to build a reliable and constructive relationship between parents and school. For those messages that are considered urgent, parents are still notified and can react accordingly.

Apps allow the user to amend notifications to suit their own preferences. Text message notifications are either switched on or off, which simply isn’t practical. With an App custom-built for school communications, parents can make the most of flexible notifications and set them as appropriate.

Reached your limit?

With an average 160-character limit (including spaces!), SMS rarely offers the flexibility to share truly informative messages with parents. Text messaging is also a poor platform for sending additional media, such as pictures, forms or invitations. As a result, school messages are often short and impersonal and can fail to build a sense of confidence in parents. Add to this the huge cost of sending hundreds, if not thousands, of text messages every term, schools simply aren’t getting enough for their money.

School communications should be professional, helpful and, importantly, represent your school’s brand and values. When parents use just one App to manage all school communications, they immediately associate those notifications with your school and know they can trust the information they receive. This means parents are more likely to pick up messages quickly and respond as required. Without character limitations, schools can provide parents with all the necessary information for the subject at hand, from sharing photos from recent school trips, requesting consent, permissions and feedback with forms, or supporting parents to make online payments, quickly and easily. This level of flexibility builds a stronger relationship between home and school, ensuring parents feel informed about important news and information regarding their child.

School communications shouldn’t put your school budget on the back foot. ParentMail is designed with school’s needs in mind! Our flexible subscriptions allow you to plan your finances accordingly, with no unwelcome surprises in the form of extra costs. Make the most of the latest technology to improve parental engagement and impress your parents – you’ll never look back! Find out more and book a free demo today.

A hot topic amongst parents and teachers is homework. It can often be a divisive issue, especially if there is a lot coming home but little communication about it sent to parents. Across social media, many parents often complain about the amount of homework coming home, with many suggesting they think it’s unnecessary.

Successful schools recognise that it’s important to keep a dialogue open so that everyone understands that homework is part of the larger picture – of an independent lifelong learner. For this reason, communicating with parents is vital to ensure they are on side and checking work is completed.

Here are some ideas to keep in mind around communicating with parents about homework:

• Set expectations early. As much as possible, keep parents in the loop about how much homework their children can generally expect, per week. Obviously, this is going to vary from child to child – not to mention throughout the year – but even rough guidelines can be helpful to reduce misunderstandings and supports busy parents to plan their weekly schedules.
• Explain why homework is necessary. It is helpful for parents to understand how much homework is expected of their children and why. As educators, schools understand that sometimes the learning process has to extend beyond the school day. This isn’t always as clear to students or parents, so it is worth taking the time to point this aspect out to caregivers.
• Help parents help with homework. Some parents look back on their school days with dread and unhappy experiences. Many experience daily battles with their children to ‘get homework done.’ So, it is helpful to explain that children need a quiet, dedicated space at home to get on with their work, with good lighting, and minimal distractions (from younger brothers and sisters, mobiles phones etc), and that leaving everything until the last minute is often a recipe for disaster. It’s important that parents try their hardest to provide the right environment for homework to get done.
• Tell parents (politely) to not get overinvolved. We’ve all seen parents get too involved in homework, sometimes to the extent of doing entire projects all by themselves! This is often a rather keen parent whose good intentions have gone overboard. It’s helpful to clearly explain to parents the difference between facilitating their child’s homework which is a good thing, and doing it for them!
• Use technology to help parents keep track of homework. Sending details of homework to parents digitally means they can keep track of what’s being worked on and allows them to refer back to it, should they need to.

Using school communication software is perfect for keeping parents up to date with homework as it makes it simple, quick and easy to keep them in the loop and reaches parents instantly. What’s more, with a mobile app, it means parents can store all their important school information in one place, helping them keep on top of everything!

Whether it’s a message in the weekly newsletter or a specific message dedicated to homework, many schools are using ParentMail to keep in regular contact with parents about the work coming home and the importance of it. If you’d like to discuss how your school or academy could use ParentMail to keep in touch with parents, contact us today by emailing info@parentmail.co.uk or give us a call on 01733 595959.

Snowed under with the daily tasks of keeping a busy school running, you know better than we do how hard it can be squeezing in plans for Parents’ Evening. But where some teams are chasing down appointment slips, printing out letters and updating schedules, others simply click a button and watch the appointments fly in – this could be you!

If the mention of your next Parents’ Evening fills you with dread, set aside the spreadsheets and print outs and dare to dream of completely paperless parents’ meetings…

Your office isn’t buried under piles of appointment slips and printed letters. The team behind these vital plans aren’t rushed off their feet making last minute plans or squeezing in extra appointments. Instead, thanks to Parents’ Evening Manager, invitations were circulated to parents via the free ParentMail App weeks ago. You’ve avoided the frustrations of double-booked appointments, cancellations and confusion by pre-setting appointment durations using the flexible scheduling system. Parents are free to book meetings that fit their busy schedules, quickly and efficiently. With just a few clicks, your team can view an up-to-date report of meetings for every teacher – and appointments are coming in fast!

Planning the evening was easy and stress-free and, thanks to your attention to detail, the night itself is sure to run smoothly, too. Parents arrive on the night prepared with the information they need to find teachers and classrooms, and they could even include notes when booking appointments. As a result, teachers are equipped with the detail they need to discuss important subjects and answer questions for every student.

Following one of the most successful Parents’ Evenings your school has enjoyed in a long time, feedback from both staff and parents is positive. In the past, despite your best efforts and communications, parents often failed to book appointments and teachers missed the opportunity to discuss student’s progress. This time, attendance was at an all-time high!

Parents’ Evening is by far one of the most important, busiest events in the school calendar, and some may say you made it look easy; the truth is, thanks to your fantastic organisation skills and the decision to make the most of Parents’ Evening Manager, it was!

If the prospect of a pain-free, paperless Parents’ Evening appeals to your busy office team, get in touch to find out more about Parents’ Evening Manager by ParentMail.

Education Secretary, Damien Hinds, has challenged school leaders to take advantage of modern technology in and outside of the classroom to reduce teacher’s responsibilities.

Acknowledging workload as a common reason for teachers leaving the profession, Mr Hinds stated that innovative technology in the classroom has resulted in both challenges and opportunities: “Education is one of the few sectors where technology has been associated with an increase in workload rather than the reverse.”

On the one hand, technology is making it easier for parents and schools to stay in touch, which is great news! However, common tech-platforms such as email, text and direct messaging Apps are resulting in more pressure on teachers who find themselves spending hours replying to parent responses, questions and queries; time that could be better spent on what they do best – teaching!

At ParentMail, we believe that rather than interfering with routine, parent communications should support schools. With nearly 20 years’ experience, our technology is developed to save schools time and money, whilst improving parental engagement for the benefit of students, staff and parents.

Our system is designed specifically for the school office, providing tailor-made solutions to deliver communications for every occasion. From straight-forward messaging to digital forms, office staff are completely in control of parent communications, managing responses from one platform and alleviating pressure and supporting teachers in the classroom.

The free ParentMail App supports parents to stay up-to-date with all the latest school news, without labouring your school with hundreds of responses and questions in return. For trip consents, dinner selections or any communications requiring a reply, our flexible Online Forms solution allows staff to build forms to enable easy management of responses.

Streamlining communications in the school office means staff can work efficiently, cutting out paper (and paper related costs!) while saving hours of time on admin tasks. Organised parent communications support teachers, too, particularly when it comes to Parents’ Evening. Rather than giving the responsibility of appointment booking to students, who are liable to either lose or purposely avoid certain meetings, Parents’ Evening Manager puts the power into parent’s hands, allowing them to book convenient appointments to fit their busy schedule, saving hours of time and confusion in the school office. The flexible platform also allows parents to include notes, enabling teachers to plan for each meeting accordingly.

Don’t let technology be a hindrance for your school. Make the most of tailor-made software specifically designed for the education sector and take control of your parent communications. Whatever your needs, ParentMail offers a solution for you, whether that’s simple messaging, cashless payments, data and consent collection or event planning. Get in touch to arrange a free demonstration today.

The free ParentMail mobile App is used by over 2.5 million parents to stay in touch with schools every day, from the comfort of home, at work or while out and about!

Over the years, it’s been through some major changes, as our Development team have stayed ahead of the latest EdTech innovations in order to bridge the home/school gap.

We caught up with Richard Shergold, Front-End Developer at ParentMail, to talk about the latest App developments.

“Our recent update is really important as it allows us to deliver fixes and make improvements to the mobile App more regularly. The team are always looking at feedback from users and have recently made several improvements to the App to make it even easier to use.”

“For example, one of the latest updates is the ability to mark items, such as messages, in bulk, rather than one at a time. We’ve also updated the way the App handles attachments and made a few handy changes to the App appearance, making it easier to navigate and manage school communications.”

“Our roadmap for 2019 holds even more exciting new developments, including Amex card payments and several other handy updates.”

Are you making the most of the ParentMail App?

Our free mobile App is by far the most convenient way to stay in touch with your school, supporting parents to make cashless payments, book appointments, respond to forms and more:

• Dependable dinner money – Online cashless payments make topping up dinner money quick and easy, with just a few taps, thanks to handy low-balance reminders
• Online Forms – Paper letters and forms are easily lost or forgotten at the bottom of school bags; digital forms are super convenient, making it easy to respond instantly
• Online Payments – Trips, uniforms, clubs and more – pay for them all via the handy App, via credit/debit card, PayPal, PayPoint, PayCash or Amex (via desktop)
• Parents’ Evening Manager – Booking convenient meetings to fit around busy schedules is quick and easy via the App

Feedback from parents is really valuable to us! Here are a few reviews that made our day…

“I think its brilliant how we can stay in touch with school so regularly and know what’s happening straight away instead of having to wait for school letters at the end of the day or week.” – Becky Hawkins – 5 stars

“The app is really easy to access and up to date, good layout and easy to navigate through the app.” – Ranj K – 5 stars

“Straightforward way to keep up with school communication and respond to forms without the hassle of them being misplaced. I enjoy using this app.” – Parent – 4 stars

“I love ParentMail! Makes school life much easier! Our school is new to it and it’s already much more useful!” – Parent – 5 stars

“It is great for keeping up with what is happening at my daughter’s school, when I am out & about & not by the laptop.” – Sarah Young – 5 stars

Share your feedback about the ParentMail App, – we’d love to hear from you!

Have you downloaded the ParentMail App yet? If not, visit the Google Play Store or Apple App Store today and search “ParentMail”.

If you’re a school looking to streamline communications and improve parental engagement, get in touch to find out how ParentMail can support you!

A number of schools have recently hit the headlines as outraged parents complain their children have gone without a hot meal due to a lack of credit on their cashless dinner accounts. In Wales, school councils have argued in defence, stating they have a ‘zero tolerance’ policy towards dinner money debt in order to protect school budgets when parents fail to pay.

For many busy parents, topping up dinner money is just one small task, easily forgotten, on a long to-do list. However, when it’s schools hitting the press for turning children away without lunch, it falls on school leaders to seek out a solution. Low-balance reminders give parents a handy nudge to top up dinner accounts before lunch time, ensuring their child enjoys a hot meal and schools avoid unnecessary dinner debt.

More and more schools are choosing online payments systems in a bid to go cashless, for good reason! No money on school grounds results in less time spent handling and banking cash. However, finding the right platform for your school is important, so before you make any decisions or renew your contract, read on to find out more about the fastest growing cashless payment system in the UK…

Introducing +Pay!

+Pay, by ParentMail, offers some of the lowest transaction costs on the market, proven to save primary and secondary schools thousands of pounds every year. Our flexible platform manages not only dinner accounts but offers multiple registers for breakfast and after-school clubs, too!

For parents, +Pay is convenient, easy to use and reliable; parents can access and top up their accounts when they need to most, even at the busiest times. The socially-inclusive platform allows parents to top-up with credit/debit card, PayPal, PayPoint and AMEX, offering a solution for everybody.

Alternative cashless payment systems lack the flexibility offered by +Pay. Our top-up reminders are free for parents, informing them instantly when their balance goes below a pre-set amount. Parents can simply log in to the handy mobile app and top-up – they can even manage accounts for more than one child and view what has been purchased. Schools can also send out handy reminders to parents yet to top-up, protecting the school budget and ensuring accounts are ready for lunchtime!

It’s not just the +Pay platform that offers flexibility; ParentMail offers subscription costs to suit any school’s needs and budget, from primary and secondary schools to multi-academy trusts and colleges. Set-up is quick, easy and won’t interfere with the day-to-day running of your school. The system integrates with all major cashless catering systems and our team of +Pay experts are on hand to offer support when you need it most.

Last year, more than 700 schools chose +Pay as their online payments platform; of these, more than 300 left the market-leading provider in search of more features and a parent-friendly service – make the move to +Pay and never look back! Get in touch to have a chat about your cashless catering needs on 01733 595961.

For many families, the prospect of crossing the school threshold is a terrifying one. Though many schools may spend a lot of time and energy on events or activities for parents, the reality is that every school has those “hard to reach” parents and there are many barriers in the way that stop parents feeling connected with what is going on in school.

One key area that I feel can begin the process of breaking down barriers and building bridges to communication and community, is through the school office, as it can be instrumental in fostering a positive connection among families and educators. It can be a consistent source of engagement providing current, reliable, and useful information.

Many school offices across the country now use technology to communicate home various things to parents, realising that the more they engage parents with what’s going on, the better the outcome for students. Online communication has really helped bridge this relationship and many schools now send home messages, online forms, allow parents to book parents’ evening appointments and even request payments – allowing parents to pay with ease on their mobile phone or computer.

Previously, having to come into the school office to make payments, for example, would add stress to parents and administrative staff’s already busy day, so the beauty of using technology is that parents no longer have to cope with scrambling around looking for cash or cheques, or worry about coming into the school office to make payments for lunch, uniforms or trips, as  an online  system helps parents and admin staff communicate quickly, easily & more efficiently.

A system like ParentMail helps parents build a better relationship with the school office, without having to worry about physically coming into the building. For those parents who don’t feel comfortable coming into the office, or don’t have the time to do so, which is often the case, technology has broken down the barriers and allowed regular communication, helping these parents feel more connected with what is going on in school.

Watch Sue discuss this further in the video below…

To find out more about ParentMail and the range of applications that can help you improve parental engagement, simply visit the website, email info@parentmail.co.uk or call 01733 595959.

Parental engagement solutions make everyday office tasks quick, simple and cost-effective. Thousands of schools across the UK now collect dinner money, permission forms and share information about school events online, saving both time and money and improving relationships with parents as a result.

We regularly receive feedback from schools who use ParentMail in a variety of ways to keep parents engaged with what’s going on in school, to help further enhance pupils’ education journey. Below we’ve shared with you some of the ways primary schools are utilising ParentMail:

Share homework tips with parents

Homework is important in a child’s education and good habits can help throughout their school journey. Parents play a big part in encouraging this in their children, but some see it as more of a “pain” than a useful tool to help further improve their child’s understanding of the subject. Why not use ParentMail to get them on side, sending tips such as setting up a specific homework-friendly space and being available to offer help and support. These tips on the BBC website are great to share with parents.

Organise paper-free parents’ evenings

Lost forms, double-booked appointments and long waiting times lead to a parents’ evening headache for school teachers, office staff and parents. If parents have more than one child at a school, or more than one teacher to see, it can be a challenge to arrange appointment times accordingly. Parents’ Evening Manager puts parents in charge of booking appointments and removes the need for children to be involved in the process.

Use forms to keep pupil information up to date

Keeping data for children’s health requirements, next-of-kin information or anything else the school might need to know is essential for happy pupils and parents. ParentMail can make this easy in 2019, with Online Forms. Rather than chasing paper forms that can get lost between the classroom and home, online forms allow parents to respond quickly and with the ease of doing so from their smartphone! Plus, it won’t cost your school anything in printing costs, so you can request information updates as often as you see fit!

Remind parents about the importance of reading at home

Extensive research supports the claim that children who read regularly at home achieve more than those who don’t. We know that parents are busy, juggling work and family life. However, reminding them of the importance of reading with their child is crucial. Book Trust has some great tips here; why not use ParentMail to share these tips with parents?

Share information about key dates  

You may talk to pupils regularly about school open days, open days to secondary schools and school fetes. Now, ParentMail makes it easy to share this information with parents, and subsequently can help their children organise their time and arrange their own diaries, too.

How have you been using ParentMail to stay in touch with parents ? We’d love to hear about them via Twitter!

If you’re looking to adopt a parental engagement system that handles online payments, forms, parents’ evening and more, get in touch here or book a free demo.

When it comes to planning Parents’ Evening, staff at St Thomas of Canterbury RC Primary School were used to all the usual stresses and strains; piles of paper cluttering the school office, lost or missing appointment slips, chasing up parent responses – the list goes on!

With 250 students, the school office would typically send home two letters per student in the run-up to parents’ evening – that’s 500 sheets of paper for one event! In their mission to go paperless this year, the school turned to Parents’ Evening Manager to take the paper out of parents’ evening.

“Like all schools, we’d try and give parents plenty of time to book appointments,” says Admin Support, Bethany Schofield. “We’d send out a form asking parents to pick an hour that that would suit them for their appointments, before trying to put together a schedule that suited everyone. There was a lot of back and forth between parents, staff and teachers. We’re a busy school and our parents are busy people; we wanted a system that would save us all time, whilst reducing our reliance on paper.”

A teacher at the school recently used Parents’ Evening Manager to book an appointment for their own child and realised the huge potential for St Thomas of Canterbury Primary School.

“When I looked into the system, I realised it offered all the flexibility we needed and would make the process easier for everyone involved – so we decided to give it a go! Setting up the evening was really easy. We prefer to keep the slots short and were able to pre-set the appointment lengths and block out times for particular teachers if needed. We particularly like how quick and easy it is to print out lists of appointments so that we can see at a glance how the evening is looking.”

“Parents love being able to book slots to fit around their busy schedules. We haven’t had any negative feedback and bookings came in really quickly! Recently, I was talking to a parent on the phone and she asked me to stay on the line while she booked her appointment, expecting it to be a tricky process – but she booked a slot in seconds, without any help from me!”

“In the office, we’re trying to go digital as much as possible; we know that online processes make things easier, faster and cheaper. We’re no longer sending home paper letters and use a cashless dinner payments system. The response from parents has been very positive. I would definitely recommend Parents’ Evening Manager to other schools. It’s a simple, smooth, time-saving process for staff and parents. We’re looking forward to using it for our next Parents’ Evening already!”

Get in touch today to find out more about Parents’ Evening Manager or to book a free online demo.

We’re excited to announce the launch of our new School Help Site, now live and ready to answer any questions you may have about using ParentMail! The new site includes lots of improvements which make finding guidance and instructions easier than ever before.

Finding answers has never been easier

Powered by Google, the new search function instantly finds the answer to your question! You can search for an answer by typing in a keyword or question to quickly find the information you need to complete the task at hand.

In addition to step-by-step instructions, our new range of videos provide easy-to-follow guidance for completing a variety of tasks, from registering parents and creating invoices to downloading reports and editing user permissions.

Keep an eye out for system updates

We include news and details of our latest system updates on the school help site so that you can make the most of new enhancements and functionality. Notes on our latest update (our biggest release yet!) are available on the help site now, including details on updates to Online Forms, improved payment functionality and lots of handy fixes! We always take feedback and requests from schools into account when updating the ParentMail system and our latest release includes many updates that you specifically asked for – take a look at the notes to find out more!

What do you think?

We want to hear what you think of our new help site. Click the ‘We need your feedback’ button at the bottom of the homepage to let us know of any additional improvements we can make or FAQs you’d like us to add.

As we welcome in the New Year, we’re taking the opportunity to look back over the year just gone, our biggest and best year yet!

2018 saw us welcome hundreds of new primary, secondary schools, nurseries and Academies to the ParentMail fold; we sent more messages, emails and online forms than ever before, supporting schools across the country to improve parental engagement and save time and money.

During 2018, we supported schools to send over:

• 18 million texts
• 285 million emails
• 5 million Online Forms
• We also processed over 4 million orders for trips, events and other School Shop items!

The past 12 months also saw schools planning almost 9,000 parents’ evenings; you were also busy arranging almost 3,600 events!

2018 saw us celebrate 2.5 million App downloads; that’s 2.5 million parents using the free ParentMail App to stay up to date with school news, book appointments, respond to forms and make payments, all from one account!

As we continue to support schools to go paperless with the very best in EdTech, we know how important it is to stay ahead with the latest innovations in software and technology, which is why we’re working hard on new functionality to help make life easier for schools and parents. Last year saw us update the free ParentMail App for both Android and iOS, making lots of handy improvements to make it even easier for parents to keep on top of school communications. We also released our biggest system update yet, which was jam-packed with improvements, new functionality and handy fixes, many of which were specifically requested by our schools.

Following our biggest and best year yet, our New Year’s Resolution for 2019 is the same as always – to continue supporting schools to improve parental engagement with innovative software and exciting new developments. What’s yours?

Tighter budgets see a call for efficiency and an ‘all hands-on-deck’ approach to searching out cost-cutting opportunities. In the hunt for financial savings, however, it’s important to remember that, often, it’s the small changes that deliver big results.

It is estimated that the average secondary school pupil produces 22kg of waste a year, with primary school pupils more than doubling that at 45kg. Much of this waste is paper and card; today, one million sheets of paper are being used per school, per year; on average, schools can spend up to £60,000 on photocopying annually! With pupils still relying on books and pens in the classroom, school leaders are questioning: what are the true costs and implications of paper in schools?

Taking a step back from paper can be tricky! A wide-spread movement towards modern technology in the classroom appears far off. Children still complete exams on paper and handwriting remains an important step in every child’s education. While it may be difficult to reduce reliance on traditional methods in the classroom, a move towards paperless-office environments may be easier (and more beneficial!) than you think.

An online system such as ParentMail supports your team to take the easy step towards a paperless environment – and it’s a step well worth taking! A commitment to going paperless results in both time and financial savings; your school could save up to £65,000 a year on print alone, not to mention the additional paper and postage costs.

Without paper letters, forms and registers to manage, manual admin tasks are replaced by efficient, reliable and simple online processes. Paperless-school staff don’t need to invest valuable time in chasing trip and dinner payments; instead, parents can make timely, cashless payments through our mobile App, reducing dinner debt and eliminating any need for cash on school grounds. From the same online account, parents receive notifications about parents’ evening, school trips and clubs, and can complete and return school forms at a time convenient for them. Paperless schools also enjoy the benefits of having important information at their fingertips, with access to customisable reports and data to support student learning.

By removing paper-based obstacles from daily tasks, your school can streamline processes, protect important data and achieve amazing cost savings. Equally, empower parents to engage with your school with a convenient, socially inclusive platform and watch home/school partnerships go from strength to strength!

Paperless schools never look back! Get in touch to find out how ParentMail can support your school to save time and money this new year. Call the team on 01733 595959 or email info@parentmail.co.uk.

Instant messaging service, WhatsApp, has become an integral part of staying in touch with friends and family for adults across the UK. Many parents also use WhatsApp groups to share information about their child’s school with other parents.

Earlier this year, we wrote an article on our blog, What’s up with WhatsApp? after a Mumsnet thread hit the headlines when a post referring to the different types of mum found in ‘every’ school WhatsApp group struck a chord with parents across the country.

Parents were quick to state that the WhatsApp group created at the beginning of the school year is a handy way of staying up to date with the latest classroom news. However, the sheer quantity of messages sent by the 20+ parents all part of the same group can be quite overwhelming and ‘fear of missing out’ often warrants us incapable of turning notifications to silent.

Sometimes WhatsApp groups for parents may not share accurate information, and details about children may be shared with little thought for privacy. In this video, Sue Atkins – parenting expert and ex- deputy head – gives her views on how parental engagement software can keep communication between school and parent clear, whilst keeping all data safe.

If you want to find our more about ParentMail’s communication applications, and what else it can do to help your office staff save time and money, get in touch on info@parentmail.co.uk or give the team a call on 01733 595959.

Last month, Children and Families Minister, Nadhim Zahawi announced that thousands more children across the country were receiving a healthy and nutritious breakfast at school breakfast clubs. In part, this is thanks to a government-funded programme worth nearly £26 million.

Here are some of our favourite ways breakfast clubs can benefit children, parents and schools.

Breakfast clubs improve school performance

Research shows that a good breakfast can help improve children’s reading, writing and maths performance. KidsHealth.org reports that breakfasts high in protein and fibre, and low in sugar, helps to boost children’s attention span, concentration and memory, essential for good performance at school.

Affordable and safe pre-school childcare

Parents are increasingly busy juggling childcare with working, often having to opt for pre- and post-school care. Breakfast clubs offer them some respite, both financially, and from the chaos of the morning school run. On average, breakfast clubs in England cost just £1.68 per day to attend. Moreover, about a quarter of breakfast clubs are completely free for all children to attend!

Time to socialise, or get active

Many schools use their breakfast club to get children moving. The Daily Mile is a relatively new initiative to get children running or jogging one mile every day. Who knows, the next Mo Farah might be hidden amongst your breakfast club! For other schools, children can play board games, draw or colour, or use computers to research and complete their homework.

Better attendance and behaviour

By reducing the stress of the morning routine for families and children, breakfast clubs can help improve behaviour and attendance. Children have up to an hour before school starts so they can relax, play, eat, exercise and socialise, all without the rush of getting to school. In this article from the Guardian, Sam Bailey, Headteacher of the Forest Academy in Barnsley, said “Pupil behaviour has improved dramatically and attitudes to learning are the best they have ever been.”

ParentMail helps schools successfully run breakfast clubs

Thanks to our brand-new multiple registers feature, schools with our +Pay (online payments) package can now easily set up additional registers. This lets them track registrations and payments for breakfast clubs, alongside other registers, such as school dinners and after-school clubs. Therefore, administrative work is reduced, too. The feature also allows for multiple running balances, which helps reduce arrears with low-balance reminders for parents.

This is one of our most-requested improvements!

For existing online payments users, you can add new registers from the Registers tab in ParentMail. If you’re not a ParentMail user, but want to know more about Multiple Registers and other applications that can help improve parental engagement and online payments management, give the team a call on 01733 595959 or email info@parentmail.co.uk.

Since September, Abbey Catholic Primary School have been on a campaign to register parents to ParentMail and their efforts have received a fantastic response!

As ParentMail Co-ordinator, Deputy Headteacher, Joe McTernan, has worked closely with the staff team to make the most of their complete ParentMail package to improve parental engagement.

In a recent survey, 87% of our customers agreed that the key to the success of a new communications system is strong parent uptake. Since the launch of ParentMail a few months ago, Abbey Catholic Primary School saw parent registration increase slowly; following a campaign to get all parents registered, today 99% of parents are signed up and 80% are using the App!

The school is committed to adopting a paperless environment and ParentMail has been key to achieving this. They now send out all newsletters, competition and club communications via ParentMail, making it very important for parents to register. Although ‘playground chatter’ has been key, the team made the most of a recent parents’ evening to help parents make the most of the ParentMail App.

“We had our first parents’ evening since the introduction of ParentMail and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to answer any questions parents had about using their accounts.” Says Deputy Headteacher, Joe. “So, I was coronated with the title of ‘ParentMail King’ for the evening, complete with paper crown! I was on hand to answer questions and have a chat. Most parents who stopped by to ask questions just needed some support to get used to using their account. I mainly dealt with teething problems, but I also sat with two of the three families yet to register with ParentMail and helped them to set up their accounts there and then! It was a great idea and a huge success.”

The primary school also have a great social media presence and tweeted about their ‘ParentMail king’ during the evening to let parents know that support was available if they needed it – another brilliant way of sharing news and improving parental engagement!

“Although we’re at the end of our ParentMail roll-up now, we’ve worked hard to get to this point and made it a priority since September to get parents registered on the system.” Says Joe. “We have played hardball with a few parents who weren’t signing up. For example, we chose not to send paper copies of communications home with students. Instead, we sent a message to parents to let them know that there was a letter in the school office for them to collect. This worked really well, as our office staff took the opportunity to encourage parents to download the App and many families registered with ParentMail as a result. It’s far more convenient for them – sometimes people just need that extra push to give something new a go!”

Parents at Abbey Catholic Primary School can now manage communications with ease and stay up to date with school news, events, competitions and payments, which supports school staff as a result! In particular, organising PE and after-school clubs has been far smoother and easier for everyone involved, with all parents responding to forms and event information quickly and efficiently online. And, should parents ever have a question about using their account, they know help is at hand at the school!

Deputy Headteacher and ‘ParentMail King’, Joe McTernan, ready to answer questions and give advice on parents’ evening!

If you’re a school looking to improve parental engagement get in touch today! Call us on 01733 595959 or email enquire@parentmail.co.uk.

Parents’ evening is a very important part of the relationship that parents develop with the school and their child’s teacher, whether it is their first experience, or they have attended before.

Here are a few pointers to how parents may be feeling and how you can ensure that the meeting is productive, for the child, for parents and also for the school.

• Children can be rather uncommunicative about their life at school, which can be frustrating for parents, so for them, this is a great chance to get to know their child’s teacher and learn more about how their time is spent in class, what they are studying, how they are progressing and if they need any extra support at home.
• There can be a lot that parents want to cover in their ten-minute slot and some will come prepared with all of the questions that they want to ask, whereas others will wait to be led by the teacher, but there is no doubt that they are expecting a ‘full picture’ of the progress their child is making and also any challenges they are facing.
• Remember also that parents want to be reassured that their child is important and is being cared for and engaged with during lessons. There is nothing worse than being a parent sitting with a teacher and wondering if this teacher has spent time in getting to know your child. A good pointer is to have some of the child’s work to hand for the parents to review and some prepared notes on what they have achieved – i.e. a celebration, and then where needed, to discuss the focus on where their child needs more support and how they can help.
• Parents generally want to be involved in their child’s education, to ensure that they have the best chances and to be ‘part of the process’ and to develop a positive relationship with their child’s teacher or teachers.
• Depending on the parent’s own experience with school, they may feel intimidated and it is the teacher’s role to put them at ease and start to build on the foundations of the relationship between school and home. They will be looking for guidance and how they can support their child, so although time is limited, a top tip is to have a prepared plan that they can take away, highlighting the areas of focus where they can support; not only will this help them to become involved in their child’s schooling but will also provide a point of reference for the next meeting, so progress can be charted and further plans can be developed.
• It is also essential to remember that this is a two-way conversation and that parents may have their own concerns about the child’s school life that they want to share with you, whether this is related to the actual school work or other aspects, such as their relationships with other children and staff, this is important to them, so ensure that facts are established if they have concerns and actions are agreed and followed up.

Parents’ Evening Manager allows school to manage parents’ evening with ease, and even has the functionality to allow parents to leave notes in advance of their appointment. With this, teachers can run off their appointments the day before and quickly see what each parent would like to discuss, ensuring both parties feel organised ahead of the appointment.

For more information on Parents’ Evening Manager, email info@parentmail.co.uk or call us on 01733 595959.

With school now in full swing, routines are established, children are settled in their new classes – and so the next big milestone is Parents’ Evening and organising it successfully is no mean feat!

Parents’ Evenings are an extremely important event in the school calendar, as they provide the opportunity for parents to speak with teachers to get an insight into how their child/children are progressing, whilst for the teachers it is an opportunity to strengthen the parental relationship with the school and to develop their support in a child’s learning.

For the school staff, it is a huge task to ensure that all the parents are informed of the date(s), which provides them with the opportunity for booking a convenient slot with their child’s teacher. We all live in a busy, hectic world so juggling diaries can be complicated and stressful.

Then there are the logistics to consider; is it best for the meetings to take place in the child’s classroom or in a larger space such as the school hall or gym? All of this can be further complicated when parents have more than one child at the school, as appointments will need to be coordinated; further complications can arise when the parents are separated, and both parents want separate appointments.

Further support is needed from the office staff in supporting the teachers in collating reports, records and other documentation that they need for each meeting.

With regular communications with parents, they should all be aware of the date, and hopefully, have organised their personal diaries to attend. However, inevitably there will always be a case where this information has been overlooked by the parents, they have prior commitments or may have just forgotten! This then falls to the school staff to assist with organising alternative dates/times for the important meeting.

Traditionally, letters inviting parents to make appointments were sent home with the pupils which were then (hopefully) returned to the school via the same channel with the parent’s availability to attend to be processed and an appointment allocated. In some schools this is still the case, but as school communications evolve, online methods and booking systems are being introduced to ease the burden.

Whichever method your school uses, there is no doubt that the organisation and logistics still mainly fall under the School Administrators to ensure that everything is in order, all the small details are considered and that the event runs smoothly.

Are you making plans for Parents’ Evening? Parents’ Evening Manager could save your school hours of time, as well as ensuring a smooth and organised event! Email enquire@parentmail.co.uk or call us on 01733 595959 to find out more.

It’s the start of a new school year, meaning there’s a lot of information to send out and share with parents. How you decide you will be communicating with the pupil’s families is a matter of preference. Traditionally, letters were sent home with the pupil with the expectation that these would be passed on by the pupil to the parent. However, this method has been seen as a weak link and often leads to many parents discovering out of date letters shoved at the bottom of school bags.

With the development of technology, we have seen the introduction of social media groups such as closed Facebook groups, WhatsApp chat groups etc, for information to be shared between schools and parents. This method is fine for general information, but not ideal for specific information regarding a child or for a parent to communicate any questions or concerns about their child.

So what is the solution?

Here are a few of my top hints and tips for managing school communications, sure to support your staff team, parents and students in the long run!

1. Starting out from the beginning: Establish with the parent how they would like to receive information about their child, school events, news and updates. Not all parents are ‘tech-savvy’ so you may still have to resort to posting out direct mailers to some of them.
2. Explain what you will be sending: Be clear on the types of communications parents can expect and the frequency – i.e. if there is a parent’s evening coming up, how they can book an appointment with their child’s teacher/teachers to discuss their progress.
3. Gathering information: You are required to hold an increasing amount of information on a child aside from their academic progress – i.e. medical information, details of home life that may affect their performance in school, who are the regular carers and if communications need to be sent separately in the case of divorced parents. Ensure that you clearly explain that this information is required to support the child and who it will be shared with, that parents have the right to view what is being held in their child’s records and how they can apply to see this and the process.
4. Provide information: Ensure that you provide details of how the parents can contact the school, who they can speak to, the times that this person is available and how they can make appointments with the various staff who look after their child etc.
5. Child’s schoolwork: Are you able to provide regular updates to parents on their children’s studies? For example, what are the subjects their children are studying, how parents can help and become involved in supporting these? Evidence supports that children are more engaged and successful in their studies with strong parental partnerships between the school and home.
6. Progress reports: Can you provide regular progress reports – i.e. homework handed in or outstanding, spelling test results, feedback from the child’s key teacher/worker so that parents are fully informed of their child’s progress and can celebrate successes or address areas of concern rather than wait for a Parents’ Evening to be provided with this information.
7. School events: Send out timely information on school events, term dates, inset days and regular reminders so that the parents are fully aware of everything that is happening in school.
8. Celebrating success: Does your school have a scheme where children are given awards for good work, behaviour or attendance? It could be an idea to include these ‘Rolls of Excellence’ report in any communications, but if sending photographs, please ensure that you have consent from the parent if their child is featured.

Parenting expert, author and TV presenter, Sue Atkins, has 22 years experience in the teaching profession making her an expert on all things parental engagement! We are thrilled to join forces with Sue to share best practice on school/parent communications.

We talk about the importance of parental engagement a lot. The term has become a ‘buzzword’ in our offices and in schools across the country. When ParentMail first came into being over 15 years ago, parental engagement was the priority, sitting at the heart of our technology and ambitions. To this day, the subject remains the driving force behind our brand and a hot topic of discussion in the education sector.

Just a few weeks ago, Education Secretary Damien Hinds called for an “educational revolution” [1], in part to reduce the burden of, and time spent on, ‘non-teaching’ tasks. Those daily tasks carried out in the school office, from data collection and management to parent payment processing, take up hours of time every day as well as having a direct impact on the school budget.

Under pressure 

Pressure on schools, be it primary, secondary or Multi-Academy Trust, increases every year. Under scrutiny to evidence and improve efficiencies, maintain a good reputation and Ofsted rating, as well as staying ahead in the league tables with student academic success takes time, planning and prioritisation. These key aspects of every educational organisation often rely heavily on resource in terms of time, people and budget. Pressure in the education sector shows no sign of slowing; forecasts indicate that by the year 2027, secondary school pupil numbers are expected to rise by almost 15% [2]. That means there will be over 400,000 more pupils in England’s state schools than today. Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers states the figures present a challenge, stating that schools are being asked to do so much more now than they were a decade ago. As pupil numbers increase, so too does the daily pressure on school management.

With such pressure we can become distracted from the topic of parental engagement. Attention strays to other issues; the upcoming Ofsted inspection, the ever-busier school calendar, GDPR, staffing and recruitment, suppliers and upcoming exams, to name a few. Every school holds their student’s academic achievement as their highest priority and school staff invest their days in supporting pupils to succeed; parental engagement, then, needs to remain a persistent topic of discussion. Rather than a time-consuming hindrance, engaging parents in their child’s schooling should be considered a beacon of support for teachers, staff and students

All parents as partners

A 2011 government review [3] investigated best practice in parental engagement. Research evidenced that not only do children perform better when parents are involved in their schooling, but also placed emphasis on the fact that schools that ‘improve and sustain improvement engage the community and build strong links with parents. Where schools build positive relationships with parents (…) evidence of sustained school improvement can be found.’ The benefits go beyond GCSE and A Level grades.

When it comes to parental engagement, the subject of social inclusivity is never far behind. Even for those schools with an effective and successful communications plan in place, there will be a segment of the parent community who it is almost impossible to engage with. Whether their responses to letters and forms are scarce or they fail to make an appearance on parents’ evening, engaging with these parents is an ongoing and difficult task. However, they cannot be allowed to fall by the wayside; evidence from Ofsted suggests that a critical element of learning and teaching is the relationship between the teacher, parent and student. Every parent deserves the right to be involved in their child’s learning, regardless of boundaries, be it availability, language barriers or more. As such, schools are tasked with thinking outside the box to identify the best methods of engaging with all parents.

Communications methods should be scrutinised to ensure they don’t contribute to the difficulty in building parent/school relationships. Traditional methods of school communications need to be reconsidered. Whether it’s print, paper and postage costs, missing pupil-post, data protection or environmental concerns, the number of schools fast realising the countless problems associated with paper communications is on the rise. In its place, where do we turn?

The tech revolution

According to the ‘Review of best practice in parental engagement’, ‘Information and communication technology ICT can contribute to improved parental engagement by providing a convenient means for parents to access up-to-date information about their child’s learning.’ The paper school newsletter which occasionally finds its way into the hands of parents can be out of date within days. Technology offers a reliable, timely alternative and supports a more flexible arrangement for busy staff and modern parents.

Becta 2008 [4] identified a number of ways in which ICT can improve parental engagement by enabling new channels of communication between parents and schools. Benefits included allowing parents to be more involved, better methods of capturing information and supporting flexible working methods for staff. However, at the time of this study, the Office of National Statistics reported that only 73% of households in the UK had internet access. Back to the subject of social inclusivity, almost 10 years ago ICT and technology in the school raised as many questions at it answered.

Fast forward to 2018 and the numbers speak for themselves. According to the Office of National Statistics statistical bulletin on Internet Access: 2018 [5], 9 out of 10 households now have internet access. Daily internet use in adults has increased from 25% in 2006 to 86% today. Mobile phones and smartphones remain the most popular device to access the internet with 97% of adults aged between 24 to 34 accessing the internet ‘on the go’. With parents performing most tasks from the device in their hands (internet banking, booking train tickets, arranging grocery deliveries etc) why would they expect any different when it comes to school communications?

Evidence tells us that adults want to use familiar technology (i.e. their smartphones) to perform daily tasks; it is convenient, easy and reliable. Our years of experience tells us that when parents are provided with a user-friendly and convenient method of managing school communications, schools receive a better response; before you know it, parental engagement is on the up, parent responses increase and student academic success is improving as a result.

These technology-driven successes aren’t only restricted to the classroom. With GDPR now in place, schools have a greater responsibility for protecting data. Loose-leaf filing systems and paper forms propose risk, as well as headaches when trying to keep information updated. A digital system from which multiple staff can manage data collection, consent forms, school dinner money and payments reduces the time spent on manual tasks and implements consistency – not to mention the comfort of knowing data is safe and secure.

The start of a new school year is the perfect opportunity to reflect on your school communications, parental engagement and objectives for the year ahead. With pressure on the education sector increasing, technology should no longer be considered an unnecessary or inconvenient expense. Instead, consider the opportunities tech in the office offers and the successes it can bring for your staff, parents and students.

Our modular range of applications is being utilised by thousands of schools across the country who are enjoying the benefits of improved parental engagement alongside welcome time and cost savings. We are proud leaders in the EdTech community and the provider of the UK’s favourite parental engagement system. We want to support more schools to make the most of modern technology – find out how we can help you.

To find out more about how ParentMail can support parental engagement at your school, enquire on our website, call us on 01733 595959 or email enquire@parentmail.co.uk for more information.

[1] – https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/aug/07/uk-schools-silicon-valley-tech-industry-urged-foster-education-revolution

[2] – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-44809258

[3] – https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/182508/DFE-RR156.pdf

[4] – http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/1549/1/becta_2008_htssanalysis_report.pdf

[5] – https://bit.ly/2nw9rcy

Last month a Mumsnet thread hit the headlines when a post referring to the different types of mum found in ‘every’ school WhatsApp group struck a chord with parents across the country.

Ranging from ‘the wind-up merchant’ to ‘the informer’ to ‘the school can do no wrong brigade’, the mum invited others to add their own characters that she may have missed; and other mums were quick to follow up with their own suggestions!

It seems the school WhatsApp group is a source of information and frustration in equal measure for many parents. Parents are quick to state that the WhatsApp group created at the beginning of the school year is a handy way of staying up to date with the latest classroom news. However, the sheer quantity of messages sent by the 20+ parents all part of the same group can be quite overwhelming and ‘fear of missing out’ often warrants us incapable of turning notifications to silent.

For schools, the parent WhatsApp group can result in inaccurate information circulated quickly to a large number of parents. Classroom politics leak through the school gates and into the digital world where staff have little to no control over the content shared. For those teachers who use WhatsApp to communicate with parents, there can be serious privacy issues (i.e. messages intended for one parent mistakenly sent to another or to a group).

Of course, WhatsApp groups are a particularly handy source of news and information for those parents unable to socialise with fellow mums and dads in the school playground. However, it is easy to forget those parents without access to new technology. These are the parents who miss out on the news and information that many parents take for granted.

Social inclusivity has been at the heart of ParentMail’s technology since we started up over 17 years ago. We recognise the benefits of modern technology for schools, however, we ensure those parents who prefer a traditional method of communication have the same access to school news and information as those parents using our free App. No parent is forgotten or left out because we believe every parent deserves to be kept up to date with their child’s education.

With ParentMail, schools can send news and information without fear of privacy breaches, knowing their data is up to date and protected. Digital communications warrant loose pieces of paper and hardcopy consent forms redundant; online forms and responses are easily received, analysed, managed and stored.

And, of course, schools have total control over the information circulated. No fear of Chinese whispers interfering or editing important school-related messages. Whether it’s term dates, school closures, after-school-club cancellations or trip payments, the information is wholly in the hands of school staff, ensuring parents receive only accurate information and can respond appropriately.

When it comes to parental engagement, ParentMail ensures quality, consistent and reliable school communications that both schools and parents can rely on. Let’s keep WhatsApp groups for birthday parties and leave school communications to the experts!

To find out more about how ParentMail can improve parental engagement at your school, call us on 01733 595959 or email enquire@parentmail.co.uk for more information.

Last month Education Secretary, Damien Hinds, challenged the tech industry to launch an edtech revolution for schools, colleges and universities across the UK.

EdTech has an increasingly valuable place in the classroom; 3D technology is quite literally bringing lessons to life and coding is becoming a prevalent lesson for students of all ages, whilst encouraging inclusion and opening eyes to the possibilities of the industry. With only a minority of schools able to fully embrace these technologies today, however, it may take some time before the opportunity to embed state-of-the-art EdTech in the classroom is available to the majority of schools across the UK.

But tech doesn’t only deliver benefits to students inside the classroom. One of the five opportunities discussed by the Education Secretary was the important role of technology in reducing time spent on non-teaching related tasks and teacher workload.

Since the earliest days of ParentMail, we have recognised and evidenced the important role that EdTech plays outside of the classroom. Investment in technology in the school office serves to encourage parental engagement and improve student academic outcomes as a result.

While technology continues to evolve outside of the school gates, parent habits are changing. Alongside the evolution of technology, schools are under increasing pressure to demonstrate efficiencies and save money at every turn. Protecting the school budget remains a priority for schools across the country this September, so how does cost efficiency and investment in EdTech fit together?

With the new school year nearly upon us, now begins the task of onboarding new students, communicating term dates, planning parents’ evening and updating student, parent and teacher data. Gone are the days when these tasks took hours of time to plan, implement and manage. Thousands of schools are making the most of modern technology with ParentMail, saving time and money whilst performing day-to-day admin tasks and enjoying the huge benefits of improved parent responses as a result. Whether circulating the school newsletter, requesting updated parent contact details, collecting school dinner payments or arranging parents meetings – Multi-Academy Trusts, Primary and Secondary schools across the country are saving time and money with digital communications and managing important data safely and efficiently like never before!

Last month we released our innovative and improved Android App to the Google Play Store. With the help of feedback from parent testers, we have improved the user experience to ensure schools continue to receive a great response to their communications. We’ve also very recently completed our annual Customer Satisfaction Survey, gathering feedback from schools to continue the improvement of our software and services for your benefit. We’re proud to be the UK’s leading parental engagement system; our commitment to staying on top of the latest EdTech trends whilst listening to customer feedback ensures our product will continue to support schools in building fantastic parent/school relationships for years to come.

Since 2001, ParentMail have been investing in technology for the benefit of thousands of schools across the UK. To find out more about how our software could support parental engagement in your school, email enquire@parentmail.co.uk or call us on 01733 595959.

We are delighted to announce our new and improved Android App!

Experience tells us that when parents are happy with their ParentMail experience, Primary and Secondary schools, and MATS, receive a great response to their communications. So over the past few months, we have been working hard to improve our Android App!

We invited parents to download and try out our Beta app and to feedback to us about their experiences. Thank you to all the parents who took part in our Beta test! Over 2000 parents downloaded the app and sent their feedback to us, and our developers took all the comments and suggestions into account in order to innovate and enhance the application for your benefit!

We’re very excited to announce that our new and improved Android App is now available to download in the Google Play Store! To download the App, go to the Google Play Store and search ‘ParentMail’ and click ‘Install’ or ‘Update’ to start using the new and improved App!

What’s new?

Our new and improved app includes many enhancements sure to improve a parent’s experience on Android devices –

• Login details will now be saved, allowing easy access to the account with just a few taps
• Improved notifications
• A ‘Select all’ button has been added for the email, SMS and Online Forms folders, allowing the user to easily mark all items as read/unread with just one action
• There’s a new ‘Unread’ folder, where the user can find all your unread items in one place
• Email attachments will open in an appropriate application available on the device
• When entering a pin, the numbers are no longer visible, ensuring better security and privacy
• We’ve made a number of improvements to our Online Payments application, enabling parents to make quick and easy payments with just a few taps.

…and much more! For full details of the improvements made to our Android App, please visit the School Help Site.

Schools, encourage your parents to download the new and improved Android App! Simply visit the Google Play Store, search ‘ParentMail’ and select to either install or download the App!

We hope you’re as pleased with the new App as we are!

ParentMail makes the most of modern technology, supporting thousands of schools to save time and money, and ensuring students benefit from improved parental engagement. To find out more or to book a free demonstration of ParentMail, simply email info@parentmail.co.uk

Just over 25 years ago, 1992 marked an era which saw the world of internet technology boom! Just one year after the Internet Browser was created, and two years after the World Wide Web put a face to the internet we recognise today, 1992 saw the rise of another communication technology which we are all familiar with; the text message!

New technology is hot on the heels of the humble text with the growing market of instant messaging services such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. In fact, in 2015, WhatsApp founder Jan Kroum reported that the application handled more than 30 billion messages a day – that’s a huge 10.95 trillion a year! As instant messaging rates increase, the number of text messages sent is rapidly decreasing; in the UK, text messaging declined by almost 5% from 2012-2013.

Habits are changing at home and in work

Instant messaging apps allow us to send messages and media for free, without character limitations. Such flexibility has resulted in lots of people opting to use these applications over text messaging every day. When you need to send school or club information out to hundreds of parents, text messaging can also be very expensive. Print and paper costs are also a costly alternative, and pupil post is often unreliable.

Our Messaging App gives schools the best combination of flexibility and functionality. ParentMail offer a modular range of services, allowing you to add applications as and when your needs change. Our system links with your school’s MIS, keeping data in sync and, unlike many other school communication systems, we offer a free parent app, ensuring your messages reach parents instantly and reliably, even if their contact details change.

Smart and safe

Research finds that four out of five UK adults have a smart phone. More than 2.5 million parents in the UK are benefiting from the ParentMail app every day, receiving important school messages instantly and engaging with their school like never before. With recent cyber-crime and phishing scandals impacting schools across the UK, the security benefits offered by ParentMail for both your school and parents are huge, too. When parents receive communications through the ParentMail App, they know to ignore any suspicious emails appearing in their inbox purporting to be from your school.

You can do more with our messaging app than you think –

• Email your school newsletter in seconds
• Send a text to tell parents an after-school club is cancelled
• Quickly inform parents about school closures
• Create templates for messages used regularly, saving admin time
• Send messages to individuals, a group or all parents
• View a history of messages sent and received and analyse the results of who has opened your messages with our handy reporting suite
• Print paper copies of communications for unregistered parents – ParentMail value social inclusivity and believe every parent has the right to stay up to date with their school, whether they have online access or not!

ParentMail make the most of modern technology, supporting thousands of schools to save time and money, and ensuring students benefit from improved parental engagement. To find out more or to book a free demonstration of ParentMail, simply email info@parentmail.co.uk

Pens, pencils, uniform and backpacks; items that support student learning and strengthen your school brand!

All of these items are available to buy from your school shop, but do you sell as much as you would like?

Our Online School Shop is the perfect solution for selling your school products! Parents can browse and buy all the traditional school items available at the click of a button; total flexibility allows parents to order from the comfort of their own home or while out and about, thanks to the free ParentMail app!

When an order is processed, your staff team are automatically alerted, allowing you to gather the items to pass onto the student or parent. Our handy reporting suite allows you to track orders and keep an eye on stock levels, and fulfilment tracking provides a complete electronic trail for easier record keeping.

The flexible service makes it easy to import your shop items and allows you to assign size options and stock quantities to limit the number that any one parent can order of a particular item.

No more time-consuming paperwork or clunky cash payments!

We all recognise the issues caused by cash in schools; everything from bullying and extortion, to lost change or money misspent. So cut out the cash with an online shop; parents can pay for items online by card, PayPal or PayPoint, reducing the amount of cash in school and saving your team hours of time usually spent collecting, counting and banking money.

Introduce your own Online Shop in advance of summer and make it easy for parents to order all the school items students need for the school year ahead!

The School Shop is free to use with our Online Payments package. It’s no surprise that more and more school are switching to ParentMail when it comes to improving parental engagement and going cashless!

Would you like to know about our Online Payments application? Get in touch today by calling 01733 595959 or email enquire@parentmail.co.uk and we’ll get a free demonstration booked in!

Whether your school is a primary or secondary school, nursery, academy or part of a multi-academy trust, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will apply to you from 25 May 2018.

This means that the way you manage data and information within your school will likely need to change. Although your school is already legally obliged to keep data safe and secure (whether that’s staff and student information, paper files or an electronic database) the GDPR will mean your school has greater responsibility for protecting data.

GDPR replaces the current Data Protection Act and ensuring a good understanding of these regulations across school staff is very important for ongoing compliance. Schools and businesses who are not GDPR compliant could see fines of up to 4% of their turnover or €20 million imposed from the Information Commissioners Office, not to mention the impact on Ofsted ratings.

Here are a few things to consider when it comes to GDPR and your school –

• You must be able to evidence that your Data Processors hold the minimum competencies and accreditations; for more information on these, click here
• Ensure the appropriate people in your team understand GDPR and the implications the new legislation has. Consider introducing a Data Protection Officer, someone who is responsible for data protection compliance and communicating information about GDPR
• Conduct an audit of the information you currently hold in school; document the information held for both staff and students, detail where it is held, who has access to it and where it came from
• Develop and communicate procedures on how to respond appropriately to a data breach; these procedures should include processes for detecting, reporting and investigating a data breach
• Review your current privacy policy and make any necessary changes in line with the GDPR
• Review and document policies for gathering, maintaining, communicating (electronically) and deleting student data
• Consider how you will gain and maintain parental/guardian consent for any changes made to current policies as a result of implementing GDPR
• Consider when to start implementing Privacy Impact Assessments in your school
• Implement an e-safety policy to ensure your staff understand what needs to be done to be compliant with GDPR, as well as keeping your school safe against phishing attacks,

More information for preparing for the GDPR can be found here.

Preparing for the new GDPR is key; it’s always better to be safe than sorry! By considering the implications of the new regulations in advance of 25^th May, you can be confident that your school are safe from any nasty fines or reputational damage.

If you would like to know more about ParentMail, contact us today on 01733 595959 or email enquire@parentmail.co.uk.

Feel the benefits of 100% parent uptake with ParentMail!

Just a few months ago, we released an update to your ParentMail dashboard which included lots of handy new information and functionality – but are you making the most of it?

We’re here to help!

The more parents registered with ParentMail, the more your school will benefit from reduced admin time, print costs and more. It can seem like quite a daunting task to get all of your parents registered but we are here to help make the process easier.

Your ParentMail dashboard includes lots of handy information and functionality to help encourage parents to register so you can start feeling the benefits of improved parental engagement. If you haven’t explored this area of your dashboard, read on to learn more!

Your Stats

The ‘Your Stats’ section of your dashboard shows a breakdown of your parent uptake with ParentMail, including how many families have a ParentMail account, how many families are using the ParentMail app and how many families are receiving email and SMS communications.

You should aim to see all green bars here – this would mean that you are highly engaged with your parents! But if not, don’t worry, there’s help available so you can identify and target unregistered parents; just click ‘Improve your Stats’ to get started!

Letters to parents

Although you may have already sent letters home to encourage parents to register with ParentMail, we all know what can happen to pupil post! It doesn’t hurt to resend these letters if you are struggling with parent uptake – remember you can also use the content of the letters to send emails if you would prefer.

You can download letter templates from the ‘Boost Registration’ section of your dashboard. Simply select the letter and click ‘Download Letter’.

Check your data

Did you know that the Rejected Records Report will list the information which has not been imported into your ParentMail account? For guidance on how to run this report, download the Rejected Records Guide.

Reports

There are three reports available to help with data maintenance and parent recruitment –

• Parents with Missing Contact Information – This report shows all parents, which child they are linked to and whether or not you have a mobile number or email address for them – this report is particularly useful if you are looking to fill gaps in contact information!
• Parent Connection Status Report – This report will show all parents and their account status. This can be used to identify a list of parents who would benefit from another registration invitation.
• Paper Copy Families – This is as simple as it sounds! The report will show all students who will receive paper copy communications rather than emails, and the reason why.

Resend Verification Messages

This is a really easy way to resend verification messages, either by email or text, to prompt your parents to register.

Remember, the ParentMail School Help Site includes step-by-step guidance on the parent registration process which you can send to your parents for extra help.

Making the most of ParentMail

These tools are available to help increase the uptake of your parents with ParentMail. When your parents are registered with ParentMail, you can truly make the most of your applications and benefit from improved parental engagement!

If you are a school looking to improve parental engagement, get in touch to learn how ParentMail can help you. To find out more or to book a free demonstration of ParentMail, simply email info@parentmail.co.uk!

A huge 90% of our customers say they are happy with their customer support experience, but we’re sure a few wonder who they are talking to when they seek the help of our agents. Introducing ParentMail’s Operations Manager, Rob Brown – a name we’re sure many of you are familiar with!

We sat down with Rob to chat about his role as Operations Manager…

How long have you been with ParentMail?

“I joined ParentMail just over 3 years ago as a telephone trainer and quickly moved into a Team Leader role, in which I was responsible for managing a project moving schools from our legacy systems on to the current ParentMail service. Today, I am Operations Manager, managing the ParentMail Support Team. I am responsible for all post-sale customer engagement; I love my role because I’m passionate about helping schools develop a strong relationship with their parent community by using ParentMail.”

Tell us a little about what you do?

“My day to day workload varies hugely, as I am not only responsible for customer support. I also work closely with our Development Team to prioritise system enhancements based on the knowledge I have gained speaking to customers; we always aim to ensure the services we deliver are consistent with what customers need. In addition, I am the company’s Data Protection Officer meaning I am the first point of contact for all things data protection. I am currently highly involved in the new GDPR scheduled for May 2018. Being a Manager at ParentMail doesn’t mean that you don’t get your hands dirty! I am very much on the front lines when it comes to our customers’ needs – building strong relationships with customers is very important to me.”

What values do you prioritise and encourage in your team?

“I train my team to seek first to understand the customers’ needs before attempting to provide a solution. It might be that there is a simple way we can provide support to what initially seems like a very complex issue. My team are also keen to seek out any opportunities to develop their own skillsets and add further value to the business.”

What do you enjoy most about your role?

“The people I work with at ParentMail are the most passionate, hard-working team I have ever had the pleasure of working with. They adapt to change without argument and thrive off of challenging situations, viewing them as a chance to learn something new and expand their comfort zone.”

Outside of work, what do you get up to?

“I have recently become a new dad and I am quickly beginning to understand the challenges (but also the joy!) of being a parent. Between ParentMail and my new family there’s not much time left for me, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I am a keen foodie fan and have in the past been known for my gaming skills (reaching number 1 in the UK on Halo some years ago!)”

Thank you, Rob, for taking the time from your busy role to chat with us!

Should you require any support, our team are waiting to help!

Live Chat can be accessed from your ParentMail account. Simply click the ‘Help’ button, located on the right-hand side of the top navigation bar, followed by ‘Live Chat’, and you are just a few moments away from talking to a friendly Support Advisor!

Should you experience any issues accessing Live Chat, please visit click here.

If you would like to know more about ParentMail, contact us today on 01733 595959 or email enquire@parentmail.co.uk.

Parent habits are changing.  No longer are parents digging through school bags to discover out of date, crumpled newsletters; receiving a poor response to your school communications is a thing of the past, too!

The death of text messages

Before the era of smartphones, text messaging allowed schools to send important messages directly into the hands of parents. However, with the introduction of smarter mobile technology schools are realising there are limitations with text messaging; texts are limited by character restrictions meaning often one isn’t enough! Not to mention that texts can’t include attachments, resulting in print and paper costs.

Times are changing and ParentMail are leading the way with innovative services to improve parental engagement.

With three times as many smartphones in the world than computers, it isn’t surprising that the majority of parents use their mobile phones to receive and respond to school communications. In fact, more than 1.2 million parents use ParentMail’s app to engage with their school every day!

In place of limited and expensive text messaging, digital communications such as instant messaging, email, online payments and forms are fast becoming the method of choice for improving parental engagement for thousands of schools across the UK.

Parents are still receiving school messages directly to their phones but without the limitations. Emails can be accompanied by attachments, reducing the need for print-outs, and instant messages are not limited by the number of characters. Receiving school messages through the ParentMail app is easy and convenient for parents, allowing them to stay up to date with school messages anytime, anywhere.

“The biggest benefit to ParentMail is being able to reach, and receive responses, from busy working parents, who pick it all up on their smartphones.”
Linda Flynn from Copthill Independent School

We make things easier for parents so schools get a better response

“Because parents can complete forms and surveys on their mobile phones or tablets, it’s much easier for them to respond.”
Alison Tanner from Halterworth Primary School

Whether parents are booking parents’ evening appointments, paying for trips, choosing school dinners or reading the school newsletter, managing school life easily on their smartphones means schools can expect a better response from parents.

ParentMail make the most of modern technology, helping schools to save time and money and ensuring students benefit from improved parental engagement. To find out more or to book a free demonstration of ParentMail, simply email info@parentmail.co.uk

Emails and Texts, Parents’ Evening Manager and Online Form Collection ensure 100% parental engagement at Wistow CE Primary School!

Wistow Primary School have introduced three of ParentMail’s services into their school over the past two years, initially launching Emails and Texts, followed by Online Forms and Parents’ Evening Manager. With each new app, they have seen parental engagement improve; and they love sharing their ParentMail experience with other schools!

“Once we had experienced the benefits of texts and emails with ParentMail, we were very eager to give the online forms a go – and what a huge time saver they are!” says School Business Manager, Angela Dethridge. “I particularly like knowing that our communications have reached 100% of our parents and carers, most of whom love using the ParentMail App to respond and communicate with us. However, we appreciate there are a number of parents and carers who prefer traditional methods of communication, and ParentMail make it incredibly easy to produce paper copies of all newsletters and forms to be sent out by hand. It’s a completely socially inclusive service, allowing us to communicate with everybody!”

With Online Forms a huge success amongst school staff and parents, Parents’ Evening Manager was the next application to be introduced at the school.

“We set up a Parents’ Evening, press ‘send’, and sit back and watch the responses come in!” says Angela. “ParentMail has changed the way we work, day to day. We save so much admin time in the office. I would recommend ParentMail to any school that are looking to improve parental engagement, whether at particular times of the year, with Parents’ Evening Manager, or all year round. It’s fantastic being able to guarantee 100% engagement with all school communications!”

If you’re a school looking to improve parental engagement get in touch today! Call us on 01733 595959 or email enquire@parentmail.co.uk

The days of waiting on the phone for a customer service advisor to take your call are long gone at ParentMail. Help is at hand almost instantly with our fantastic and friendly Live Chat service!

In a recent survey of ParentMail customers, a huge 90% said they were happy with their customer support experience; of these, 34% felt their support experience had improved and 55% said support has been consistently good – that’s a thumbs up for Live Chat!

With ParentMail’s Live Chat service, schools wait no longer than sixty seconds on average for assistance. Our Customer Support team receives regular training, ensuring fantastic product knowledge and friendly service; no matter how big or small the query, they are happy to help, delivering in-depth training and on-going support for all ParentMail schools.

On the rare occasions that an issue cannot be resolved over Live Chat, the team will arrange for a call to be made within 24-48 hours. All calls are made in the order they are received, ensuring queries aren’t lost amongst others and support is provided in a timely manner.

Feedback gathered from Live Chat sessions allows us to tailor the future development of ParentMail services, ensuring they always meet your needs.

Our School Help Site is regularly updated and holds a wealth of information, including tips for getting started and helping parents, as well as information regarding our services, marketing items and details of system updates.

Live Chat can be accessed from your ParentMail account. Simply click the ‘Help’ button, located on the right hand side of the top navigation bar, followed by ‘Live Chat’, and you are just a few moments away from talking to a friendly Support Advisor!

Should you experience any issues accessing Live Chat, please visit click here.

If you would like to know more about ParentMail, contact us today on 01733 595959 or email enquire@parentmail.co.uk.

With thousands of nurseries, primary and secondary schools now using our cashless Online Payment System to receive and process payments, experience tells us that parents are only too happy to make payments online!

Cash in schools can cause a variety of issues. Consider the time school administration invests into collecting and managing cash from students! Alongside swallowed-up time, there’s also the issue of lost money, money spent where it is not intended to be spent, hunting high and low for spare change or the cheque book on busy mornings and the potential of bullying or extortion – there must be a better solution!

There is – and ParentMail has it!

In today’s cashless world, online payment collection is the safest method for processing school payments for all involved.

In a recent survey of over 6000 parents, a huge 70% think a mobile app makes it easier to pay; 82% said they were very satisfied with ParentMail’s Online Payments service!

Safe, secure and efficient

ParentMail complies with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards and PCI DSS Level 1. We do not store credit or debit card details, ensuring parents can pay online for school trips, dinners and more with the security of knowing their payment is safe.

Our Online Payment service includes a full reporting suite, allowing schools to see the full picture of incoming payments; whether you want to view outstanding payments, monitor payment instalments or keep up to date on payments as they are made – you can do all of this and more at the click of a button.

Parents keep up to date with payments due (reducing school debt) and they can even top up and monitor dinner money. Payments can be made instantly from a mobile, tablet or desktop, eliminating the need for cash and cheques.

Everyone is a winner with a cashless system – what are you waiting for?

If you’re a school looking to consolidate all your systems into one, or if you’d like to use a reliable Online Payments system which allows your parents to top up on a mobile app, get in touch today! Call us on 01733 595959 or email enquire@parentmail.co.uk

The internet is a fantastic tool and one which many of us couldn’t live without – particularly younger generations!

We are no longer naïve to the threats posed by the online world. However, they are becoming increasingly sophisticated and unfortunately those who are most at risk are young people.

Although a brilliant resource for education, creativity and communications, it is increasingly important that we teach young people how to use the internet safely and responsibly.

With Safer Internet Day 2018 just around the corner, celebrated globally on Tuesday 6^th February, this is a fantastic opportunity to talk about and better understand the dangers posed by the internet, in order to learn how to help our young people stay safe online.

Here are our checklists for safer internet use!

Younger children (ages 5-13) –

• Be safe – set parental controls on any devices your child has access to (mobile, tablet, games console or computer); settings are often trickier to change once the device is in use, so remember to set these controls on any new devices before your child has access to them.
• Be open – discuss what is safe and appropriate to share online, such as photos and videos.
• Be honest – talk with your child about what they are looking at or using online, and encourage them to share their activities with you.
• Be aware – remember that social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter have minimum age limits of 13. These age restrictions exist for a reason, no matter how much pressure you receive from your child to allow them to have a profile; consider discussing social media with your school and parents.
• Be smart – approach the tricky subject of online stranger-danger openly but carefully. The intention isn’t to frighten a child into fearing the internet, but to make sure they know never to share photos/videos of themselves with people online, or to agree to meet up with them.

Teenagers (ages 13-18) –

• Be involved – stay interested in your teenager’s online activities and keep discussing it with them.
• Be responsible – communicating online and communicating face to face often feel like very different things for teenagers. Ensure they understand the repercussions of their internet activity in terms of what they say and send to others online.
• Be open – discuss what is and isn’t okay to share online and don’t be afraid of approaching tricky subjects such as cyberbullying.
• Be safe – most public places now offer open-access WiFi, and while this can be very handy when out and about, it also poses a security threat. Many public WiFi services do not include filters to block inappropriate content; keep an eye out for family friendly WiFi schemes including Mumsnet Family Friendly WiFi and RDI Friendly WiFi.
• Be firm – consider adjusting parental controls on their devices to match your teenager’s level of maturity.

For more information, visit www.saferinternet.org.uk.

Parents’ Evening – it’s a stressful event for any school, big or small.

Staff at Wadhurst Primary School were all too familiar with the issues surrounding parents’ evening. Staff and teachers set aside hours to sift through paper forms, organise teacher diaries, rebook and assign appointments – time that neither admin staff or teachers could afford to give up.

Fortunately, Parents’ Evening Manager by ParentMail provides an ideal solution, making booking appointments easy for both schools and parents. Wadhurst Primary School was eager to give it a go!

With 96% of their parents already registered to ParentMail, staff were delighted to receive a fantastic response from parents. Less than a week left before Parents’ Evening, two thirds of parents had already responded!

Not only were parents responding in time, their feedback to the school was extremely positive; one father stopped by the school to express how thrilled he was at being able to book all of his appointments in less than five minutes!

With Parents’ Evening Manager, set-up is incredibly quick, easy and flexible, allowing schools to invite particular year and registration groups, the option to include a location, parent comments, subject tutors and booking windows, and the ability to set reminders.

For parents, the process is short and simple – after receiving the notification from their school, they select the teachers they wish to see and an available slot to meet with them, all from their ParentMail account.

With Parents’ Evening just around the corner, now is the time to introduce Parents’ Evening Manager!

Invest in saving time at your school and enjoy a smooth and organised Parents’ Evening this year. Email enquire@parentmail.co.uk and we’ll be in touch.

We are living in a world driven by technology. Our lives are operated from a mobile device permanently held in hand, and many of us have welcomed new house guests named Alexa and Siri into our homes.

The past 20 years have seen technology advance at a startling rate, driven by a population wanting more. Thanks to the internet, everything is at our finger tips; if you need to order shopping, there’s no need to leave the house; if you want to speak to a friend on the other side of the world, you can do so instantly, and for free; if you need to check your bank statement or make a transfer, simply log onto your online banking app, and you’re away!

We are all connected – and communications have never been stronger. The question is, how does your school utilise these new technologies to strengthen school/parent engagement?

Paper communications are a thing of the past. No longer do parents need to search through school bags to find out of date letters. Instead, they can receive electronic newsletters, forms and messages directly to their phones, saving schools time and money – not to mention the fantastic environmental factors!

In return, schools are receiving a better response from parents than ever before. Whether it’s returned forms, booked appointments or payments made on time for dinner money, uniform or trips, parents are more engaged in their children’s schooling than ever before, and they can do it all from our free app.

Designed with parents and schools in mind

ParentMail services are designed to make every process easy for parents to complete, ensuring a truly positive user experience. As a result, schools receive a great response from their parents, reducing the time spent fielding phone calls or responding to individual emails into school. Parents love ParentMail because it makes managing school life easier – and when parents are happy, so too are schools and students.

Our services have already improved parental engagement for 5,000 nurseries, clubs, primary and secondary schools across the country. Unlike other school communication services, our systems are designed with both schools and parents in mind. We prioritise the development of our products for the benefit of all and as a result, we are proud of our fantastic reputation.

As technologies continue to improve and evolve, so too will our services. Put your faith in ParentMail and watch parental engagement improve for the benefit of your staff and students!

If you’d like to know more about ParentMail and how we can help with any of the above, get in touch today on 01733 595959 or email enquire@parentmail.co.uk and we’ll be happy to discuss!

Within 48 hours of launching ParentMail in Whiteabbey Primary School, 80% of parents were able to receive messages, make payments, complete forms and book parents evening appointments online!

Now with 97% of parents registered, the school sends almost all of their communications digitally, bringing with it considerable time and cost savings!

Principal Keith Wysner used ParentMail at his former primary school in Northern Ireland and felt it was perfect in a small school setting. When he moved to Whiteabbey Primary, he was keen to bring ParentMail with him knowing it would be as beneficial, if not more so, in a larger primary school setting.

Now at Whiteabbey, with just over 400 students, he was amazed to see that 174 parents booked their parents’ evening appointments within the first hour!

Keith told us, “We sent out the invitations at 8.30pm on a Tuesday evening and by the following afternoon 88% of our students had a parents’ evening appointment, of their choosing, confirmed!”

Previously the school sent paper letters to tell parents what time their allocated appointments would be – now with Parents’ Evening Manager they can put control in parents’ hands and allow them to book the appointments at the times they want. The majority of parents use the mobile app to book their appointments which means they receive a notification and can book their appointments instantly.

Feedback from parents has been fantastic, with some taking to the school Facebook page to say “Just booked the appointments for parent teacher interviews on ParentMail. So easy and convenient!” and “I had written in my diary re: the upcoming appointments, then my ParentMail pinged about it – I was straight in there.”

The school had previously looked at other parents’ evening booking and online payments systems, but felt that nothing worked as efficiently as having it all under one roof – and with a mobile app for parents!

Keith said “The admin and teaching teams here in Whiteabbey have really embraced using technology to improve our parental engagement and ParentMail has been a real success as a result. Parents’ Evening Manager in particular is one of the most efficient digital tools I’ve used for managing Parent Teacher Meetings and I would recommend the system to other schools to use as it offers choice whilst reducing admin time and costs.”

Want to know more about our Parents Evening Manager application and how it could simplify processes in our school? Get in touch today on 01733 595959 or email enquire@parentmail.co.uk

There’s now a platform for almost every type of communication schools would want to send to parents and over time they have increasingly bought in to several different systems to meet their requirements and improve parent teacher communication.

However, the problem with multiple systems is, with several logins, passwords and websites to use and remember, life quickly becomes time consuming and complicated for parents – and this can be further compounded if they also have children at other schools. The danger is, parents can stop using systems and schools may find themselves having to revert to traditional methods in order to reach their parents.

Communication technology has quickly become popular in schools because it has streamlined many daily tasks and helps reduce costs. For parents, searching for change or the cheque book, remembering to sign forms, having to come into the school office to book parents’ evening appointments or trusting your children to do it, are just a few examples of some headaches technology has removed.

So what’s the solution?

Schools need to think carefully about their communication strategy – not just about the benefit to the school but about parents too. A simple solution is to look at consolidation of software – multiple services that can be provided from a single platform.

By making processes simpler for parents, schools then see a quicker and more thorough response, meaning they can spend less administration time chasing parents for the information they need.

Thames View Infants, The Brent Primary School and Astor College are just a few of the schools who have decided to consolidate their systems and do everything through ParentMail, where they can communicate, collect payments, record student absences, organise parents evening and collect online forms.

“Initially, we were looking solely at online payments systems, as we already had a system in place for sending emails and another for sending texts” The Brent Primary School’s Business Manager Dan Baker told us. “It was clunky, but it worked”.

We went from using separate systems for emails and texts, collecting payments physically and continuing to send letters and forms home, to a “one stop shop” doing it all through ParentMail – and parents and staff love it.”

Many schools are using several systems as a result of purchasing software to meet one requirement at that time, and now find they’re using two, three, four or more systems to communicate with their parents, students and staff.

If, like other schools, you’re keen to simplify processes for parents and for school administration staff, consider consolidating your communications software into one – get in touch today for a free demonstration to see just how simple it could be. Reach us on 01733 595959, email enquire@parentmail.co.uk or leave a comment below.