School App for Parents

Using children as deliverers of important information to parents was never an ideal system but, before technology intervened, it was the only choice that schools had.  Now schools can disseminate crucial and time-critical information to parents in an instant using School for Parents app.

This app ensures that information is shared effectively between schools and parents. Dates, events, policies, changes of plan and all sorts of other news can be passed to parents using it.  Schools use a web-based service to update and add the content and then it is pushed straight to the app for parents to see. The school can send push notifications (like texts ) as an alert .

It is possible, if your child's school is large or particularly active, that you might receive an overwhelming amount of messages with many not relevant to you.  To ensure that this remains manageable, users can subscribe to certain message groups and select only those that are whole school issues and those relevant to them.

The calendar of events from the schools can similarly be filtered.  No user will have to work out which dates and events they need to know. Parents can select only events applying to a single year group to be displayed.

There is one important proviso for these very useful filtering systems: the home school must be using them and marking each event item or message with the group(s) it belongs to.  If schools are going to make use of the convenience of this app, they do need to make good use of its features if they are to prove its value to parents.

The app seamlessly integrates with other web services e.g. calendar iCal and the ability to place the calendar in the app on a website so not increasing admin.  Existing Twitter and Facebook accounts can become part of the process rather than a separate one.  Maps are pulled into posts about events to make finding new locations easier.  The app can also work as a repository for links to important school services such as event booking and finances.  In these cases, the service's web page opens up within the app.

It all works very smoothly.  For anybody with a basic familiarity with other apps, this one should be very quick and easy to pick up and use effectively.

Each user will need to be the log-in credentials.  This adds an extra step when compared to other similar services but does provide an enhanced security aspect.  A school's events and, therefore, how and where children are spending their time, is restricted to valid users of the app.

The app is available on the two major phone platforms of iOS and Android.  There are some differences between the two versions but these are to keep consistency with the device's own look and feel.  By doing this, users will quickly be able to learn how to use the app as it matches their expectations and experiences with other apps on their phone.

School App for parents app covers everything you could expect from an app of this type and does it well.  Both parents and schools will appreciate the simplicity and effectiveness of its approach.

You can download School App for Parents on your Android devices from the Google Play Store.