JNStiles Posted January 19, 2015 Posted January 19, 2015 Hi, We're looking for a SIMS add on that will enable our admin staff to email parent groups. Something that will gather all parent email addresses for year 7, for example, and enable us to email them. Is there anything like this available? If so, is it free or pay for? Thanks J.
IrritableTech Posted January 19, 2015 Posted January 19, 2015 Capita Sims InTouch is available as an SIMS addin and will do this. Otherwise there are all kinds of programs that will interrogate the sims database outside of sims and achieve the same.
jmak Posted January 19, 2015 Posted January 19, 2015 Lots of people here will recommend schoolcomms - and I'm happy to count myself among the fans. Pay for unfortunately, but no hesitation about re-signing Edit: full integration with SIMS 1
haldarulon Posted January 19, 2015 Posted January 19, 2015 Got to say we use in touch, the student services lady is not very tech savvy and gets on with it
Jamman960 Posted January 19, 2015 Posted January 19, 2015 We Went for schoolpost, it mails parents and provides a portal/mailbox so parents can reply using forms and cant claim to have not received a message.
vikpaw Posted January 20, 2015 Posted January 20, 2015 A +1 here for @Schoolcomms too. They sponsor this forum and are a SIMS technical partner. Pricing varies on school size, and the final package you ask for, but you can get a ball park figure from their website - as they make it public which is always a good sign. It also has lots of additional features available that link in: sending timetables, sending reports, processing payments, a parent app... 1
FN-GM Posted January 20, 2015 Posted January 20, 2015 We have inTouch but dumped it for SchoolsComms. It was a better, cheaper and more reliable product. 2
Schoolcomms Posted January 20, 2015 Posted January 20, 2015 Thanks for the kind words of support everyone. @JNStiles - if you drop me a PM we can set you up with a completely free 30 day trial.
jmak Posted January 20, 2015 Posted January 20, 2015 (edited) We Went for schoolpost, it mails parents and provides a portal/mailbox so parents can reply using forms and cant claim to have not received a message. We are using the "log to SIMS" option whenever we send messages to parents. This saves a copy of the message against the SIMS record for each child whose parents have been sent a message. We can then demonstrate that we have sent the message to the address that the parent has provided. Replies go to the Office@ email address (configurable). Replies to txt messages go to the inbox on the Schoolcomms application. Another aspect of Schoolcomms which has worked is text messages to parents when children don't turn up for school - we get quicker and more reliable responses letting us know where the child is and why they're ill. The response can then be automatically written to SIMS. Slightly off topic: We have been using Google Forms for replies to questionnaires. This is really easy to set up and is brilliant for analysing responses and allowing teachers to see the ones relevant to their class. Edited January 20, 2015 by jmak
JNStiles Posted January 21, 2015 Author Posted January 21, 2015 As I'm sure you guys can appreciate, finance is extremely limited and I've been tasked with finding a free solution (although it looks like a hopeless attempt). I don't suppose anyone can point me in the direction of such a thing?
haldarulon Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 Not sure if this is what you are after... Talking Parents must say NEVER used it!
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