Contacting parents - What do you use?

[Sonic007]

Hello all,

 

After a school trip ran late the other day it has become clear that we need a way to notify parents directly via text message.

 

We currently use ParentPay for dinners, clubs and money handling and I'm aware we can use that but just wondered what systems everyone uses and what is actually best value for money?

 

 

Many thanks for your input.

[jonnykewell1]

We use SIMS Intouch and used to use Call Parents. We also have SIMS Parent App which can send notifications to the App.

[CyBeRkId2002]

We use Bromcom as it integrates nicely with the full MIS package, but before that we did use SchoolComms and were very happy with the package they offered.

[hardtailstar]

we use SchoolComms

[TheNerdyBirdUK]

RS ConnectED

[The_IT_Guy]

EduLink One

[mavhc]

Which have flat rate pricing? Considering I can get unlimited sms for under £10/month

[jmak]

Which have flat rate pricing? Considering I can get unlimited sms for under £10/month

Is that a commercial product which allows bulk sending? I have that on my personal contract, but pretty sure it's not set up for sending to hundreds of people at a time.

 

We use Schoolcomms and learned that if you have an urgent message, you can't rely on the app even for parents who install it. The app itself is reliable, but parents sometimes uninstall or turn off alerts for that app - they use it for payments, but don't expect to receive messages that way. Last time we had a snow day, no one turned up...

[mavhc]

Isn't no one turning up the expected result?

 

I only see 1 company doing flat monthly fees, and they're in usa. Looks like you can get pricing down to 2p per sms though.

[PhilNeal]

When I looked after SIMS, we could have opted for a very cheap service operating outside the UK but there was no service level guarantee available. For communication with parents, possibly on serious matters, I felt we had to be certain that messages would be delivered. It's all a mater of risks.

[mavhc]

AIUI the SMS system can tell whether a message was delivered to a working number, good thing to check your provider is doing.

 

Why people can't read just emails is a whole other question.

[localzuk]

We use ParentMail - the more texts we pre-buy, the cheaper they are.

 

However, the idea of using a "do it yourself" solution has a few pitfalls -

 

1. A normal contract will likely get very upset at you if you keep sending bulk messages out on it, and I would hazard a guess they usually include a clause disallowing this.

2. You get what you pay for with texts - there's different levels of delivery priority. If you want your text delivered immediately, it will cost more than a cheaper "whenever" text.

 

Telling whether an SMS was delivered is all well and good, but it doesn't change point 2 above.

[PrimaryNetMan]

Moved from Parentmail to SchoolComms as whenever there was a snow day Parentmail couldn't cope and their portal would just die.

[sparkeh]

Schoolcomms -> PSConnect -> Schoolcomms. Sticking with SC from now on

[Sylv3r]

We are a happy SchoolCOMMS user too.

[themightymrp]

Bromcom communications module for us

[ArtemisLion]

We use PS Connect (formerly keep kids safe) and everyone hates it.

[3s-gtech]

We’ve just subscribed to Schoop. We’ll see how uptake goes, but looking good so far. It can do this task for trips etc.

[bobsmith]

We use PS Connect (formerly keep kids safe) and everyone hates it.

 

We all love it......

 

I'm sure there may be better(integrated) systems but it does work.

[MartinT]

Schoolcomms, and their School Gateway app is excellent.

[Deets1]

Use SchoolComms here, and it works pretty well. Copes with snow days!