ndavies Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 Howdy, with the recent snow closures, our inability to mass text parents about the school opening has become apparent. Our website and Moodle did stirling work in keeping folks updated (and setting work for kids ha ha!), but one of our staff here is a parent of a child at another school, and she received daily texts to announce the closures, neat idea. Does anyone have a decent working system in place, how does it integrate with your MIS (if at all). Cheers Nick
solitaire89 Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 we use teachers2parents.net. It isn't something that the IT dept deals with so I don't know all the ins and outs, but it seems to be very easy to use, and the big bonus is that the person sending the texts out can see who's recieved the text and who hasn't. Makes for good fun when a parent says that they didn't get it! I'll get some more details for you tomorrow if you'd like. 1
plexer Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 Why can't parents check lea website or listen to the radio it's what I did? Ben
leco Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 (edited) Teacher2Parents here also. All dealt with by the office staff There are a number of such services and I seem to recall a thread on here about them. Edited January 12, 2010 by leco added further info 1
solitaire89 Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 All dealt with by the office staff Isn't it nice to have something that's dealt with by someone else
ndavies Posted January 12, 2010 Author Posted January 12, 2010 Isn't it nice to have something that's dealt with by someone else I don't understand this...you mean someone else is asked to do it instead of the IT tech? Sounds like some kind of nirvana..
leco Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 Oh yes - until it goes wrong then I get called in to sort it out.
solitaire89 Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 Oh yes - until it goes wrong then I get called in to sort it out. We've not had it long enough for it to go wrong. Darn it - I've just jinxed it, haven't I
solitaire89 Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 I don't understand this...you mean someone else is asked to do it instead of the IT tech? Sounds like some kind of nirvana.. It's even more odd than just "someone else deals with it"... I didn't even know it was on it's way! First I knew was when I got a text from "the school"
leco Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 It's even more odd than just "someone else deals with it"... I didn't even know it was on it's way! First I knew was when I got a text from "the school" Me too - but then again there are a few things that "arrive" that I don't know anything about.
solitaire89 Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 Me too - but then again there are a few things that "arrive" that I don't know anything about. yip, USUALLY I'm then expected to support it!
leco Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 yip, USUALLY I'm then expected to support it! Oh yes give lessons to staff about it. How come techs "know everything"?
solitaire89 Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 Oh yes give lessons to staff about it. How come techs "know everything"? Because we're geniuses - Obviously!
nadeem Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 we use txttools - txt messaging for education, healthcare and business it has both a seperate standalone web interface or also integrates into our moodle
dhicks Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 Does anyone have a decent working system in place, how does it integrate with your MIS (if at all). I noticed that the software that came with my broadband USB dongle lets me send text messages, so it's not neccesarily something that has to be handled by an outside company, equipment is available to do it yourself. -- David Hicks
mullet_man Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 We use Keep Kids Safe Communication Project – By schools for schools Its really good, and you can also do voice mail messages, and it integrates with SIMs, and is web based so can be accessed outside of school.
Sylv3r Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 We use Schoolcomms - good service and never had any issues with it, but will be looking for alternatives whilst at BETT to see if any of the others are any cheaper. Schoolcomms charge £300 for 5000 TXT's and with a school of 1550 (including staff) they don't last very long considering the school was closed all last week due to snow!
jcollings Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 We use groupcall Groupcall - supplies Communication and data extraction tools to the Education, Public and business sectors. It ties in very well with SIMS. We use it for 1st day contact as well as bulk messages for announcements & closures etc. It sends text, voicemail or email depending on what you have for the parents in SIMS. It seems to work really well and was certainly the one I was most impressed with when we trialled 3 or 4.
mattx Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 Bulk SMS - link it in to any database to get the details and you are away. BULK SMS UK | PC & Internet SMS Messaging
ndavies Posted January 12, 2010 Author Posted January 12, 2010 I can only see one person (an admin staff) wanting/needing to use it, but we do have a Moodle. How is it used in this case? To text homework reminders etc?
THERADIOTUBBY Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 Another vote for Schoolcomms user friendly allows you to text or email nearly all groups available in Sims. Automatically fetches first day absence and allows txt and then process reply. Can even set up own groups with members not at the school eg our community classes after school. Now has a web client that can be used from my rocking chair infront of my fire! Having said that judging from the messages we have recieved schools are not going to be allowed to close in the future ....I havent got the letter with me but paraphrasing.... " Police and local authority warnings not travel except in an emergency do not apply to people travelling to work!"
ahunter Posted January 13, 2010 Posted January 13, 2010 We use Text Message Server integrated into SIMS/Bromcom Electronic Register works really well although I'm not sure what you can do Integris boy Theres only so much you can do. I know someone said check the website or listen to the radio/watch tv but there is always going to be one parent who says they don't have a mobile phone/radio/television or access to a computer!
jamesreedersmith Posted January 13, 2010 Posted January 13, 2010 Have a look at txt@round You can have it free for a while and only pay if you actually use. Parent communications with texting - schools, children's centres
CESIL Posted January 13, 2010 Posted January 13, 2010 Why can't parents check lea website or listen to the radio it's what I did? Ben In our area there were about 600 schools to read out on the radio and that meant listening for ages to see if we were closed and we were not added to the list for a long time...and that includes the LEA list. We used teachers2parents.net and it worked really well...even a request to parents to help clear paths got a good response. The other good feature is that this is web based so the admin bod was able to send messages from home. I also have an emergency bulletin box on the homepage of the school website that can be remotely updated.
BJC Posted January 13, 2010 Posted January 13, 2010 We use Teachers2parents. All web based and can suck information from sims. Only had it about a year but we haven't had any problems, it hasn't failed to send any texts over the last week. We are currently training staff to use it so that we don't have to do it. They love it and find it very easy. Think we pay something like £2000 a year for unlimited texts. Also when we bought into it if you said another school recommended it that school would get money back. Ben
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