Schoolcomms

All of our products can be accessed by parents via the app or on the web version and the school can control what is shown to parents on them. You're welcome to give us a call or drop us an email if you have any further questions.

A little info on how Schoolcomms handles reports from SIMS: You can attach both individual and profile reports from SIMS without the need to mail merge. Once the appropriate student(s), class or year group have been selected an email is sent to the imported contacts from SIMS and attaches the appropriate report.

The fixes today relates to online performance issues so schools won't need to do anything to receive those. The notice will remain on the support site for the time being as we're still monitoring performance in case further improvements are required. The attachment issue on the desktop version is currently being worked on and a new version of Schoolcomms desktop will be released to fully address this issue. That one will require schools to download and update to the new version when it is ready. Communications for this will be sent out accordingly.

There isn't a browser specific problem. We have experienced some performance issues with our system today. A fix has been released to improve this. If you want to email student timetables (from SIMS), reports from SIMS Assessment Manager or SIMS Profiles to parents, you can still do this as normal using the Schoolcomms desktop application. For all other types of attachments you should use Schoolcomms on the web. More details and some links to relevant user guides are available here.

Hi, I've spoken with out support team to see if we can help. They've run some tests to try to recreate the issue. When you send reports out via Schoolcomms, the XML reports are picked up from the SIMS Document Server and Schoolcomms does in fact convert them to PDFs on the fly. During our testing with various mobile and PC platforms, all devices received a PDF report as expected. You are welcome to get in touch with our support team over the phone. I think they'll be able to help you get to the bottom of this one as conversion to PDF should normally go ahead without issue.

Hi Yes Schoolcomms is in the same group as ParentPay. So the good news is that we can switch you to Schoolcomms without you paying for two licences – our policy is that schools only pay for one product… which seems fair. Please contact Antoinette in our Sales Team and she’ll sort this for you.

Hi David, There are several SMS options that you could turn to but we’ll discuss the advantages of the one that we know best – our own. Schoolcomms offers unlimited texts with our Unlimited Messaging but our upper limit is on a case by case basis. If you would like a specific quote then please feel free to call us on 0333 332 7147. Alternatively, our free School Gateway parent app offers free push notifications on our Premium messaging option. This would allow you to communicate directly to parents’ phones for free whilst preserving the impact of a SMS text. Schoolcomms functionality also allows you to contact certain parents – those with absent children, attendees of certain clubs or year groups etc. – allowing you to decide precisely who you want to contact and even how to contact them (SMS, email or via the app). It’s also integrated with SIMS and will therefore easily write back to SIMS and text parents whose children have been marked as absent. We’re going a little off topic now but it may still be relevant to you and your school – we’re just about to release a Primary Bundle that includes SMS messaging and a huge amount of further functionality, such as showing parents their dinner money balance, notifiying parents of achievements and enabling parents to book and pay for clubs within the School Gateway app. This may not be for you but if you’re hoping to increase your functionality in the future it’s worth keeping it in mind. Let us know if you would like any further information! We’d be happy to talk on the phone (call us on 0333 332 7147) or you can drop us an email at [email protected].

We’re demonstrating our SIMS integrated parent app capability this term – including new customisable links features, dinner/menu bookings. Edugeeks are invited to join us for the two hour session (9-11am), so let us know and we’ll book you on. They’re free sessions: 18 May London / 23 May Birmingham / 24 May Manchester / 25 May Bristol. We’ll cover how to cut text costs by moving to app messaging; how to reduce payment transaction charges; instant publication of reports and timetables from SIMS; achievement and behaviour reporting; cashless caterer and SIMS SM integration; feedback from parents and how to maximise parent take up. If you can’t make the sessions give us a shout and we can set you up as a parent so you can download the app and have a play.

Just to clarify, Schoolcomms charges are:- Instant Bank Transfer = 16p per transaction flat charge (60% of transactions are now made via this... there is no additional Gateway charge) Debit Card = 22p per transaction + 10p Gateway transaction charge (around 30% of payments are made via this) Credit Card = 1.5% of transaction amount (Premium and Standard cards flat rate) + 10p Gateway transaction charge (around 10% of payments) Give us a call if you want to have a look at the system and quiz us on the pro's and con's - or speak to a school near you who uses Schoolcomms Payments. Hope that helps.

It's not quite as simple as that. School communications providers such as us do not typically submit messages direct to the mobile operator of the recipient. We hand messages to Bulk SMS providers who handle the distribution of messages out into the networks, and this is not a straightforward level playing field type set up as per IP traffic, it is complex web of proprietary billing and handling arrangements between many organisations operating at different levels. Therefore the slow delivery to EE may not be down to EE but down to the Bulk SMS provider chosen by your school communications provider and the web of relationships they have in place to deliver messages to various network operators.

Firstly as always, thanks for the kind words about Schoolcomms. There are no plans to aggressively integrate the two businesses, or stop providing any of the services that either Schoolcomms or Parent Pay offer (to cover off the specific question above, that includes Schoolcomms’ SIMS writeback capability). It also includes our payments product, which will continue to be available and supported. Indeed we have some new features coming over the next few months… watch this space. Schoolcomms Payments and ParentPay are quite different products with different capabilities, suited to different needs, and I’d really recommend you have a look at them both and pick the one that is right for you.

If you give our support team a call and they can connect you with some schools who have been through the process. It's worth giving them a call anyway to let them know your plans. We will liaise directly with NRS so you don't need to do so much piggy in the middle. It is a pretty painless process so long as you involve both parties early so that everything can be done in the right order. This is really important if you are migrating from one cashless system to another, if it's planned right it's fine, but there are some pitfalls which can result in some unnecessary unpicking. Definitely a stitch in time to save nine scenario for both you and us! We don't charge for integration with cashless caterers, but some cashless caterers do. Worth checking before you sign on the line - some schools have had some success with some cashless providers in negotiating these integration fees out...

Schoolcomms can deliver both SIMS Assessment Manager Individual Reports, (provided that the reports have been uploaded to the document management server) and SIMS Profile reports as email attachments. If you would like me to arrange an on line demo please let me know. We’re also just about to release new functionality to display selected SIMS reports within the School Gateway On Line Reporting portal (app and web). This will be out after half-term. You can also display attendance and behaviour via School Gateway parent portal too.

You may have seen some hype in the national media on the impact of texting parents about missed homework, attendance and test results. We were the delivery partners for this project and we learnt a lot about the realities of how simple technology can help schools achieve their ultimate objective – improving outcomes for students. I expect most of you already have systems in your schools to send messages to parents – we send literally millions every month. We did quite a lot of analysis before the project and the vast majority of what goes through our system is “don’t forget your wellies for the school trip”, “the buses are late” and other administrative type messages. So it was great being part of the project that proved cheap technology interventions can actually raise standards when used for more than just admin. But we also discovered why schools don't normally do this. Generic "send a text" functionality was just too labour intensive for these bespoke messages, so we built a whole load of new functionality that meant all teachers had to do was record missing homework or results in SIMS and we'd automatically send out the relevant messages, so teachers didn't need to do anything extra. This made a massive difference to the takeup and was a real lesson for us on minimising "friction" in user experience. If any of you are getting asked by SLT on whether you can do this, or want to bring something to them on why technology is a good investment, we're running some webinars on the detail behind the headlines and how to actually implement this successfully. It's aimed at Schoolcomms customers really, but PM me if you aren't and want to come along.

Hi @Seb1780 - thanks for choosing Schoolcomms. If you’ve imported all SIMS contacts (with contact priority 1 to 5), then when a contact logs into School Gateway, they’ll see a list of the students they’ve been linked to in SIMS. If the contact doesn’t have parental responsibility for a student, they’ll only see minimal information (including name, year, reg group). If the contact has parental responsibility, they’ll have access to more details (depending on what the school has chosen to make available). It might be appropriate to choose the import option Priority 1 contacts and contacts with parental responsibility (up to P5). There's quite a bit of flexibility and different options. Probably best to DM me with some contact details so we can contact you and ensure we properly understand what you want to achieve and advise accordingly.

You can email both SIMS assessment and profiles reports (also exam and curriculum timetables) using Schoolcomms. Give us a call, we do free trials so you can use it for real and send them all out, it takes a couple of minutes, much quicker (and cheaper) than stuffing envelopes.

Thanks Banjo, yes we read and write back attendance marks. Rather than integrate with lots of different MIS systems, we have chosen to focus on doing very good integration just with SIMS. For example you can also write back messages you send and receive to the Communications Log in SIMS, so you have a complete record of messages in SIMS. You can also bulk send assessment manager and profile reports, curriculum and exam timetables from SIMS as well. We are also (I think the only) provider that can be launched directly from the focus menu or pupil screens within the SIMS interface itself. So it's about as integrated an experience with SIMS as you are likely to find.

About Schoolcomms Market leaders in school to home communication technology. Helping schools to: - Text and email parents - Collect parent payments online - Manage breakfast and after-school Clubs - Automate absence chasing - Share assessment, report, achievement and behaviour data - Manage Parents Evenings A single system to manage parent communication. Used by over 2,500 schools and 1 million parents. NASBM Approved Partners Junior/Senior Software Support Analyst - Schoolcomms £17,000 to £22,000 per annum (full-time, term-time and part-time considered) Bude, Cornwall Aim: Schoolcomms is looking to add at least one Software Support Analyst to its growing support team. The successful applicant(s) will assist customers with the implementation, functionality, and use of their school communication system. The Company: Schoolcomms is an exciting IT solutions company that has enjoyed phenomenal growth over the last few years. We provide innovative communication and online-payment solutions to schools across the UK and pride ourselves on the quality of our products and services and excellent customer relationships. Improved communication with parents and students is a top priority for schools and is being driven by Government recommendations. The next few years provide a huge opportunity for expansion and to enhance our reputation as a first class supplier in Education. Objectives: • Provide accurate and creative solutions to software difficulties to ensure customer satisfaction • Acquire and maintain current knowledge of relevant product offerings, support policies, and methods of support delivery • Help the rest of the Schoolcomms team by providing a level of internal support relating to the software • Provide proactive training to customers to reduce inbound support in the longer term Nature of work undertaken: The applicant will be an integral member of the Support Team, providing quality customer service and technical support, with excellent interpersonal skills, timeliness, technical expertise, and commitment to the satisfaction of customers. Duties include assisting customers in resolving user queries and troubleshooting technical problems as well as offering support to colleagues. For the right applicant this position will offer the opportunity to grow within the company, undertaking other roles and responsibilities over time. The role is office based but the position holder may occasionally be requested to travel onsite for installations, training or other on-site support if needed. Required Personal skills and qualifications: Essential Requirements: • Aptitude for providing positive customer service • A ‘can do’ attitude • Clear friendly telephone manner • Strong problem solving skills with proven resourcefulness in high-pressure situations • Strong knowledge of MS Windows, and MS Office Desirable Requirements: • Foundation Degree, HND or Degree in IT or similar field • Prior related work experience • Practical experience troubleshooting IT systems • Proven customer service/account management skills • Technical support experience To Apply Send your CV and a covering letter to [email protected] Schoolcomms, Continental House, Kings Hill, Bude, EX23 0LU Schoolcomms | Parent Engagement Software Solutions

About Schoolcomms Market leaders in school to home communication technology. Helping schools to: - Text and email parents - Collect parent payments online - Manage breakfast and after-school Clubs - Automate absence chasing - Share assessment, report, achievement and behaviour data - Manage Parents Evenings A single system to manage parent communication. Used by over 2,500 schools and 1 million parents. NASBM Approved Partners Operations Manager - Job Description Schoolcomms provides software services to 2,500 schools across the UK to improve parent engagement, including messaging and online payments services. We are fast growing and constantly expanding the range of services we offer, whilst maintaining the high quality of service we provide to all our customers. We are looking for an Operations Manager to join our busy team, who will have the management skills, energy and passion for customer care to deliver the exceptional customer service that is a fundamental part of the Schoolcomms brand. In addition, the role will take accountability for ensuring all our staff have the systems, and work environment they need to excel at their jobs and love working at Schoolcomms. The successful candidate will be a fundamental part of achieving that. Schoolcomms is growing fast and there are good opportunities for career progression. The growth and nature of our business provide constant new challenges and opportunities. The role will report to a Director or the Managing Director. The Person: • Energy, self-motivation and leadership • A passion for providing an excellent customer experience every time • Strong people, project and organisation skills • High-level understanding of technical systems and data Job Description: Reporting to the MD Customer support and training • Run a team of 10 telephone technical support and training staff • Escalate to the development team technical issues that need development input • Report on support and training performance to the management team • Initiate and deliver projects to make technical support and training even better • Impact assess the implications of product improvements, work with marketing, product, accounts and development teams to deliver changes successfully across the business Internal systems and buildings • Manage suppliers and staff who maintain and improve our internal infrastructure, including telephony, CRM, office equipment and buildings. • Ensure staff across the business have the equipment and working environment to succeed in their roles • Work with management team peers on cross business issues and projects Package: Salary dependent on experience £25-40K Contributory Pension Scheme Location: Bude Cornwall. You may be required to work at other sites occasionally. You can find out more about Schoolcomms here Schoolcomms | Parent Engagement Software Solutions If you would find this opportunity exciting, please get in touch and send your CV to [email protected]

Hi Chris I'd say the best way to confirm for yourself is to have a go with Schoolcomms - you can have a completely free trial for 30days, and whilst you are having a go with it call our support and get them to help you with some stuff. They aren't just there for tech support, they are there to help you achieve what you want to achieve with Schoolcomms so you don't have to wait for something to break to give us a call. Also I am sure we can point you to some local schools who use us and you can go and see them or give them a call. In fact I see you are in Worthing - our product and development team are based in the middle of Worthing so you could just drop in and ask them directly! Seriously they would love it if you came by ( we never let them out )

We provide a breakfast and after school club management product. It doesn't do everything you are looking for, but I think it comes close. Certainly parents can see the sessions that are available and can book their child onto the club (and pay) both on website or smartphone app. If you are interested then the best thing to do would be to give us a call and one of the team will set you up with a free trial.

We have free large format calendar/wall planner (and some stickers to put on them to add term dates, inset days etc.) Also a competition to win an Apple Watch. (and you can check out our timetable on the Apple Watch app as well!) Schoolcomms - stand B221.

Yes we know the login system for on the school side is now pretty dated. But it's also pretty tough to change. There is quite a lot of work going on to change some of the technologies Schoolcomms is built on coming up, and some of that will make it much easier to change the authentication model, this is why it has sat on the to-do list for a while. Out of interest, do you use O365? any idea what proportion of schools do? if we authenticated to that would that work for you? MS are pushing it quite hard.

If you are printing them all out to send them home, the other option is to just email them all to parents from Schoolcomms. It takes minutes to do the whole school. We do a 30day free trial so you can do it for real before you even buy it.

It's on the list as one of the things to do, but it's not easy for a couple of reasons: 1. It's a lot of user interface work, both at the parent and school end 2. There is a lot of data to read from SIMS, and to write to SIMS (imagine there is just one or two fields we don't support that you really want, suddenly the time it saves you is not so great, because you still have to run some other process for just those two data items) 3. Capita charge quite a lot of money (per school) for partners to write back into SIMS so it's harder to make the numbers go round vs other functionality we could do But that's not to say we aren't interested, it just hasn't made it to the top of the list (yet). P.S.: Doing pre-admissions would be even harder!