Schoolcomms case study
Phase: Primary
MAT: The Kemnal Academies Trust
Unique challenge: Simplify communication while reducing carbon footprint and admin workload.
What goals were you hoping to achieve when you decided that an engagement system would be a good fit for your school?
Our aims were to reduce our carbon footprint by minimising the use of paper, to simplify home-school communications, and to reduce the workload of the admin team whilst giving parents more control.
What made you decide to use Schoolcomms to reach these goals?
I had used it before in a previous setting having identified that it was, first and foremost, a communication system. Many other systems started life as a payment portal, MIS or web page system and the comms were merely an add on which didn’t seem to work so efficiently.
What day-to-day challenges has using Schoolcomms helped you to overcome?
It has enabled us to become a ‘cashless school’ and we have reduced our dinner money debt thus reducing workload and financial detriment.
What has parent and staff reaction been to School Gateway?
The parents are very positive. We have over 91% registered on School Gateway and over 82% using the app. The staff find it helpful that we can send reminders without a carbon or cost impact and it also allows parent responses to be easily achieved at short notice and all stored on the MIS.
What effect has the COVID-19 pandemic had on your use of Schoolcomms?
COVID saw a huge increase in the number of parents signing up to the gateway. Naturally, hard copies of information were not possible during school closure and, upon re-opening, it meant a significant reduction in terms of touch contact.
Has Schoolcomms helped your school to adapt to the challenges posed by the pandemic?
Absolutely. Although the classroom staff use another system more suited to class-based communications, School Gateway became the ‘go to’ for parents for every type of enquiry. This has continued and we have subsequently seen a drop in the number of phone calls we receive.
What advice would you give to a school that is currently thinking about implementing Schoolcomms?
Do it. The support and training are delivered with speed and accuracy and the system is user-friendly and intuitive.
