The Ultimate Toolkit for Parental Engagement in Schools
Time to read: 13min21 Jun 2020
It’s no secret that we’re strong advocates of parental engagement in schools and the impact it has on pupil progress. In fact, we’ve been helping schools to better engage with parents since 2003.
And with studies showing that parent power is key to improving pupil attainment time and time again, it's easy to see why. But with so much for schools to contend with – be it tightening budgets or ever-growing workloads - this is easier said than done.
We understand that term time can be quite the logistical juggling act. Ultimately, when it comes to keeping parents informed, there’s a lot they need to know to ensure their child is reaching their full potential.
While there are many strategies you can adopt to improve your parental engagement, we have a solution that makes this much easier.
Schoolcomms' Online Reporting module gives parents a clear view of their child's education. As a result, they are better equipped to effectively support and accelerate their children's learning.
Driven by our mission to create a brighter future for all, our cost-effective solution seamlessly connects the school, pupils and parents.
Here are 5 ways you can use our Online Reporting module to transform your parental engagement.
5 ways Online Reporting improves parental engagement in schools
1. Save on printing and postage with paperless comms
Paperless comms improves responses by ensuring your parents have all the information they need at their fingertips - be it by text, email or our very own parent app.
By publishing reports to the Schoolcomms app, you can allow instant notifications. Our cost-cutting, intuitive solution not only saves you money, but also guarantees your comms are safely delivered.
2. Better support pupil progress
Parents want regular updates that will help them encourage their child’s development in line with their abilities and potential. This can be a great challenge for teachers who are already strapped for time, never mind resources.
With Online Reporting, staff members can distribute progress reports from SIMS digitally. This means they can communicate each child’s performance and behaviour all from one central hub.
What’s more, you can choose which notifications parents receive via the app and publish them instantly. This keeps parents informed in real-time. As such, parents can stay connected to their child’s progress anytime, anywhere.
3. Improve attendance
Attendance is an important factor in improving pupil progress. Research has shown there is a clear link between poor attendance and lower academic achievement.
By sharing attendance data direct from SIMS to the app, you can automatically chase, and keep on top of, unexplained absences.
On top of this, with in-app messaging, parents can confirm and explain absences in just a few clicks.
With Schoolcomms, you can view all aspects of school attendance in one place. This enables you to monitor trends and easily identify effective measures to drive improvements.
4. Share resources online for free
For quick, hassle-free delivery, you can attach SIMS curriculum, or exam timetables and reports to emails.
Additionally, the school office can easily update these digital timetables as and when is required, making life even easier for staff too.
From the parent app, Staff can seamlessly share news, forms, surveys and much more. Consequently, parents have easy access to all the information they need about their child’s life at school.
With the app, staff can also share homework online. This gives parents greater visibility of outstanding tasks, enabling them to better support additional home learning. With parent-led home learning proven to have a significant impact on pupil achievement, this is crucial.
5. Raise pupil premium funding
Schoolcomms’ parent app includes a Pupil Premium checker for parents. Our checker guides them through a series of questions to determine if they’re eligible for Pupil Premium support.
When parents complete the in-app survey, the school is automatically notified if eligibility is likely, making the process easier than ever.
Thanks to our Pupil Premium checker, some of our schools have identified additional families who did not know they were eligible. Consequently, many schools have been able to raise thousands of pounds in extra support.
Highly effective as a stand-alone product or as part of our wider parental engagement platform, thousands of schools trust our Online Reporting module to improve the way they engage with parents.
To find out more about our Online Reporting module, simply get in touch, or book a live demo.
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