Parental engagement

The effectiveness with which the school communicates with all parents and carers with parental responsibility, including those who may be reluctant or unsure about approaching the school, such as mothers and fathers not living with their children, those accessing additional services and those whose children have special educational needs and/or disabilities.

Groupcall Messenger provides your school with a cost effective SMS, voice & email communication solution. SMS is effective in opening communication channels with disengaged, reluctant or unsure parents and carers. Messenger empowers you to send voice messages in 14 different languages, enabling the school to engage with those who may not speak English as a first language.

The views expressed by parents and carers through the Ofsted survey carried out at the point of inspection, and any survey information provided by the school.

Groupcall Messenger eases the delivery of the Ofsted survey (and surrounding information) to parents.

This can be undertaken in several ways, for example:-

• Electronic - The survey can be uploaded onto the schools website or LP (Learning Platform). A communication through Groupcall Messenger could then be broadcast to parents/carers, with the website or Learning Platform embedded as a hyperlink, pushing the parents straight to the survey for completion.
  

• Hard copy - A communication via Messenger can be broadcast to parents/carers informing them that the form has been sent home with the student for their completion. This reduces the chances of the form being discarded. The school can pursue parents who have not completed the survey via text, voice or email, saving precious administration time which often occurs when chasing forms.

The frequency and quality of the school’s communications with parents and carers regarding the achievement, well-being and development of their children, including; reporting arrangements, clarity of lines of communication, response rates and complaints procedures.

A recent parental survey showed that 60% of parents would only log into the schools VLE/LP if they were reminded to do so.

Groupcall Messenger empowers your school to ‘push’ on-line reporting to parents and carers engaging them with information regarding their children’s achievement, development, behaviour, SEN and attendance, via text, voice or email. The messages not only provide the school with the ability to inform the parent and carer with the necessary on-line reporting information, but can also include the encouragement for them to “log-on” to the school’s website, VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) or LP. Groupcall Messenger includes an audit trail of all inbound and outbound communications. The audit trail can be analysed, and reports compiled, providing schools with evidence to prove that their best endeavours were made to engage 100% of the schools parents with their individual child’s learning

The frequency and quality of the schools communications with parents and carers regarding important school developments, including the ways the school has used the views of stakeholders to influence the school’s priorities.

Messenger has become a key component of our existing user’s communication structure, enabling schools to instantly and simply communicate with parents and carers at a low cost with minimal labour compared to traditional methods of correspondence. Parents and carers are able to respond to messages and provide their views via SMS, voice or email, in response to surveys or on an ad-hoc basis.

The mechanisms for helping parents to support their children’s learning, for example through: information provided activities for parents and carers and support for specific groups and individuals.

With Groupcall Messenger, schools can provide the necessary information directly to parents via email, voice or text to support their child’s learning. Alternatively, you can communicate with parents and carers and encourage them to “log-in” to the VLE/LP, and inviting them to join in any activities and groups that could be advantageous to their child’s learning.