School’s Shut Due To Snow – 100,000 Parents Are Told By Text

Feb. 2, 2009 - PRLog -- More schools than ever have used the latest parental communication technology this morning to advise parents as fast as possible that schools have been closed by today’s heavy snowfalls.



Groupcall, one of the leading providers to the education sector, reported that, by 9.30am, 153 primary and secondary schools in the South East had sent more than 100,000 SMS messages to parents advising them that they were staying closed.



Almost all of the schools accessed Groupcall’s Messenger system remotely via a secure web site, negating the need on this occasion to actually be in school to contact parents. The system, which costs approximately £1 per pupil per year, reads parent contact information direct from the schools’ management information systems and generates SMS, email or voice messages in the home language of the pupil.



The news reinforces the findings of a recent independent survey which showed that more than two-thirds of parents want their child’s school to use text messaging to communicate with them more frequently. 68% of parents were in favour of the move in a survey of 1,493 parents of schoolchildren conducted by Populus for Becta, the Government's key partner in the development and delivery of its information and communications technology.



“Parents really want schools to embrace systems like Groupcall Messenger both to improve the flow of routine communication and to ensure that they can be quickly contacted in the event of an emergency,” says Groupcall’s Lawrence Royston.  



Award-winning Groupcall Messenger enables schools to send text, voice or email messages in any language to parents’ mobile phones or landlines. The system was developed in consultation with primary and secondary schools and provides unauthorised absence chasing and general parental communication all in one integrated desktop solution. The Groupcall system reads pupil and attendance information live and in real time from the school’s management system.



The way that schools are using the system are also diverse. In addition to using the system to chase up unauthorised absence and drive up school attendance, many are using the system for more routine communication. A number of schools are now using the system to send positive messages home to parents regarding their child’s performance in school or to send reminders about homework, dinner money owing, parents’ evening appointments or special school events or activities.



Ends.



Media Information:



Howard Robinson or Joe Palmer

Early Doors

T 0207 754 5560

E: howard@earlydoors.com or joe@earlydoors.com