6 Features to include on a primary school app

More than ever before, effective communication between schools and parents plays a vital role in creating a supportive and engaged learning community. One powerful tool that primary schools can utilise is a parent engagement app. 

By harnessing the capabilities of technology, schools can streamline communication, keep parents informed, and foster a strong partnership. In our article, we will outline the top five features that a primary school should include in their parent engagement app to ensure effective parent-school communication.

1. Important dates in a calendar

A well-maintained and up-to-date calendar feature is an essential component of any parent engagement app. It provides parents with easy access to crucial dates such as term start and end dates, holidays, school events, and extracurricular activities. By including a calendar, parents can stay informed and plan accordingly, ensuring their child's participation and attendance at important school events.

A good calendar will have ‘tagging’ capability, so that you can easily show parents categories of events (by class, year or activity type, for example) and it will also allow you to include consent forms. Our dynamic calendar offers this functionality and much more. 

2. Push Notifications and Segmentation

Real-time communication is crucial for keeping parents informed about urgent announcements, reminders, or upcoming events. An effective parent engagement app should offer push notification functionality. This feature enables schools to send instant alerts, updates, and reminders to parents' devices. Furthermore, the ability to segment groups of parents based on year groups, classes, or interests ensures that notifications are targeted, relevant, and received by the intended recipients.

3. Information about Parents' Evenings

Parents’ evenings provide valuable opportunities for parents to discuss their child's progress, strengths, and areas for improvement. Including a dedicated section within the parent engagement app for parents' evenings can help streamline the scheduling process. Parents can easily view available time slots, book appointments with teachers, and receive automatic reminders. This feature enhances convenience, increases attendance rates, and fosters strong parent-teacher communication.

4. An online absence form

Reporting student absences should be a seamless and convenient process for parents. An online absence form, customised to the specific requirements of the school, can simplify this task. By including an absence form within the parent engagement app, parents can easily notify the school of their child's absence, provide reasons, and digitally sign their consent for the absence. This feature ensures accurate attendance records and facilitates efficient communication between parents and the school.

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5. Latest newsletter & newsletter archive

To keep parents well-informed about school news, updates, and policies, the parent engagement app should provide easy access to the latest newsletter. Important announcements, upcoming events, and celebrating achievements is only ever one click away.

6. Uniform requirements

Finally, including a dedicated section for school uniform guidelines and requirements as well as links to uniform shops, means that parents stay informed about the dress code and can enjoy a simplified process of purchasing school uniforms. This is particularly useful for new parents and students starting the school for first time. 

By incorporating these essential features into a parent engagement app, primary schools can significantly enhance communication and improve relationships with both parents and students. If you’d like to include all the above features in an app for your school, we can help. To arrange a chat, get in touch and we will arrange a suitable time.