How To Choose The Best Parent Teacher Communication App For Your School

A mother and a daughter looking at a school communication app on their phone

Parent teacher communication apps create an easier form of communication for everyone in the school community. It creates a futuristic and logical solution to a school’s communication issues. 

Communication tools develop parent engagement and create a simpler format for school community members to stay connected with events and notices at the school. Skool Loop is a communication app for schools within NZ, Australia and more. We want schools to know why they should consider using a communication app to simplify, centralise and develop their school communication. 

 

What Is A Parent Teacher Communication App?  
A parent teacher communication app provides effective and efficient communication between the teachers, principles and their school community. This includes messaging, emergency activation services, notices and parent teacher interviews. It provides an easier format for teachers for communicating with parents, and likewise, parents have an easier communication channel with their children’s teachers. These apps have advanced features that help to build parent engagement, with many features specifically designed for schools.   

 

How Does A Parent Teacher Communication App Help With School Communication? 
Trying to connect with parents can be a difficult dilemma for school teachers and staff. It is hard to know if parents are receiving important notices, if they are handed out through students (such as school notices) or sent as email notices with a low click rate. 

School apps allow for a range of school events and notices to be placed in one location and viewed by those in the school community. Communication between parents and teachers can be done easily within an app, and most of the necessary audience of notices and school messages have access to a phone to view the messages in real-time.   

 

Are School Communication Apps Safe & Easy To Use?  
School communication apps generally have the ability to private message authorised members within the community. However, this is done with safety and security of the school community members in mind. Many have authorisation processes to ensure that the correct community members are included, and have various functional abilities within the app. Many apps will have detailed privacy and security features that should be read and understood by the school leaders.   

 

What Features Should The App Include?   

    • Absentee Messaging
      Having an absentee messaging feature means that the parent can directly communicate with the relevant staff member about a student’s absence from class.

 

    • School Newsletter
      Having a school newsletter function allows for newsletters and newsletter corrections to be published in one location. The parents can access this from their phones and be notified of the newsletter publication when it occurs.

 

    • Parent Teacher Interviews
      Check if you can be conducted or booked through the communication app. You can easily create school interviews withing the Skool Loop app.

 

    •  Permission Slips
      Permission slips are commonly used to secure parental consent and are an essential part of school life. Despite their importance, permission slips aren’t necessarily returned to the school and paper-based forms can easily be lost. Delivered directly to the relevant caregiver and a safer more secure way of gaining authorisation.

 

    • Multi-Language Capabilities
      Communicate easier with your whole school community, with the opportunity to translate notices and communicate with community members in various languages. Skool Loop app offers translations between English, German, Mandarin & more.

 

    • Safety & Security
      Make sure the privacy and protection of your school community are the focus of your communication app as schools are now required to adhere to strict government security restrictions.
      Skool Loop app allows schools to lock/passphrase their school apps to create an exclusive school  communication platform between teachers, school administrators, parents, and the school community.

 

    • Instant Communication
      Push notifications make sending notifications easier and instant. Make sure the app lets you send messages instantly, immediately notifying parents and students of relevant school information such as announcements, reminders and emergency planning.

 

    • Pricing
      How much will you be paying to use the parent teacher communication app? Skool Loop is a communication app for schools and families to use that has a small subscription for schools, offering easy access to an excellent tool for all of the school community.

 

  • Syncing with other software
    A school communication tool should be able to sync with other software used at the school, such as student management systems, parent portals, Seesaw, Class dojo, payment portals etc. Skool Loop works with other school applications and can link to them.