New system spells the end of notes home from school

THE days of finding a note from the teacher in your child’s bag a month after the event are over for the parents of one Lisburn school.

Friends’ School has adapted the ParentMail system - a web-based service which is used to communicate with parents by e-mail and text.

Since it was introduced last September 95% of parents have registered for the system which is cutting costs and is more environmentally friendly.

Principal Elizabeth Dickson explained: “Our method of post to home and letters in the school bag was not an effective way of communicating with parents. Often letters were lost, and important information never reached its intended audience.

“We wanted to improve communication with parents, but also to save money on paper, photocopying and postage costs and be more environmentally friendly, reducing our reliance on paper resources” Mrs Dickson said.

So in September last year the school signed up to ParentMail.

Mrs Dickson said: “The move has been well received with parents who appreciate prompt notification of school events. They feel they are much more involved and know more than they did previously.”

ParentMail is used for sending newsletters, publicising events such as concerts and for closure reminders, and has already seen significant savings when compared to paper-based communication.

Teacher Robin McKay said: “As a web-based service, we can log in remotely to contact parents easily, even when away on school trips, whilst sport fixtures can be cancelled direct from my iPhone, making the system very convenient to use.”

Mrs Dickson added: “Last winter the facility to text parents and inform them about school closures during the period of heavy snow was invaluable – we would not have been able to notify parents so quickly any other way and saved unnecessary travel and risk.”

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