The launch morning began with school staff introducing the app to parents from the school community. They spoke about how the app would make home/school communicaon easier for parents, as messages could can never get lost as with a paper newsleer, the posts can include as much informaon, links and images as needed unlike text messages, and the app brings new content directly to the reader, unlike a school website. The community was shown how they could download the app from Apple App store or Google’s Play Store. By the end of the session the app had been downloaded over 200 mes. Each of the secons of the app where explained to the parents. The calendar shows key dates of events at the school and it can be synced to draw items directly from the school website. The latest arcles are published to the ‘news’ feed and the school can push out mobile noficaons to alert parents to the most important items, and newly published arcles from the school website will be automacally published to the ‘meline’ secon of the app. The parents were shown the ‘contacts’ and ‘informaon‘ secons where the schools vital details are easily accessable on the go, and a phone call can even be started from within the app. Finally, the ‘surveys’ and ‘forms’ secons were explained and tried by the parents. These allow schools to gather feedback and informaon from the app users, such as absence reports, parent consultaon appointments, opinion polls and non- urgent messages to the school office - each saving me for the school and making it easy for parents to engage with the school directly from their mobile phone. The parents were also shown how to set their filter sengs within the app so they only receive content which is relave to them. As a primary school teacher, it is wonderful to experience those moments within a school when the pupils, staff and community are excitedly working on a project together. Mission Grove in Walthamstow have recently embarked on one such project, and I was invited to see excitement as the school launched their new Piota App. 06 UKED Magazine A School On A Mission While the presentaon with the parents was happening, the children, lead by the school council, were busily capturing photos from around the school on tablet devices to add to the app as a celebraon of the learning at Mission Grove and providing a ‘day in the life’ look at the school. The best images were selected by the school council and uploaded to the web-based app management system, which has a similar feel as composing an email, with aached images and adding wring to a text box. The school council discussed how having the app would impact on the school. They said that as well as making things easier for the school staff, the app would improve communicaon between the school and the community. They also menoned that the app is not just available to parents, but also grandparents and other family members can stay up to date with news from the school. Many of the children admied that they had also downloaded the app to their own phones and wanted the teachers to include content and notes from class. Lastly, I sat in on the staff training session about how to use the web-based management system. Staff were shown how to use their individual logins and were given a tour of the secons on the website. Collecvely on the classroom whiteboard, the staff composed a news post about an upcoming event with text, images and links in under two minutes and added it instantly to the app with a single click. They were also shown how to design forms and surveys by selecng the type of queson and adding the text. Engaging the school community so that everyone is supporng the learning of the children in a unified manner is vital to raising achievement and effecve communicaon is the key component. The Piota app will give parents and the wider community insight into the life of the school and allow easy communicaon and feedback like never before. But more importantly, as Jemima and Asha told me, “The App is Cool.” I can’t argue with that! By Marn Burre
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The launch morning began with school staff introducing the app to parents from the school community. They spoke about how the app would make home/school communication easier for parents, as messages could can never get lost as with a paper newsletter, the posts can include as much information, links and images as needed unlike text messages, and the app brings new content directly to the reader, unlike a school website.
The community was shown how they could download the app from Apple App store or Google’s Play Store. By the end of the session the app had been downloaded over 200 times.
Each of the sections of the app where explained to the parents. The calendar shows key dates of events at the school and it can be synced to draw items directly from the school website.
The latest articles are published to the ‘news’ feed and the school can push out mobile notifications to alert parents to the most important items, and newly published articles from the school website will be automatically published to the ‘timeline’ section of the app.
The parents were shown the ‘contacts’ and ‘information‘ sections where the schools vital details are easily accessable on the go, and a phone call can even be started from within the app.
Finally, the ‘surveys’ and ‘forms’ sections were explained and tried by the parents. These allow schools to gather feedback and information from the app users, such as absence reports, parent consultation appointments, opinion polls and non-urgent messages to the school office - each saving time for the school and making it easy for parents to engage with the school directly from their mobile phone.
The parents were also shown how to set their filter settings within the app so they only receive content which is relative to them.
As a primary school teacher, it is wonderful to experience those moments within a school when
the pupils, staff and community are excitedly working on a project together. Mission Grove in Walthamstow have recently embarked on one
such project, and I was invited to see excitement as the school launched their new Piota App.
06 UKED Magazine
A SchoolOn A
MissionWhile the presentation with the parents was happening, the
children, lead by the school council, were busily capturing photos from around the school on tablet devices to add to the app as a celebration of the learning at Mission Grove and providing a ‘day in the life’ look at the school.
The best images were selected by the school council and uploaded to the web-based app management system, which has a similar feel as composing an email, with attached images and adding writing to a text box.
The school council discussed how having the app would impact on the school. They said that as well as making things easier for the school staff, the app would improve communication between the school and the community. They also mentioned that the app is not just available to parents, but also grandparents and other family members can stay up to date with news from the school. Many of the children admitted that they had also downloaded the app to their own phones and wanted the teachers to include content and notes from class.
Lastly, I sat in on the staff training session about how to use the web-based management system. Staff were shown how to use their individual logins and were given a tour of the sections on the website. Collectively on the classroom whiteboard, the staff composed a news post about an upcoming event with text, images and links in under two minutes and added it instantly to the app with a single click. They were also shown how to design forms and surveys by selecting the type of question and adding the text.
Engaging the school community so that everyone is supporting the learning of the children in a unified manner is vital to raising achievement and effective communication is the key component. The Piota app will give parents and the wider community insight into the life of the school and allow easy communication and feedback like never before.
But more importantly, as Jemima and Asha told me, “The App is Cool.” I can’t argue with that!
ByMartin Burrett
ukedchat.com/magazine 07
www.piota.co.uk01702 780051 @piotaapps
Tip 1 - Accessibility: Communicate with parents directly on their most trusted device
95% of parents own a smartphone and have it to hand throughout the entire day. Why not reach them directly on the device they favour for all other communications?
Mobile apps have been developed specifically for the mobile world, email and the internet were not. Communication through apps is faster, richer and easier to manage. The school has full control over the app so content remains a trusted source of school focused information. No clogging up with junk or other peoples adverts.
Tip 2 - Relevant: Keep information fun, interesting and relevant!
Parents become disengaged when swamped by large volumes of information not relevant to them or their child. With an app, parents can opt into pre-defined groups such as year groups, classes, clubs and school trips to view only what they truly value.
Likewise, if you want to encourage parents to discuss curriculum topics or school life at home, send them bite-sized pieces of information as conversation starters with their child. By sending these on the app, you can include pictures, diagrams and links to videos, which will help parents engage their children much more easily. Here are two recent examples. Tip 3 - Modern: Don’t be afraid to push... notifications
How often have you published great material on the school website only to find it was hardly viewed because parents didn’t know it was there? Or sent emails which got stuck unread in bulging inboxes? As for texts, they are more likely to get through but are limited by their format to a brief functional message only.
Apps offer a much richer experience with versatile text formats and easy-to-add pictures, videos, PDF’s and links, and push notification capability that alerts parents to
news, messages and information when it arrives. What’s more, our data shows that when alerted to a new bulletin or article on the app the average parent then reads six
other pages immediately afterwards. Tip 4 - Evidence: Build engagement by learning from your impact
Apps allow schools to monitor in real time what their parents are reading. So you can see what’s successfully building engagement and what’s not.
Form the app management system, peaks on the graph are usually days when the school has sent out messages with push notifications attached. This information allows school to see how many page views each article gets and tailor future content and frequency of messaging accordingly. Tip 5 - Participation: Make parents feel special: ask them their opinions...
If you want to truly engage someone in conversation, ask them questions about themselves. It’s flattering for them and who knows, the answers might even be enlightening!
On an app you can conduct quick but extensive surveys of parents’ opinions with very little time and hassle. Want to know how well the new joiners to school have settled in? Or how Blue Class rated the trip to the museum today? Or how confident Year 6 are feeling about Maths six weeks ahead of KS2? Or what the whole school thinks of the new catering supplier?
Any survey message such as these takes five minutes to set up and send and responses are collected into a spreadsheet for you by the app.
Extra tip: to make the parents feel really valued, follow up with a message summarising the survey results and explaining what you are doing in response to their feedback. Now that’s engagement...
5 Tips for Improving Engagement with 21st Century Parents
A number of challenges stand between schools and effective, valuable engagement with parents Schools can improve parental engagement by revolutionising the way they communicate with families via a cost effective app.
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