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How many apps does your school have?

12 replies

pelargoniums · 12/09/2023 09:28

For fun, how many apps/contacts/information dissemination thingies does your school have?

DD has just started infants and we’ve got:

• Tapestry (for daily individual reports)
• Class Dojo (for last-minute updates like bring a raincoat or daily group reports, but also to tell you they’ve sent an email)
• Arbor (for more formal reports like attendance)
• Facebook (for random information like £1 ice cream sales)
• Emails (seven in one day is their best effort yet)
• Magic Booking (for breakfast and after school clubs)
• Set2Win (for sports clubs)
• WhatsApp (for class group chats so someone with military levels of organisation can read and digest all the apps for everyone else, and lots of parents with emojis in their WhatsApp name can say “what time does school finish today hun xx”)
• Blackboards at the gates/playground (for information that mysteriously doesn’t appear anywhere else)
• Website (for information that ever so slightly contradicts everything else you’ve been told, eg T-shirts for PE Vs polo shirts on the emails and handouts)

Not intending to teacher bash as I hear from my teacher pals that it’s worse to be the one updating all this crap than being on the receiving end. Any teacher bashing and I’ll push you over in the playground.

I do have a friend whose children attend a school with one (1!) single portal that does everything. She is at peace.

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Pascha · 12/09/2023 09:34

Parent portal for all emails, newsletters and info.

There's a Facebook page which is almost never used, also Twitter and Instagram, also never used.

Erm? I think that's it.

If course parents sometimes set up their own class WhatsApp groups but it's not official.

Whinge · 12/09/2023 09:35

We have

A school website
Class Dojo
School gateway (for payments)
Email

Some classes have a WhatsApp group but that's separate from the school so I wouldn't include that.

PuttingDownRoots · 12/09/2023 09:41

ParentPay for paying for things and ordering uniform
ClassDojo for messages and class points
Seesaw for if they switch online (hasn't been used for other a year)
SIMS for school records
Email

ParentPay and SIMs covers the Secondary school as well, and its one account even though its different, unconnected schools (so I can pay for a school trip for one while topping up the others food money... extremely helpful system!)

Important stuff comes via email or paper letter.

mindutopia · 13/09/2023 13:44

Just one. I can barely remember to use that and dh doesn't even have it. They do send a weekly email too and the occasional email about something else mid-week.

pelargoniums · 13/09/2023 16:36

Oh gosh, I’m envious of the quiet lives your phones must all be leading.

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woodyscowboyhat · 13/09/2023 16:51

ParentMail
Seesaw
Class Doio
Wraparound care booking site
What's app group
Friends of the school Facebook
Normal school Facebook and twitter
School dinners website

Now you say it... it does seem a lot.

OhhhhhhhhBiscuits · 13/09/2023 16:54

Google Classroom
MCAS
Weekly whole schools email.

Thats it. Its an amazing school.

TeenDivided · 14/09/2023 15:36

What no Twitter / X ?

That is a totally ridiculous amount of Apps.
Glad we didn't have all that when mine were at primary!

Coral569 · 15/09/2023 09:14

We don't have anything like that. We've got:

Parentpay website to pay for things
Texts if there's an update
One email newsletter a week

CoffeeWithCheese · 15/09/2023 09:21

Two - one for the office stuff like payments and club booking, and then Dojo for the teachers to communicate about the class.

While they were trying things out and settling on a setup that worked though we had about 6 of the bloody things at one point! (Lovely school - not the most tech-savvy staff!)

elsieandthepooch · 15/09/2023 12:10

Wow that is a lot. We have Dojo, Parent Pay and then everything sent on Dojo tends to get repeated and sent on email too.

Pjmasksonrepeat · 17/09/2023 19:22

Parentpay
Tapestry
Marvellous me
Facebook

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