Keep calm and carry on: communications, closures and COVID-19

In light of the UK’s escalating response to COVID-19, organisations across the country are putting plans in place to keep business operating as usual. 

In the face of closures, however, shutting up shop to work from home isn’t straight forward for schools. There’s a lot to think about, plan and prepare for in the face of current uncertainty.  

From remaining compliant and working efficiently to staying in touch with staff and parents, we’re ready to support your school to keep calm and carry on over the coming days, weeks and months. 

Data collection 

Do you have up to date contact details for parents? How about information around contingency plans for those who rely on alternative childcare arrangements?  

Having the correct contact and care data, as well as relevant student health and safety information, ensures you’re ready to take action as and when required. With the right information at hand, your communication strategy is clear and straightforward, saving unnecessary headaches for staff and parents. 

Our Online Form platform makes collecting and reporting on contact details, health and safety data and survey responses quick and easy. Our engagement solutions integrate with school MIS, making it easy to circulate surveys and forms to individuals, classes and year groups. This is a super simple and cost-effective solution to all your data collection needs! 

Staying in touch with parents 

If and when it comes to closing down schools, informing parents will be at the top of your to-do list. For circulating urgent messages en masse, text messaging remains the method of choice for most schools. Topping up text credits with ParentMail is quick and easy, with a choice of bundles to suit schools of all sizes. 

Throughout closures, staying in touch with parents is key. Thanks to our handy mobile app and desktop portal, you can rest easy knowing your parents are up to date with the latest information and news from your school.  

Unlike many other parent engagement solutions on the market, our reporting suite provides a handy insight into message performance, too, so you can see who has and hasn’t opened your communications. 

Payments 

The risks around germs and cash are well known; coins and notes harbour bacteria and, considering how quickly cash is circulated, you'll likely want to keep the sanitizer to hand when handling money. Cashless payments are a wise choice in the current climate, allowing parents to pay for items from the comfort of home, reducing cash and footfall on school grounds. 

+Pay plugs into ParentMail and PS Connect engagement platforms, providing a seamless payment process for all kinds of school items. Parents can pay via our free mobile app and desktop portal, ensuring schools stay on top of finances during closures. 

At home learning 

Teachers are busy preparing at-home learning and lesson plans to support students in the instance of extended closures. With uncertainty around what the future may bring, it’s difficult to tell how long you may be closed for – so facilitating at-home learning is important. 

Sharing resources and at-home learning packs is secure and easy with ParentMail. Remember, our platform integrates seamlessly with the school management information system, enabling you to circulate attachments and content by individual, class or year group, quickly and easily. 

Staff engagement 

So, your parent engagement is in hand – how about staff? Working from home requires reliable and secure messaging to keep all staff engaged and up to date with the latest news and information. Secure messaging via mobile or desktop, as well as online forms, meeting and event planning solutions all support strategic staff communications. 

ParentMail can be accessed by admin users whenever and wherever you may be - meaning you have total flexibility to manage communications, payment windows and reporting from home, if required! 

We’re ready to support your school – let's get started.