Halterworth Primary finds success with online Forms App – 80% response!

Over 60% of parents responded to the first online questionnaire sent out by Halterworth Primary School using ParentMail’s new Forms, Permissions & Surveys App– a far better response than they had ever received to surveys before.

The school has been using the new App to send questionnaires to parents. The first questionnaire on parental requirements for holiday childcare received a 60% response – with paper copies, School Admin Officer Alison explained, they often received very low response rates.

Their next survey did even better. Alison told us, “Within 10 minutes of sending our second questionnaire on free school meals for infant children, I had 20 completed responses and it wasn’t long before 80% of parents had replied. We certainly wouldn’t have received any that quickly before, it simply wouldn’t have happened with paper copies!” Because parents can complete forms and surveys on their mobile phones, tablets or computers, it's much easier for them to respond.

The information that Halterworth Primary School have received from the surveys has surprised them and has been incredibly useful. “For example, we asked parents their views on free school dinners for next year, assuming they would all be keen for this, but actually some weren’t.”

Parents have reacted well to the online questionnaires, and many have contacted the school to say it would be useful to also collect permissions for trips and other information needed by the school. “Our parents are extremely busy but also very supportive,” says Alison, “receiving forms and surveys online not only saves the school a lot of time but also the parents.”

The school certainly aim to use the app for its full potential and plan to use the dinner booking form for new Year R children in September, so they can collect meal selections from parents online, rather than sending paper forms home each week.

Alison told us, “We see so much potential with ParentMail that we’ve arranged onsite training here at the school. We know there’s a lot more it can do and we certainly have plans to get the most out of it!”

Currently, the school use ParentMail to send out messages every Friday, and now to send surveys and get feedback from parents. One plan for Halterworth Primary for the future is to use ParentMail to contact parents about some of the clubs and extra-curricular activities within the school – “We have  many clubs at Halterworth and it’s very difficult to keep on top of all of them. At the moment we use ParentMail to let parents know about cancellations and time changes, but it would be great to use it for everything club related – advertising new clubs etc. It’s a big job but it’s certainly something we want to do in the future – using ParentMail will help and we know that parents would appreciate having all their messages in one place.“

With lots of future plans and some good feedback from Parents, it seems Halterworth Primary are benefiting greatly from their new school apps. If you’re interested in finding out how our new Forms, Permissions, and Surveys app could help your school get in touch.