We had the pleasure of meeting two exceptional headteachers at the IAPS conference recently. We were delighted to hear what they had to say about how Classlist is used to engage their parent communities - and how they use it as parents themselves.
Greenfield School is a nursery and co-educational school for children from six months to age 11. Academic success and happy children go hand in hand here at this nurturing school in Woking, UK.
At Greenfield, both the school and the parent association use Classlist to communicate with parents.
Tania Botting, Headmistress, Greenfield School says that using Classlist cuts through the noise on email because messages can be sent to specific groups, instead of to the whole cohort. The school has found that parents are less likely to miss important messages.
Mrs Botting said: "It's reducing emails that parents are getting. We use it for targeting particular groups of children and particular parents. We're finding that parents aren't missing information in quite the same way. We have been persuading our parents to move away from WhatsApp groups. Now, they are encouraged to use Classlist.
"Our Class Reps have administration rights on Classlist so they can put up any information that's relevant to the class. The parent association puts up details of tickets for various events.
"We are using both sides - we've got the school administration and the parent administration side. Classlist has been really good, really popular."
We found a similar story at Longacre School, a co-educational independent school for children aged 2 to 11. Set in the glorious Surrey Hills, just five miles south of Guildford, UK, it's a family-oriented school with a fantastic reputation for its all-round offering. Longacre's parent association has used Classlist for two years to communicate with parents and organise events.
Matthew Bryan, Headmaster, Longacre School, says his parent association has found in Classlist an inclusive alternative to WhatsApp. Longacre's PTA Chair had presented the idea of Classlist to him.
He said: "We were looking for something that was more efficient than WhatsApp. We had parents at school who didn't want to be on WhatsApp groups but still wanted the PTA information. So it has really helped them. We've had it for two years in school and it has been a great success."
Mr Bryan has also found Classlist useful in his role as a parent at another school. He said: "My daughter just started a new school and they've got Classlist. It's been great to quickly get the information. I'd recommend it to anyone who's looking for something a bit more efficient than other communication devices.