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Reaping the countless benefits of communication
Located in Bloxham, North Oxfordshire, The Warriner School is a mixed secondary school. After actively researching the parental communication system market, administration staff were particularly impressed with Groupcall Messenger.
Tackling the challenge
The school’s administration team were tasked with the challenge of sourcing an effective parental communication system that would be simple to integrate, improve efficiencies and save costs. Wanting to make an informed decision, the staff conducted extensive research. The school’s administration manager, Leigh Barmby, commented: “Messenger stood out against its competitors, yet we were slightly nervous about introducing such a system, thinking it might increase workload. However, thankfully these were worries that did not unfold.”
Solution
To gauge the effectiveness of parental communication systems, The Warriner School trialled Messenger. “The trial installation quickly demonstrated that Messenger was ideal; we therefore signed up to the service. Groupcall provided extensive training and a friendly and efficient service throughout,” revealed Leigh.
With Messenger’s ability to flag up when a child has not been registered, it means that same day contact can be achieved, with the school able to text message parents to inform them of an absence. Leigh explained: “Fortunately, absences have not yet been due to emergencies. However, having the ability to ensure same day follow-up means emergencies can be dealt with quickly; preventing problems from escalating.”
Counting the benefits
The school has reported numerous benefits since Messenger’s implementation. Leigh has been impressed with its simple integration and the high level of self-sufficiency it delivers. With five different users, the heads of each school house have individual accounts which they use to communicate with specific pupils’ parents and with Messenger located on their desktops it is straightforward to find on the school network.
Messenger is also cost effective, as Leigh reports: “We have already seen substantial fiscal savings through avoiding costs associated with traditional communication; it costs approximately £1.20 to send a letter, in comparison, texting via Messenger costs only 6p. Prior to implementation the school had a £9,000 postal bill and although newly introduced, Messenger has significantly reduced costs.”
Since Messenger guarantees faster delivery of messages compared to traditional methods of communication, overall time management for administration staff has improved. Contacting pupils takes less time since the service does this automatically with just the click of a few buttons as Leigh confirmed: “Over 75 per cent of our correspondence now goes out via email, which parents particularly like.”
The benefit of guaranteed and effective communication that The Warriner School has reported has extended to improving relationships. “With efficient contact facilitated, this overcomes barriers in communication between the school and its key stakeholders, and further welcomes parents into the school community. Messenger has also positively impacted the school’s relationships with governors and members of the PTA.” said Leigh.
With Messenger’s ability to integrate with the school’s MIS, constant and effective contact can be made. Leigh commented: “Messenger uses the contact information on our MIS to send emails. This saves the time consuming process of having to maintain a separate database and then send emails from a regular email programme.”
Always looking forward
The Warriner School is extremely satisfied with Groupcall’s service and Messenger’s benefits: “It’s reassuring to know that a member of the technical team will immediately strive to resolve any hitches. There is huge scope for how we could use Messenger but at present we are just thrilled to have implemented such a valuable solution,” concluded Leigh.
If you would like further information on Groupcall's parental contact solutions, please call us on 020 8502 7344 or email sales@groupcall.com
