mySchoolApp offers the perfect School Newsletter template
Many schools publish school news via the traditional school newsletter template to keep parents up-to-date with what’s going on in and out of school. Whether you produce your newsletter on a weekly, monthly, or ‘whenever I get around to it’ basis, they’re still regarded as an important part of parental engagement.
Out with the old, in with
the new…
If you’ve found this post while looking for tips to write an engaging school newsletter, or for the perfect school newsletter template then perhaps you could look at things slightly differently and change the way your school communicates with parents/carers. By keeping up with technology in a way your parents/carers would find most convenient to use, schools can improve parental engagement whilst saving money too.
In the beginning
There was a time, not that long ago when the school admin team would write the school newsletter and send it home by ‘pupil post’ in school bags. In fact some schools are still there! Whether letters home are received or not depended on the child remembering to put it in their bag, not leave it on their desk, or making sure it doesn’t get covered in food from an unsealed packed lunch. Problems that we are sure schools and parents/carers can relate to…
The school newsletter template has evolved
To ensure more parents received the important information schools send out there was a move towards electronic versions of the newsletter. A PDF of the newsletter would be sent out via email and also uploaded onto the school website. It was a great idea, but it was also not without its problems.
These days parents don’t spend as much time on the home computer as they used to, research shows us that they are now spending more of their time online on their smartphones or tablets.
Smartphones have grown increasingly common in recent years and have taken on a central role providing us with information, whether by news or social media apps.
Ipsos Connect Tech Tracker Survey shows that in 2015 two-thirds (66%) of adults accessed the Internet via mobile devices. This is continuing to increase steadily. Additionally, according to Deloitte, two-thirds of smartphone owners use their devices while on public transport, 60% while at work and almost half while meeting a friend. The smartphone has become the most personal, most coveted of companions, rarely leaving our side.
And this is where electronic versions of a school newsletter started to have issues. When you open a PDF on a phone, generally the whole page is displayed to fit in the screen. Unfortunately, the text can’t be easily read on a small screen. As a result, parents/carers need to zoom in and then scroll around. We all know how frustrating this can be. Scrolling and zooming makes it tricky for parents/carers to read news from your school newsletter template and if it’s not easy they’ll move on. Many parents now see newsletter email with PDF attachment and decide to read it from their PC later. Sometimes they forget altogether which means they’re missing out on vital school information.
School mobile apps are the new school newsletter template
With a school app, schools upload news directly to the parents/carers Smartphones. This completely removes the need to write a school newsletter. The school admin team can upload a news article straightaway rather than wait to collate information into a newsletter. By simply uploading news directly onto an app, it is instantly available to parents.
Easy to read news right in parents’ hands. And with free translations, parents with EAL concerns are engaged too
There are other benefits too for School Admin teams. No longer will they have to chase teachers for stories to make the school newsletter on time. A main benefit however is no longer having to waste time formatting documents and saving in correct formats.
Parents and Carers can access school information from anywhere and at any time. They can check the school newsfeed and quickly scroll to the information that is important to them. They can keep on top of notices and reminders, and with a couple of taps, can add events to their own calendars. This is possibly one of the most important benefits of a school app as it ensures that Parents and Carers don’t forget those all-important school events due to forgetting to add to their own diaries.
Retire the Newsletter
Our ‘Retire the Newsletter’ campaign is not about getting rid of newsletters but instead about changing the way that schools share their news. Rather than writing school newsletters within a school newsletter template, we want to encourage schools to share school news effectively. Our app gives schools the opportunity to share instant updates. As a result, we find that schools share more news, not less, which improves engagement.
With most parents relying on their smartphones to run their lives, many schools have stopped producing school newsletters in the old way. Instead, they are publishing their news directly on mySchoolApp.
Why not give it a go yourself…
