Using SMS in your school/parent engagement strategy

Amy Underdown - 8 March, 2023

School Operations

Category : Blog

Using SMS in your school/parent engagement strategy

It goes without saying just how important parent engagement is in schools. What many schools are finding is that communicating with parents via SMS/text is an effective and efficient way of notifying guardians with urgency and encouraging two-way communication. 

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But how exactly can using text messages improve your parent engagement strategy?

1. Reduce admin – With Arbor, you can send out messages to parents in bulk, to certain groups or to individuals. For example, you can text all the parents whose children are part of a specific intervention with just the click of a button, which makes life easier for office staff and means parents are notified in a timely way. 

2. Improve safeguarding – If a child is expected in school and has not shown up, the time in between this information reaching the office and contacting a guardian is crucial. SMS messages can be sent instantly from the office so that the information reaches the parent instantly. Guardians are also more likely to see a text message, with 90% of text messages being opened within three minutes of them being delivered. 

3. Visibility and efficiency – Text messages are an accessible way to reach parents and guardians. Most people carry their phones with them, meaning the message is likely to reach them with a sense of urgency, which isn’t guaranteed with emails or paper copies. It also encourages parents to reply where needed!

Read here for some top tips on how to make your parent communication strategy even more effective across all mediums. 

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How does using SMS messages work in Arbor and how does it help my school?

If you use Arbor MIS, your school will also be able to use our built-in SMS service for parent comms, making parent engagement:

• Simpler – When you add new students or update parent’s details in Arbor MIS, your SMS contacts are updated too. So you don’t have to worry about keeping details updated in another tool 
• Clearer – In Arbor, you can see all the messages you’ve sent to at a glance. This parent communication log means you know exactly who was sent what, and when
• Faster – You can highlight groups or single students you’d like to message about in Arbor – like those who are absent, or going on a trip – and text parents directly from the list. Great for when you need to get the word out quickly

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Arbor SMS Subscription is here!

We’re excited to introduce our new annual SMS tariff, making it simpler to kleep parents in the loop. Our Subscription SMS is ideal for schools who regularly send SMS. Pay yearly and get the benefits of an ongoing subscription:

• Save money vs buying individual SMS Bundles
• No regular top-ups
• Manage spend easily with one annual invoice

To find out more about SMS Subscription speak to you Account Manager today.

Not yet using Arbor MIS? We’d love to hear from you – get in touch with our friendly team here.