26 Oct 2015
Today we are officially launching our new school app: Engadine West Public School through skoolbag.
Last term, at a P&C meeting, parents asked if we could investigate such an app to support parents in their organisation and communication with the school. One of our Strategic Directions in our School Plan 2015-2017 is ‘Strong, positive school community partnerships'. Under this direction we have evaluated our communications policies and processes and have found that skoolbag fills a gap in our communication systems.
The skoolbag app has many functions. Initially, we will mainly be using the app to ‘push' notifications to parents. This means that once you download the app to your smart device, you can receive notifications and your phone or device will make a sound, just like receiving a message. We have created different notification groups in the app which parents can manage. For example, parents may like to receive notifications just for Year 6 events, so they could turn on notifications for that group. The push notifications will be particularly useful for last minute messages, such as late excursion buses; and important reminders, such as notes due.
We will explore the additional functions of the app as time progresses and will keep all of our community members up to date as things change. As with all new technology, there may be hiccups and things to iron out, so we appreciate your understanding in advance.
The app is free to download and use for parents. Instructions for downloading and setting up notifications have been included in the Week 4 Term 4 newsletter and posted on our school's official facebook page. They can also be found at this link: http://www.skoolbag.com.au/forparents.php
Please remember that the key portal to our school is still through this official website. The website hosts all of the vital information for our school and should always be checked before calling the school.