Kaskenmoor School Keep Parents Informed with 2Nc Alert
Kaskenmoor’s Attendance Officer, Kathryn Halpen, and its Finance and Business Manager, Eileen Davison, were both very happy to talk about the positive impact that 2Nc Alert has had on the school. Saving Up to 2 Hours a Day Kathryn Halpen, who is the main user of 2Nc Alert at Kaskenmoor, is delighted with the system and has found that it not only allows her to inform parents that their child is absent from school straight away, but also saves her, on average, 2 hours a day in terms of administration. Kathryn says of 2Nc Alert: “I cannot believe how much time I used to spend phoning parents and writing absence letters every day before we had 2Nc Alert. Now I can send a standard text message to dozens of parents within a matter of minutes.” Prior to incorporating 2Nc Alert into the school’s daily operations, certain members of staff were concerned as to whether or not parents would be averse to receiving a text message as opposed to a letter informing them that their child is absent from school. However, when the school began using 2Nc Alert, many parents actually commented on how much they prefer to be contacted via text message as opposed to by any other means. Kathryn adds: “Since we started using 2Nc Alert, the level of truancy has decreased by 20%.” Parents Respond Straight Away With regard to parents’ response rate to text messages, Eileen Davison says: “In the past, if a pupil was absent on a Friday, the school would often only receive an explanation from the parent the following Monday, given the fact that an absence letter would only reach the parent on the Saturday. This problem no longer exists now we have 2Nc Alert, because we can send a text message to parents on a Friday and we receive a response almost immediately. “What is more, it is true that a lot of parents no longer have landline telephones and actually rely on mobile phones, possibly because mobile phone contracts are so cheap these days.” Attendance Audit Trail Kaskenmoor School have found 2Nc Alert’s Reporting facility to be particularly beneficial. Eileen comments: “A big bonus for us is that we can now provide concrete evidence to the Education Welfare Officer that documents exactly what the school is doing to improve attendance. “In the past, the Education Welfare Officer only had our word to prove that we had been contacting parents to chase up absent pupils, but now, by using the 2Nc Alert System’s Reporting facility, we can provide the Education Welfare Officer with a paper audit trail of everything the school has done to improve attendance.” Group Messaging Eileen continues: “Along with Truancy Tracker, the aspect of the 2Nc Alert System that has benefited Kaskenmoor the most so far is the Group Messaging facility. We send text messages to parents about lots of different things, such as Parents’ Evenings and to notify them that their child’s exams are coming up, which helps to ensure that pupils are revising. “Generalised text messaging to parents has not only made communication between the school and parents so much easier, but has also dramatically reduced administration costs. After all, a text message costs considerably less than a postage stamp and takes a lot less time to send than a letter.” Looking to the Future When asked how she thinks the school will benefit from the 2Nc Alert System in the future, Eileen said: “In the long run, we plan to get even more out of 2Nc Alert. For instance, we are very keen to extend our use of the system’s Group Messaging facility by sending group messages to pupils, as well as parents. This would be particularly useful as a means of reminding GCSE pupils about examination times and dates when they are on study leave from school, because pupils do sometimes forget.” Kaskenmoor School is also keen to start benefiting from the Tell…by Txt anti-bullying service, of which Eileen says: “One of the biggest concerns that children have these days is bullying, so Tell…by Txt will definitely help to make the children feel safe.” Eileen concludes: “2Nc Alert has had such a positive impact on Kaskenmoor School. As well as improving communication between the school and parents, 2Nc Alert has saved the school valuable time and money. “We just would not be without it.” |
Kaskenmoor School is really making the most of the 2Nc Alert System, which has improved attendance levels and communication between the school and parents. 
