With the average primary school sending 4,000 text messages a year and secondary schools sending over 12,000 – text messaging is popular method of communication within the educational services industry. There are various ways that schools, colleges and higher education institutions can successfully implement text messaging, whether it is to keep in contact with parents or students, such as sending reminders about important dates, or making them aware of any upcoming closures etc. With the 98% of text-messages being opened with 3 minutes SMS is the ideal method of communication due to it being quick, simple and reliable.
Confirmation of Attendance
o Allow students, parents or guardians to confirm attendance of any relevant events or appointments such as one-to-one mentoring, parents evening, assemblies and much more. You could allow the person to either reply back to a text-message reminder or purchase a dedicated long number for students or parents to text into confirming various events.
Reminders
o Easily send bulk sms reminders to parents to let them know of any payments required, such as for school trips, and you can remind parents of any appointments or upcoming events at the school. Likewise, you could send reminders to mature students, ensuring they are aware of any approaching deadlines or exams. Sending a text-message reminder can increase attendance rates by 45% and reduce “no-show” appointments – ensuring there to be a higher turnout rate!
Notifications
o Send bulk text alerts to parents or students to notify them of term dates and any upcoming inset days or other closures that they may be unsure of. This could also be used to notify parents of their child’s achievements, behaviour and attendance. Mature students could be notified of any exam or coursework results that are in.
Announcements
o There may be times when you need to make a last minute announcement – perhaps there is a school closure due to a power cut, or maybe there’s been a seminar room change. With the average person looking at their phone 105 times a day and such a high open rate, text message is likely to be the best way to contact users at such short notice, that way you’re more likely to catch them in a timely manner.
Feedback
o SMS surveys are a quick and simple way to gain invaluable feedback from students and/or parents in a short space of time. These could be single or multi question, and can be used to get feedback on guest lecturers or a course programme structure, as well as parents feedback for example ‘Did you get everything you hoped to from parent’s evening?’. Read our full guide on the benefits of Text Surveys and gaining a ROI.
Start implementing text-messaging in your educational institute today by recording parent and student mobile numbers when filling out emergency contact forms. This will mean you will have a database of numbers ready to keep up them to date of various school events and important announcements. Ensure you are compliant and offer parents/students the ability to opt out should they wish to stop receiving these messages, TextAnywhere offers a free opt-out service to all their clients.
For more information on how your educational institute can benefit from implementing SMS please feel free to contact us on 0845 122 1302 or email [email protected].