Every term, we ask parents to share their thoughts on the communication they receive from your school. This guide will help you understand the results and show you ways to improve communication with parents.
Parents answered five simple questions, rating how much they agree or disagree with statements. If your school participated, you can find the results in the ‘Engagement Reporting’ section of your ReachMoreParents platform.
Our goal is to help your school improve communication by focusing on four important areas:
1. Targeted
2. Relevant
3. Volume
4. Timely
An example of what your results may look like is shown below:
Need help accessing the Engagement Reporting section in ReachMoreParents? See our guide to accessing and understanding all of the the data here: Understanding the Engagement Dashboard.
We recommend focusing mainly on the responses where parents selected “Disagree” or “Strongly Disagree” as these indicate key areas that may need improvement.
Parents are asked to complete these five questions once a term, and it takes less than 30 seconds. Below, we’ll explain what might cause a negative response and suggest ways to address those issues, along with links to useful training and support.
*Please note that if your school launched after the latest survey (they are run usually each April, July and December) , your parents would not have been included, so no results will be available. Additionally, since participating in the parent poll is optional, the data collected may not fully represent your entire parent population.
Targeted Communication
Problem:
A parent responded either “strongly disagree” or “disagree” to the following question: "The communications I received from the school this term were specific to my child(ren)."
Potential Issue – Broadcasting:
- What it is: Broadcasting happens when parents receive too many messages that don’t specifically apply to their child(ren).
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Why it’s a problem:
- Parents may feel frustrated when they have to sort through information that seems “irrelevant.”
- When they receive too many messages, especially ones that don’t apply to their own child(ren), parents might start ignoring important communications. This can cause them to miss urgent updates or information they actually need.
- Sending too many whole-school messages dilutes the value of your communication. If parents are constantly receiving non-relevant messages, they may disengage entirely, leading to less effective communication overall.
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Examples:
- Updates about lost uniforms sent to all years
- School news that only affects Years 8 and 9 but is sent to the entire school
- Newsletters covering all year groups might not matter to every parent. This can lead to important messages being overlooked.
Our Recommendation:
- Limit whole-school messages: Only send whole-school messages when the information is important for all parents
- Be specific: Focus on sending communications to smaller groups (like a class, form, or year group) instead of the whole school e.g. when sharing photos from a class trip, send them only to that specific class group
- Target your messages: Whenever possible, send messages only to the parents they apply to. [Check out our guide on how to target parents when sending messages here (link)].
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Segment and shorten newsletters
- Post good news, like student achievements, in the Newsfeed – but send them to the relevant parents.
- Add upcoming events to the Calendar and send them only to parents who need that information. [Check out our guide to calendar events How to create a simple Calendar event].
- Use Notices for important reminders with notifications leading up to events, targeting the right parents. [See How to create a simple Notice and Advanced training: Notices for more ideas].
Relevant Communication
Problem:
A parent responded either “strongly disagree” or “disagree” to the following question: "The communications I received this term were helpful/useful to me."
Potential Issue – Broadcasting:
- What it is: Broadcasting happens when parents receive too many messages that don’t specifically apply to their child(ren).
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Why it’s a problem:
- Parents may feel frustrated when they have to sort through information that seems “irrelevant.”
- When they receive too many messages, especially ones that don’t apply to their own child(ren), parents might start ignoring important communications. This can cause them to miss urgent updates or information they actually need.
- Sending too many whole-school messages dilutes the value of your communication. If parents are constantly receiving non-relevant messages, they may disengage entirely, leading to less effective communication overall.
-
Examples:
- Updates about lost uniforms sent to all years
- School news that only affects Years 8 and 9 but is sent to the entire school
- Newsletters covering all year groups might not matter to every parent. This can lead to important messages being overlooked.
Our Recommendation:
- Limit whole-school messages: Only send whole-school messages when the information is important for all parents
- Be specific: Focus on sending communications to smaller groups (like a class, form, or year group) instead of the whole school e.g. when sharing photos from a class trip, send them only to that specific class group
- Target your messages: Whenever possible, send messages only to the parents they apply to.
-
Segment and shorten newsletters
- Post good news, like student achievements, in the Newsfeed – but send them to the relevant parents.
- Add upcoming events to the Calendar and send them only to parents who need that information. [Check out our guide to calendar events How to create a simple Calendar event].
- Use Notices for important reminders with notifications leading up to events, targeting the right parents. [See How to create a simple Notice and Advanced training: Notices for more ideas].
Potential Issue – Wrong Communication Channel:
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What it is: While the communication may be well-targeted, sending it through the wrong channel can reduce its impact, and over time, parents may start ignoring important messages.
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Why it’s a problem:
- When urgent action is needed, parents may not respond as quickly or effectively because they’ve become used to less important messages cluttering the same channel.
- If in-app messages are filled with less relevant content, parents may become disengaged.
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Examples:
- On a Year 2 school trip a coat is lost. Rather than posting a time bound notice on your noticeboard, you send an in-app message to all Year 2 parents.
Our Recommendation:
- Use the Newsfeed: Post non-urgent, whole-school updates that don’t need a parent response in the Newsfeed. [Learn more about How to create a simple Newsfeed post].
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Use Notices: For urgent tasks that need parents’ attention, use Notices and target them to the specific class or group rather than the entire school. [See How to create a simple Notice and Advanced training: Notices for more ideas].
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Use In-App Messages: For messages that require a parent to take action, use in-app messaging, as 97% of parents say they either always or mostly read school communications delivered via the app. [See our guide: How to send a simple message].
Volume of Communication
Problem:
A parent responded either “strongly disagree” or “disagree” to the following question: "I was happy with the amount of information I received this term."
Potential Issue - Overwhelm / Overload:
- What it is: Parents can feel overwhelmed when they receive five or more messages per week, leading them to disengage or ignore messages.
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Why it’s a problem:
- Parents, especially those with children in multiple schools or multiple children in one school, may find this excessive.
- Often, this issue is linked with “Broadcasting,” where parents not only receive too many messages but also ones that are not relevant to them.
- When they receive too many messages, especially ones that don’t apply to their own child(ren), parents might start ignoring important communications. This can cause them to miss urgent updates or information they actually need.
Our Recommendation:
- Ideal balance: According to our recent survey, 80% of primary school parents and 92% of secondary school parents believe that three messages per week is the ideal number.
- Avoid duplicates: Don’t send duplicate messages across different platforms (in-app, email, SMS) to prevent overwhelming parents.
- Prioritise in-app communications: Since 97% of parents said they always or mostly read communications delivered via the app, we recommend prioritizing in-app messages whenever possible. This also saves money on SMS and avoids emails getting lost in crowded inboxes. [See our guide: How to send a simple message].
- Keep messages targeted: Review how many messages you’re sending each week and aim to keep it under five targeted messages.
Potential Issue – Scattered Communication Channels:
- What it is: While the ReachMoreParents platform allows schools to use email and SMS to reach parents, these methods should be used sparingly.
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Why it’s a problem:
- We recommend that schools prioritize in-app messages to keep communication clear.
- When parents have to check multiple places (SMS, email, and the app), they may miss important updates or get confused about what to focus on.
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Examples:
- Parents might overlook urgent updates if they’re mixed in with less important news like student achievements or general school updates.
- Urgent messages should stand out, while non-urgent information, like general school news, should be kept separate to avoid confusion.
Our Recommendation:
- Use the Newsfeed: Post non-urgent, whole-school updates that don’t need a parent response in the Newsfeed. [Learn more about How to create a simple Newsfeed post].
- Use Notices: For urgent tasks that need parents’ attention, use Notices and target them to the specific class or group rather than the entire school. [See How to create a simple Notice and Advanced training: Notices for more ideas].
- Use In-App Messages: For messages that require a parent to take action, use in-app messaging, as 97% of parents say they either always or mostly read school communications delivered via the app. [See our guide: How to send a simple message].
Timeliness
Problem:
A parent responded either “strongly disagree” or “disagree” to the following question: "This term's communications were received with enough time to take action."
Potential Issue – Late / Reactive Communications:
- What it is: Parents are not provided we enough time to plan for school events or respond to requests, especially those which are harder to reach.
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Why it’s a problem:
- Parents may receive messages too late to take necessary actions, meaning their child(ren) miss out on learning and opportunities
- This issue is often worsened if important messages are getting lost among others due to “Overwhelm / Overload” and “Broadcasting,” as noted earlier.
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Examples:
- School Trips/Excursions: Providing early notice helps parents plan for permission slips, payments, and necessary items (like packed lunches or special clothing)
- Sports Days/Competitions: Giving advance notice allows parents to ensure their child has the required gear, and it allows them to attend or arrange transportation if needed.
- Holiday Celebrations/Events: Activities like Christmas or end-of-term parties can be planned well in advance to give parents time to contribute or participate.
Our Recommendation:
- Plan ahead: ReachMoreParents offers tools to help you plan events in advance. While last-minute changes can’t always be avoided, reducing those that can be controlled makes parents more understanding of unexpected situations
- Use Notices: Communicate key events ahead of time using the Notices feature. [Learn How to create a simple Notice and Advanced training: Notices].
- Use the Calendar: Add important events to the Calendar with clear descriptions so parents know what to expect. Make sure to target specific groups to avoid unnecessary “broadcasting.” [See How to create a simple Calendar event to plan ahead].
Overall Communication
Problem:
A parent responded either “strongly disagree” or “disagree” to the following question: "Overall, I feel happy with the communications I received from the school this term."
A low score here suggests that parents may be unhappy with one or more aspects of your communication, such as how well it’s targeted, its relevance, the volume of messages, or how timely they are.
Our Recommendation:
- Address lower scores: Focus on improving areas like targeting, relevance, volume, or timeliness based on the feedback from previous categories.
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Get support:
- If you're unsure where to start, the Web Portal has helpful guides, just look for the "Show Me" button for step-by-step guidance for many areas!
Alternatively we have lots of useful “how to guides” on our Help Centre which can be found HERE