School Stream helps schools of all shapes and sizes. This week we are shining a spotlight on a small regional school who is using School Stream very effectively to communicate with their parent community. A very big thank you to Principal Grant Nicholas of Thorpdale Primary School for sharing his insights.
We know you’re busy. Keep reading to see how a small school uses School Stream to take care of their communication needs. Or click to see how School Stream helps a principal in their role.
Thorpdale Primary School
Thorpdale Primary School is a dynamic small school set in a tranquil rural location in the Gippsland region of eastern Victoria.
‘Our core values of respect, learning, honesty, fairness and community underpin our interaction at school… An atmosphere of warmth and friendliness characterizes the school in which all students are known personally and encouraged, challenged and supported by our caring and dedicated staff.’
They have been using School Stream since March 2017.
The busy life of a Teaching Principal
Thorpdale Primary School is led by teaching Principal Grant Nicholas. He describes his day as ‘extremely busy and interesting… with only a few spot fires to put out.’ Like many teaching principals, his role is something of a 24/7 concern, with his mobile number available to parents at all times.
School Stream gives schools instant access to families
‘It (School Stream) helps because it gives us instant access to our families using the alerts. We use it to remind parents about activities. For parents who have lost, forgotten or mislaid consent forms, there is one sitting on the app. We don’t want kids to miss out on activities.
‘And there is less paper being sent out because we just use School Stream all the time.’
Tough love
It sounds like a little bit of tough love is the key to getting parents on board. When asked for his advice for getting families to utilise the platform, Grant had this to say:
“Basically, just use it. Don’t let them have it as a back-up. Use it as your main tool for communications and let them know that is what is happening”.
Parents have taken to using the app
Thorpdale Primary has 66 students and four teaching staff. All but one family is using School Stream to communicate with the school.
‘We’ve been lucky to have been very successful in having parents take on the format. We try to get out as much information as we can. We have to balance that with sending out too much.’
School Stream is great for small schools
‘Overall, School Stream has been a really beneficial platform for us as a small school. It’s been great, especially if you’ve been busy. We can just flick the information out in an alert and we know all the families will get it. (Bar one). I imagine a larger school would get even more bang for their buck’
School Stream & Thorpdale Primary School at a glance
Number of students: 66
Parents and families using School Stream: 61
Budget savings in the past 12 months: $1300
Thanks again to Grant for sharing his experience with School Stream. Click to see how much your school could save.
