TXT MSG: SNOW SKOOL 2DAY

St Mary's Church of England Primary School in Sheffield has recently started using an advanced Text Messaging system from FASTSMS, based in Worcestershire. The school used the text message system to warn parents of the impact of the poor weather conditions.

Tim Rose, Headmaster at St Mary’s said;

“In late January, there was a particularly heavy snowfall on a Wednesday afternoon. Our school is on a steep hill and the roads around school are not usually gritted I used the text messaging service to contact parents to let then know that they could collect their children early if they wished, and the following morning to say parents could bring their children in late if that was safer. I sent 119 messages on each day in less than five minutes. “

He continued;

“The parents have also welcomed the ability to text non-urgent messages to the school office. We have about 150 families in school and receive 3/4 texts to our school office PC each week.”

David Pride, FASTSMS Business Manager said;

“Text messages can be sent out to parents from the computer desktop and incoming messages are immediately forwarded to the school’s PC. The text message service is ideal for schools as it is a fast, cheap and reliable way to contact parents, giving an average saving of 40-70% when compared to the cost of voice calls. The school can contact all the parents within 30 seconds rather than calling each individually which would take much longer. ”