GELDOF CALLS FOR SMS FUNDING TO BE EXTENDED TO SCOTTISH PRIMARY SCHOOLS

GELDOF CALLS FOR SMS FUNDING TO BE EXTENDED TO SCOTTISH PRIMARY SCHOOLS

Scottish secondary schools are leading the UK in the pioneering use of SMS and voicemail technology to monitor absenteeism from school and combat truancy….but funding should now be extended for primary schools to follow suit.

That’s the message from Sir Bob Geldof, Founding Partner of Groupcall, one of the leading providers of the technology to the education sector.

The Groupcall service, which has been taken up by more than half the education authorities in Scotland, integrates with the school’s computerised management system to enable it to achieve simultaneous and rapid contact with parents either by SMS or through voice-activated messages to a land line or mobile. It is being used by schools in authorities from Orkney to Dumfries & Galloway to achieve better first day contact with absentees, making the pursuit of unauthorised absence easier, more efficient and more effective.

Geldof believes the Scottish Executive Education Department should extend funding for the technology to be deployed into primary schools where, he believes, there could be real child safety benefits.

"Every parent wants to know that their child is safely in school. This is inexpensive, robust technology which means that, if a child doesn’t arrive in school, parents would have the security of knowing that they would be very quickly alerted to the fact," he explains.

"There are more than 2,200 primary schools in Scotland. It really is important that the SEED continues setting the pace by ensuring that Scottish primary schools can make the most of available technology to address concerns as serious as child safety and truancy."


Ends.

Press Information:

Howard Robinson/Joe Palmer
Early Doors
T: 0207 754 5560
E: howard@earlydoors.com / joe@earlydoors.com

About Groupcall

Groupcall allows schools to send text messages (SMS) to the mobile phones of parents, staff and other school contacts or voice-activated messages to landlines or mobile phones, for a low monthly subscription fee. The system was developed in consultation with primary and secondary schools and provides First Day Contact, unauthorised absence chasing and general parental communication all in one integrated desktop solution. The Groupcall system reads pupil and attendance information live and in real time from the school’s management system, meaning that no data export or re-keying is required.