Parents’ evening is a busy night for everyone. Parents have several teachers to see in a short period of time.
Teachers, meanwhile, have the parents of 30+ pupils to see. Ensuring that everyone gets seen is a complex and time-consuming process.
Calendar sync makes this process easier and faster.
Teachers can connect their schedules to booking software, then parents can use this information to pick the best time for them.
Because the schedule updates in real-time, there’s no chance of two parents booking the same slot.
Allowing parents to pick their time slot online means that they can book their slot at their own convenience. It also means that they can cancel just as easily. Real-time calendar sync means that if someone reschedules, the slot then reopens for someone else to book. Making it easier for parents to book or change appointments with teachers means they’re more likely to take advantage of doing so and to cancel appointments they can no longer attend.
Teachers can then use this information to keep track of whom they’re seeing and when. This gives them time to prepare, and means they can contact any parents who haven’t booked an appointment.
Our Enterprise Connect feature takes this even further. As well as allowing teachers’ schedules to be synced to booking software, room schedules can also be included. That means that every teacher can book out a room’s schedule for the evening. If the room needs to be used for something else, the software can factor this in and suggest an alternative location for the rest of the night.
"Handshake’s integration is almost instant, setup for our staff was a breeze, and it has resolved a major inefficiency in our scheduling and planning."
What can really help your parents’ evening booking system to stand out, though, is our Smart Invites.
Smart Invites allows for a one-off calendar event to be created. To recipients, it looks just like a traditional ICS file. But it has one key difference: the sender can track if it’s been accepted, declined, or deleted. Should a parent not accept the invitation, teachers can contact them to confirm their attendance. If they can’t attend, the slot can be reopened for someone else to use instead. There’s no waiting around for someone to show up because they haven’t informed anyone that they’re not attending.
Smart Invites works with all calendar services, meaning that it doesn’t matter if the teacher uses Microsoft Exchange and the parent uses Google Calendar.
Parents’ evening is one of the best ways for parents to track their child’s progress. Every teacher knows this. The easier it is for parents to get involved, the more likely they will be to do so.
Allowing parents to pick their own slot in their own time is just one of the ways in which schools can encourage parents to take part in their child’s education.
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