MyChildAtSchool 4+

Generally the format is good but how do I actually communicate with the teachers and headteacher? There is no option??? Is it because it has been disabled by the school or is it because there is no such option? Currently it has info which is a one way traffic and does encourage interaction which is what apps should do as their primary utility to add value. Also can’t amend my daughter’s photo, these steps should be easy and simple which currently are not sadly. Looks like the app gives a lot of control to school and teachers and less to parents. Just some constructive feedback. Hope this helps

My child’s school started using this instead of ParentMail. The layout of menus is terrible and counterintuitive. When you load it up to check a message it defaults to the attendance screen which is ridiculous as my child is 8 and I drop them off at school myself so I already know that they are there. In the app, there’s a notification badge that still shows you have an unread message even after you’ve read it and rebooting it doesn’t get rid of it. Worse still, sometimes it just doesn’t load your messages at all and hangs on a white screen so you know your child’s school has sent you a message but you have no idea what it’s about or how urgent it is. The logo is horrific, exactly the same colour as the notification badges so they blend together, and the name is even worse. If you choose to login with your fingerprint then the word ‘Touch’ appears on the screen above ‘My Child At School’ which is hardly appropriate. Forced to carry on using it as unfortunately my child’s school is part of an academy trust who have switched to using an inferior product.

The only thing this app seems to do well is show me my children’s attendance levels - which is pretty useless as I already know whether they’re in school or not every day!

Payments are really clunky - full address details have to be entered for every single payment - pretty tedious if you want to pay for weekly snacks etc. Also, when you do pay for an item it doesn’t show as being paid or disappear from the shop - so need to keep separate track of what you’ve paid for to avoid paying twice.

Most messages just turn up in my emails and aren’t then visible in the app. Not a big deal, but mildly annoying if you want to look back for something.

Randomly sends out hundreds of notifications for messages when there aren’t any to see - end up turning notifications off but then have to routinely check in to see if the school has sent anything.

Functionality is really limited and since moving to this app the school have had to start relying on other methods to sort payments, send messages, collect data - more work for them and more to keep track as for parents.

One star seems generous. Sadly the school has imposed this on us, so we’re stuck with it. Haven’t met a parent who likes it yet though!