Former Teach First teacher develops app to tell parents how their child is doing in school

Parental involvement in their child's education is said to boost achievement .

Now a former outstanding teacher believes modern technology can help bridge the gap between schools and parents which can develop as children move up to secondary school – as pupils no longer have just one teacher – a point of contact – but possibly 10 and children develop their independence.

James Whittaker, who was a Teach First teacher, has developed Parent Hub through which teachers can contact parents — have a conversation with them — in real time to tell them how their child is doing — while in class.

Smithills School is one of a handful of schools piloting the "app" in years nine and 11.

Assistant headteacher Paul Almeida said: "The feedback we have had from parents has been positive.

“It is about further building relationships with parents and teachers like the fact they can contact parents about how their child is doing immediately.

"Pupils are also involved in it, I will sometimes speak to children and ask them what should be sent, so they have a say.

“Some of our pupils asked James a lot of questions about the App and now feel they have helped develop it.”

Mr Almeida said that app allowed teachers to keep parents informed on their progress of all children – not just the exceptional students or the few who present challenging behaviour as can often be the case in schools.

Mr Whittaker said that Parenthub focuses on real time “parental engagement” on the app and parents can find out information about homework, school calendar and letters in one place – and teachers can see if the information has been read.

It replaces “The School” speaking to the parents with individual teachers

He said: “The driving force behind the app is about how parental involvement can raise a child’s achievement.

“Normally the only time parents have contact with the school is at parents evening, so if a teacher want to say something it is then.

“Or parents are involved with the PTA but that does have the impact – whereas a message to a parent can start a conversation between a child and a parent.

“The positive aspect is it is immediate – teachers don’t have to wait until parents evening.

“Because it is an App parents don’t have to log on to a computer, or remember a password it is there.”

He added: “This app does not replace phone calls or face to face meetings when needed.”

Mr Whittaker said without his experiences as a Teach First teacher – an organisation which helps to develop outstanding teachers in partnership with schools of which Smithills School is one he would not have developed the app.

He said that one of his early experiences in a school in North Manchester was when he invited parents to school to talk about how they could help their child only a handful attended – but when he organised a pub quiz a 100 or so turned up.

Mr Whittaker said: “After the quiz we spoke about GCSE interventions and that was it, I knew there was a way to reach out to the local community.”

It was through the Teach First network he was able to pilot and get feedback on the App which has won a place at BETT Show 2015, billed as the leading the world's leading learning technology event.

Colin Ferguson, Director at Teach First North West said: "Teach First places high calibre individuals on a Leadership Development Programme to support them in becoming effective teachers, working with schools and leading training providers to increase the achievement and aspirations of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

"Beyond this, Teach First is committed to collaborating with Innovation Partners and Strategic Partners in pursuit of ending educational inequality.

"The Leadership Development Programme is just the beginning of the work we are doing to fulfil our mission, and we hope our participants will continue to engage with our vision long after they have completed the programme.

"We are really pleased to support James, who now works alongside other Teach First ambassadors at ParentHub.

"ParentHub is a vision-aligned enterprise Teach First is supporting through our Innovation Hub in order to help schools develop their parental communication tools to support and encourage engagement.’

For more information email james@parenthub.co.uk