Devon Association of Governors - Run by Devon Governors for Devon Governors

Services to Education

Company Information

The following organisations have requested that DAG bring their services to the attention of Governing Bodies.  DAG does so without prejudice or endorsement.

Groupcall

Without prejudice or endorsement, DAG brings Groupcall to the attention of GBs.  In Groupcall's own words:

“First of all please may I introduce myself, my name is Helen Baker from a company called Groupcall. We offer a parental contact messaging service designed to reduce costs and improve communication to all stakeholders. We provide this service to over 1,000 schools in the UK and it allows schools to send personalised text, voice or email messages instantly to parents, staff or other contacts in various languages for a low subscription fee. The language library currently provides a series of standard messages in 13 languages: Urdu, Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali, Tamil, Somali, Hindi, Bulgarian, Romanian, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese and Polish.   Alternatively, school staff can record their own voice messages or change the existing templates at no additional cost.

  Our customer base claim that by using the Groupcall Messenger service they have found the results to be:

· Unauthorised absences are being reduced by 27% in some cases

· They also claim attendance has improved

· Communication with parents made easier

· Telephone bills cut by an estimated £800 per year

· Some schools also report that they are saving more than two hours a day chasing unauthorised absences

   Groupcall Messenger is also being used in other areas to communicate easily, effectively and quickly with various groups of stakeholders, such as Governors and Supply Teachers. Some of these examples are as follows:-

· Text/email and voice message to supply teachers for arranging planned or emergency cover

· Communicate quickly and easily to parents even outside school hours whilst away on school trips. Eg; notification of safe arrival, or late returning and informing parents of new times etc

· Send notifications to the school(s) sports teams for any cancelled or re-scheduled matches

· Cost effective way of sending newsletters and school letters to parents

· Informing parents and staff within minutes of school closures due to bad weather conditions etc

   St James School in Exeter has been using Groupcall since May last year and has offered to act as our reference site if you require a customer perspective.

   As you are aware schools are needing to communicate more frequently with parents, especially with real time reporting looming and different languages are now part of our educational culture. We believe that each and every Head Teacher and Governor would be interested in a service that would reduce unauthorised absences, improve attendance and cut telephone bills as well as their administrators time in making vast amount of telephone calls to parents.

   We are currently offering schools in Devon a free trial period which allows you to evaluate our service without commitment. This includes free installation, set up and comprehensive training. The evaluation will commence once the school staff have been fully trained and at any time during the trial you are free to opt out without any obligations. Note: During the trial any text messages sent will be deducted from the free allowance upon signing contracts. In the event the school wishes not to proceed with the service after the trial all text and voice messages will be charged. Everything else is absolutely free.

   I appreciate that you no doubt get inundated with requests, however I would like to enquire if it would be possible that I could present to DAG the benefits of investigating and considering the Groupcall Messaging Service.  Further information can be found by visiting our web site at  www.groupcall.co.uk. ”

   (6 October 2008)

Naturalwatt

Without prejudice or endorsement, DAG brings Naturalwatt to the attention of GBs.  In Naturalwatt's own words:

“We have a fantastic story for schools, the children, the environment, and, for Naturalwatt... for once I really believe that it’s a win – win situation. Please take a look at this... Naturalwatt at Ilfracombe. We recently installed some solar PV and a weather station at Ilfracombe junior school and the above link is their live situation. We’re able to show what they are generating and what the weather is doing – live, online 24 hours / day. Most of the dials have the historic data behind them in the form of a graph – just click the dial. The brilliant thing about this is that every day the children see the solar panels and may be a wind turbine at the school and then see the data on the Internet in the classroom. At a basic level they can learn how weather and renewable energy are linked and how much CO2 the school has saved etc. Of course, being on the Internet, this data is available outside of the classroom as well. Making renewable energy visible over the Internet really helps people’s understanding.

   “Ilfracombe phase 1 cost £50K - £25K was funded by the governments LCBP (Low Carbon Building Programme), and the other £25K was from EDF’s green fund, so the school got a £50K system for free! We are now in the process of conducting phase II and the phase III at Ilfracombe.

   “We are also working with Seaton Primary, Colyton Grammar, Pilton Bluecoats, Okehampton, and, Yeo Valley Primary. All at various stages from completed projects to applying for funding.

   “Key benefits to the school....

   (27 September 2008)