A parent portal on your school website can achieve so much. In the evolving landscape of school-parent communication, it provides a modern solution.

In this blog, we’ll define what a parent portal is and look at why it’s so important to integrate one into your school website, both for parents and educational centres.  

What is a parent portal?

A parent portal is an online platform that provides parents with real-time access to their child's academic information, attendance records, and school communications. Portals collect data from various sources and display them on a single user interface so parents can access all information from the same secure place.    

Key features of a parent portal

• Academic monitoring. Parents can access grades, report cards and progress reports.
• Attendance tracking. Parents can get real-time updates on student attendance and even have the ability to report absences.
• School communication tools. Portals make parent-teacher communication easier than ever before with direct messaging. There is also access to school announcements so parents can keep on top of things.
• Event calendars. Information on upcoming school events, parent-teacher meetings and extracurricular activities can be easily found by parents, helping them manage their time more effectively. This also serves as a means of checking upcoming appointments so they don’t miss anything important. 
• Online payments. A facility for paying school fees, lunch money, and booking trips or clubs makes things easier for parents as they can make payments in one go.
• Resource access. The availability of homework assignments, learning materials, and school policies keeps parents aware of what their child needs to be doing at home and other important information.

Benefits of implementing a parent portal

Online parent portal benefits include:

• Enhanced communication. Streamlined information sharing between school and home, reduces misunderstandings and ensures parents are well-informed. It makes for a more harmonious relationship between the school and parents.
• Increased parental engagement. A portal that keeps all important information to hand for parents, empowers them to take an active role in their child's education.
• Improved student outcomes. Following on from our previous point, studies suggest that increased parental involvement, facilitated by tools like parent portals, can lead to better student performance. This benefits everyone – the student, parents who want their child to do well and the school’s overall exam results, which helps in audits. 
• School administration efficiency. Portals reduce the workload on administrative staff by automating processes such as attendance reporting and fee collection. They also make audit preparation easier as much of the information needed will already be collated. 
• Secure and centralised information. They offer a safe platform for storing and accessing student information, ensuring data privacy and compliance with regulations.

Considerations for implementing a parent portal

If you are thinking of implementing a parent portal, you’ll need to keep a few things in mind, including:

• Integration with existing systems. It’s important to ensure compatibility with your current school management systems and softwares.
• User-friendly design. The platform you select will need to be accessible and easy to navigate for all parents, regardless of their technological proficiency.
• Data security. Naturally, it is vital that robust security measures are implemented to protect sensitive student information.
• Training and support. You will need to provide adequate training for staff and parents to maximise the portal's effectiveness.

With so many advantages and an unsurprising increase in popularity in recent years, parent portals are a great way to stay ahead of nearby schools, your closest competition, while helping and impressing parents who currently have children at your school.

This educational technology will help you foster school community engagement like never before.

Enhanced communication and streamlined administrative processes will make school life easier for your staff – teachers and office teams. And it will come into its own as auditing gets closer and you need to prepare documentation.