Information

Owned by Former user (Deleted)
Last updated: Jun 08, 2018
6 min read

The information section is ideal for giving parents quick access to any school-related information that they may need. 

You have the freedom to organise your items to suit your school.

To get you started, we suggest entering some of the following information in to this section:

  • A welcome from the Head Teacher
  • An overview of the school and its values
  • Details of the school uniform
  • Details of school catering
  • Details about the Governing Body and Parent Teacher Associations
  • School term times
  • School transport
  • Prospectus information
  • School clubs
  • Pastoral care
  • Policies for attendance, anti-bullying etc.

Note:

We highly recommend that you do not post anything on OurSchoolsApp that contains private or sensitive information.

As this information is potentially accessible by anyone who chooses to use OurSchoolsApp; we recommend that you only publish information which you would be comfortable publishing on your website.

If in doubt please consult with your organisations appointed Data Protection Officer.

Step-by-Step Guide

Below you will find all the steps needed to Add, Amend or Delete any articles that you wish to share with parents.

Add an Information Article

Adding a new item is straightforward, and will automatically alert parents of the new addition to your information tile. 

  1. Select the Information tab the navigation bar at the top of the pane.

  2. Select the Add button situated in the centre of the screen.

     
  3. The Add Information Item dialogue will appear.

     
  4. Enter a Title of the item you wish to add. It is recommended to keep the title short and concise.

  5. If you wish, you may upload a custom image by selecting the Upload Image button. 

    1. Once selected, the file browser window will appear. Select the desired image, and select 'open'.

       

    2. Use the cropping tool to adjust the image size -

      Top Tip

      Thumbnails are square. Images will need to be formatted to this shape so they display correctly.

    3. Once you are happy with the cropping selection, click the Crop button.

      Note:

      If you do not select any of the preset images or upload your own, a default icon image will be used.

  6. Add the body text you wish to use in the pane provided. In the body text, you are able to add in links to external websites to allow parents direct access to any web page you wish. Any email address entered will also be clickable, and will open in the user's email application. Any links that you add will automatically be made into a clickable link. 

    Useful links you may wish to include:
    - Links to externally-hosted documents
    - Links to Council or Government documentation 
    - Links to Useful Information
    - Affiliated Clubs' Websites
    - Associated Vendors (such as School Uniform Providers)

    Weblink Format Example: http://www.the-contactgroup.com (Please ensure begins with http:// or https://, the easiest way to get this correct, is to copy it from the address bar in your web browser)
    Email Format Example: helpdesk@the-contactgroup.com (email addresses should just be entered as usual)

    Top Tip

    To save time, you may copy and paste text from another application or document. This could be from your school website, PDF or word documents. This will save you from duplicating work.

  7. To finish, click add and your article will be added within the Information tile in OurSchoolsApp.  At this point all parent users will receive a push notification alerting them that a new item has been added.
     

Below is a short instructional video to illustrate all of the above steps


Amend an Information Article

If you wish to change anything about a tile that you have already added, you may use the Amend function:

  1. Select the item you wish to amend and select the Amend button in the central control panel

     
  2. You will now see the edit dialogue window appear to allow you to change all attributes, in exactly the same way as when adding a new article (see Add an Information Article)

     
  3. You will notice a small check box to the lower left of this Amend dialogue box, with the word Active and a blue tick icon next to it. This will allow you to hide the article by un-checking the box. 

    You will find this particularly useful if you have seasonal information articles to post and would like to reuse them. 
    Simply click the box to make Active (visible) or remove the check from the box to make the article In-Active (hidden).

  4. When you are happy with your changes, select the 'amend' button to apply them instantly to the article within OurSchoolsApp.

Note:

Amending an existing item will not send out a push notification. This only happens when a new item is added.

Delete an Information Article

 Removing unwanted articles is as simple as clicking delete. 

  1. Select the tile you wish to remove and select Delete from the central control panel


  2. Confirm you wish to delete the item by selecting the red Delete button


  3. You will see a brief success message and the desired article will be removed from OurSchoolsApp and parents will no longer see this item.


Below is a short instructional video to illustrate all of the above steps

Updating the Display Order of Information Articles

You may wish to update the order of your information articles so parents see the most important ones at the top of the list. In order to do this, follow these simple steps:

  1. Re-oder the items by dragging them to the desired location

     
  2. Click Update Order button to the upper left of the pane and select Update to confirm in the dialogue box that appears

     
  3. You will see a short success message and the page will automatically refresh with your amended order will be saved.


    Below is a short instructional video to illustrate all of the above steps