Dearest Breggie,

THANK YOU for this possibility.

In terms of bulk communication.

• None of the Midlands schools have a “system” set up to communicate with parents. It seems to be down to the “goodwill” of the teachers and effectiveness of the “grapevine”
• Currently best scenario is Nottingham Road Primary where teachers use their private phones, private data to send WhatsApp’s to class parents
• Bruntville primary uses their Facebook page

Nottingham Road primary has been engaging with D6 communicator.

• Cost - R 2000 upfront and then monthly R 246 per month.
• Emergency sms at 75c per sms. General (Push-up) sms is free.

I am awaiting the contact detail. They are not up and running yet.

So sorry that I am not more useful. What is clear to me though is that if this is something that PfP could initiate nationally (sponsorship/part sponsorship) to a sms communication platform that there would be a huge appreciative audience.

Dear Karen

Thank you for your response! This is extremely helpful. We truly appreciate the information you provided.

I shall enquire with Mel Lachenicht how their project is progressing and also give feedback here.

In terms of the (edited) by Moderator note above, I just clicked on the Tx button which clears formatting, that sorted the font sizing issue.

Thanks again!

I hear that a challenge with SMS is that in some communities, the families' contact details are constantly changing?

I know of a few schools in the Western Cape that have tried D6, however in my understanding, it requires parents to install the app so I would assume that it would require a fair deal of following-up and filling the gaps for those who don't have the app...? It would be great to hear from Nottingham Rd PS how this is working on their side.