Custom message

Send a text message to the guardians of a whole school, a class or pupils you pick, knowing how many it will reach before you send.

What it is for

When you want to write to guardians about something the attendance notices do not cover: a reminder about the pupil, an appointment, or an announcement from the school. You choose whom to write to, write the message, see how many it reaches, then confirm.

Who uses it

The page opens for whoever holds “View custom messages”, to look only, or “Send attendance notices and custom messages”, to work in it. In the built-in roles: Owner, Manager, Team member, Principal, Stage supervisor. They are granted to any role under Settings → Roles and permissions.

Step by step

1. Pick the school or the class above.
2. Choose “To whom”: the whole class, the whole school, or “Pupils I pick” and tick the pupils in the list. If the group turned on “Group messages”, “A whole grade” and “A whole stage” also appear for whoever's access covers them: pick the grade or stage above, after the school.
3. Choose the kind: “A service message about the pupil” if it is about them, otherwise “An optional message”.
4. Write the text, look at how many messages will be written, then press “Send” and confirm.
5. The page reads you the result: what was written, what reached and what did not, and who was left out and why.

How it works

The message reaches only the guardians recorded to receive messages, and a guardian gets one message even with several pupils. A service message reaches all of them. An optional one reaches only those who agreed to optional messages, and a guardian not yet asked has not agreed; it carries a stop link, and does not reach a number that stopped them; those left out are counted and shown, never silently. Nothing reaches a school outside your access: the whole send is refused if one of the pupils picked is outside it. If the school has connected neither WhatsApp nor a text-message service the messages are recorded “unsent”. If the same form is sent twice the message does not go twice. The send is logged with counts, without the text of the message or the pupils' names. “A whole grade” and “A whole stage” appear only if the group turned on “Group messages” on the “Attendance settings” page, and reach only a grade or stage the reader's access covers at that school: a class teacher does not reach their whole grade, and a grade leader does not reach another grade.

On the page

• The school, stage, grade and class you choose from (each list inside the one before it). As your role's scope allows.
• To whom: the whole class, the whole school, or pupils you pick from the list.
• A service message about the pupil, or an optional one that reaches only those who agreed.
• The text of the message. Do not put excuse reasons or health data in it.
• How many messages will be written, and “Send” asks you to confirm before it sends.

Questions

What is the difference between a service and an optional message?

A service message is about the pupil themselves and reaches all their guardians. Anything not about them is optional: it reaches only those who agreed and carries a link that stops it.

Why did the message not reach some guardians?

Because they are not recorded to receive messages, or have not agreed to optional ones, or stopped them. The page tells you how many after sending.

Why can't I find a particular school in the list?

Because it is outside your access. You see and write to only the schools your access covers.