MGM Case Study - Bradfield College, New South Wales

Bradfield College is the only school in New South Wales to offer students in years 11 and 12 a learning program that combines regular school studies with TAFE courses and industry experience.

Like any other school, the college needs to monitor and report on student attendance. However, the challenge of keeping track of absences is complicated by the fact that each student’s required contact hours differ.

Bradfield College Director Helen Kam read in press reports that South Australian company MGM Wireless developed and delivers a mobile text-messaging attendance management solution in close consultation with schools all over Australia.

She decided to explore the solution as a way to manage unexplained absences in Bradfield’s unique environment.

After visiting several sites already using messageyou™, Bradfield asked MGM Wireless to tailor a solution that would text parents and sometimes students themselves in the event of an unexplained absence.

Says Ms Kam, “messageyou represented a solution using a communication medium with widespread student appeal - text messaging on mobile phones - and to which there was almost universal access.”

Since the implementation in late 2004, Bradfield has found that messageyou not only manages attendance effectively, it is improving parent-teacher and school-student communication across the board.

Independence encouraged

Set in Sydney’s affluent northern suburbs, Bradfield College’s 500 students come from various socioeconomic backgrounds. The student population is drawn from across Sydney and beyond, reaching as far as the Central Coast in the north and the Blue Mountains to the west.

There is an even balance between male (54%) and female students (46%).

The College prides itself on being an adult oriented environment, producing graduates who are positive in their outlook and who manage well in a tertiary environment.

It is the only institution in New South Wales where school-age students can take advantage of specialised training that places them in industry one day a week, leading to both HSC and TAFE qualifications.

Bradfield chose messageyou for a variety of reasons. One was that it seamlessly integrated into the College’s existing, custom-developed school management software. This database system records student attendance on an hourly basis.

“We had a sophisticated student tracking system already in place and wanted an absence management solution that would complement this, using SMS technology that would appeal to our students,” Ms Kam said.

As part of the decision-making process, the college undertook a risk management study of the truancy issues based on existing data. They also recognised that several students at Bradfield College are legaladults and this signalled a need to contact students or parents on a case by case basis.

To introduce the system to students and parents, letters were sent out requesting the preferred mobile number for receiving messageyou correspondence.

“MGM Wireless provided an implementation plan that included contacting parents, collating mobile numbers and piloting the system,” says teacher and messageyou database administrator Neville Goodyer. “This proved to be fantastic for streamlining the process.

Technically, the implementation was quite complex, but MGM was able to solve any problems.”
Bradfield’s policy is to send text messages directly to students 18 and over. Otherwise the messages are sent to parents or legal guardians, unless authority is granted to do otherwise.

Each day, attendance rolls are delivered to the data administrator, who enters the information. messageyou takes over, automatically sending SMS alerts to absent students or their parents. Message recipients are encouraged to phone in and confirm the reason for the absence.

Mr Goodyer says that duty of care obligations played a significant role in deciding to implement messageyou, but that “an equally important consideration was to put in place a uniform approach to managing absences that would be embraced by all staff”.

Because each student’s timetable differs according to subject choices, student attendance has in the past been a difficult variable to quantify.

“messageyou manages these variables and measures attendance on a class by class basis,” Mr Goodyer said. “This means that if students are habitually absent for a certain subject, say mathematics, student support officers can step in to discuss with the student what may be an underlying issue relating to that particular subject rather than school attendance in general.”

The Bradfield College ethos is that teachers are responsible for student learning. Before the introduction of messageyou, teachers would phone absentees or their parents directly. This did not provide a systematic, across the board solution, and would take teachers away from the classroom.

“messageyou both encourages students to be more responsible and provides a more uniform and time-effective solution for teachers and administrative staff in managing unexplained absences.”

Parents and students responded positively to the proposal and appreciated that messageyou both gave autonomy to students and involved parents in monitoring their child’s progress.

“Attendance has definitely improved slightly and notification of absences has improved dramatically,” Mr Goodyer reports. “SMS communication to students and parents has proved to be effective in 95 percent of cases.”

Bradfield has found great benefit in messageyou’s ability to act as a general line of communication between the college and parents/students.

The solution has been used to send reminders regarding upcoming excursions, congratulatory messages for students who have achieved good results and diligent attendance across the term, and correspondence to notify parents of upcoming seminars and forums.

Despite citing a slight increase in the workload of the database administrator, Bradfield feels this pales in comparison to the benefits.

“messageyou is great for excursions, we don’t have to send a letter and this equals reduced labour, paper and postage costs,” she explains.

“Another positive result is that teachers are far more accurate in marking their rolls. Undeniably, messageyou has encouraged teachers to be more diligent.”

Mr Goodyer’s advice for schools contemplating messageyou is to contact other schools already familiar with the system, and is “happy to oblige” when other schools call him for comment.

Helen Kam concurs, adding, “Messageyou has been extremely helpful in developing productive and supportive relationships between staff and students, which are vital components of Bradfield life.”

MGM Case Studies

Woree State High School - Queensland “In year 8 we have experienced around 60 percent reduction in unexplained absence and 35 percent in grade 9.” Barry Courtney, Deputy Principal. Details.. St Hilda’s Anglican School For Girls - Western Australia “We want parents to know everything about the girls and at the same time demonstrate the proactive measures we are taking to keep them safe.” Diana Stanley, Dean of Students. Details.. Bradfield College - New South Wales “We had a sophisticated student tracking system already in place and wanted an absence management solution that would complement this, using SMS technology that would appeal to our students.” Helen Kam, Director. Details.. Kildare College - South Australia “While the primary use of messageyou is to manage unexplained absences, the opportunity exists to expand to general messaging such as reminders, and improve our general communication.” Paul Hawkes Business Manager. Details.. Willunga High School - South Australia “A marked improvement in general attendance makes it much easier to isolate the students where there is a real issue. It makes it much easier to identify students really at risk and establish a working relationship with the attendance officer to provide extra support.” Cathy Trenouth, Deputy Principal. Details..