MGM Case Study - St Hilda’s Anglican School For Girls, WA

St. Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls in Mosman Park offers renowned music and drama programs and prides itself on its pursuit of academic excellence.

The location of the school, mid-way between Perth and Fremantle and close to both the Swan River and Cottesloe Beach, provides fantastic opportunities for students’ sporting and recreational pursuits.

Yet despite the potential distractions of this beautiful location, St Hilda’s has almost no problem with truancy among its 650 senior school students.

The school does however see the safety and well-being of its students as paramount. To ensure the school was not just meeting but exceeding its duty of care to students and their families, St Hilda’s has implemented a text messaging system that advises parents of unexplained absences and allows them to contact a dedicated phone line.

Since the introduction of messageyou™ in February 2005, St. Hilda’s has experienced greatly improved communications with both parents and students.

Diana Stanley, Dean of Students at St. Hilda’s, says that messageyou provides an open and easy to use channel for two-way parent-school communication.

“Our approach to unexplained absences is now more streamlined and is largely used much less for truancy and more to keep parents informed,” Ms Stanley said.

“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.”

At 11am each day, parents whose children were not present at the morning tutor group session and have not subsequently signed the late book are sent a text message informing them of the unexplained absence. Parents can then call in on a dedicated phone line and confirm the reason for the absence or reply by SMS.

Prior to the introduction of messageyou, absences had been managed by St. Hilda’s administrative staff, who phoned parents and often encountered answering machines or had to call back several times. messageyou is managed by the same administrative staff, who now find they have more time to invest in improving interactions with parents, rather than on multiple phone calls.

MGM Wireless’ consultants worked with teachers and administrators to identify the best implementation method for the school. The MGM Wireless team then developed a project plan and timeline including actions such as the finding the best way of introducing the system to parents.

St. Hilda’s sent a letter home explaining the way the system works and why it was being introduced. Parents were asked to complete a form and elect whether one or both parents should be contacted via text message on their mobile phones, and to provide the appropriate mobile numbers.

messageyou was installed and integrated in just one day by MGM Wireless. This service included the provision of seamless integration between the school’s MAZE operating system and messageyou for access to the necessary parent and student details.

Diana Stanley is happy to report that St. Hilda’s has not encountered any problems with either the implementation or operation of the system. “No glitches have been experienced since implementation back in February,” says Ms Stanley. “When it comes to technology, it’s rare to experience such an easy to use and reliable system.”

Parents responded positively to the proposal and appreciated that messageyou was a positive step taken to increase each student’s safety and their attention to study.

“Initially messageyou was introduced as a courtesy to parents, however now, with the success we have experienced, it is an integral part of the school’s operations,” Ms Stanley said.
School staff and teachers expressed similar enthusiasm. Predominantly they were impressed with the manner in which messageyou works to open a line of communication between the parents and school.

While reducing truancy wasn’t the primary aim, Ms Stanley does admit the system is “definitely a deterrent” for students who may have contemplated skipping school. Furthermore, some students who are habitually late are encouraged to be more diligent in signing in on arrival to avoid an SMS being sent to their parents.

This also facilitates a strengthening of the relationship between the school and students in communicating the students’ own responsibilities.

On average, St. Hilda’s sends out 15 messages to parents per day, accounting for only 2.3% of the school’s student population. Specific data relating to unexplained absences before the implementation of messageyou are not available, but Ms Stanley is confident there has been a significant improvement.

“Consistently late students are signing in regularly, better communication lines with students and parents have been opened, and routine lateness is being addressed more thoroughly,” she said.

messageyou also offers scope for improving parent-teacher communication on an ongoing basis. If a student is habitually late or absent, the system will alert the school, which can then put in place a follow-up communication by letter or phone to address the recurring issue.

Diana Stanley encourages other schools to take a close look at the messageyou system.

“Anything that opens the line of communication is looked upon favourably by parents,” she said.

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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..