Schools are constantly working on ways to improve communication between staff and both parents and students alike, particularly under emergency circumstances where rapid response is vital. As mobile phone technology becomes even more widespread, growing numbers of schools are using SMS notifications to communicate information ranging from severe weather alerts to bomb threats.
Why use SMS?
Though there are a huge variety of ways to communicate today, for example via social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, SMS messaging remains the only method which users can reliably communicate to thousands of people and feel assured that the information has been delivered promptly and directly to the intended recipients. Schools worldwide are beginning to understand the benefits of SMS messaging and its ability to reach entire school communities immediately.
An emergency SMS broadcast system could therefore be extremely beneficial for schools to implement, with the possibility of last-minute message delivery to faculty, students and parents within a matter of minutes. Such emergency SMS alerts could include: on-campus crime alerts, weather warnings, construction work, school closures, changes in car park access, etc.
How can it be used?
Below are some examples of emergency SMS messages which could be delivered by schools in times of urgency:
- Under circumstances where a school must close due to poor weather conditions such as snow, the following message could be delivered to parents, pupils and faculty in order to ensure they don’t travel to school:
“The school will unfortunately be closed today as a result of the poor weather conditions. Please click on our website for further details: www.headingleyhighschool.com”
- If there was a safety issue on the campus, such as a gas leak or even something more serious like a bomb threat, then a message similar to the one below could be delivered to pupils and staff present on that particular day:
“Evacuation of campus to take place immediately. Proceed to designated assembly points as quickly as possible and remain there until notified otherwise. Further information to come. Next update will follow shortly.”
- If a particular car park were to be closed as a result of temporary construction work being carried out, schools could deliver the following message to parents during the day in order to ensure they receive it in time to collect their children that afternoon:
“The main car park will be closed for construction work to take place and will re-open on 21/05/16 at 9.30am. Please use rear car park and pick up and drop off zones. Apologies for any inconveniences this may cause.”
The NexSMS solution
In order to take advantage of SMS alerts you are going to need a robust and reliable system to get your messages out. Thankfully NexSMS is an easy to use, affordable and most of all, reliable way to send out mass SMS messages to your audience. With this powerful tool you can keep your audience up to date wherever they are.