A couple of months ago, I decided to try and make a mobile phone app for my school. Apps are considered quite the fashion accessory and most well-known companies have their own app to showcase their products. For a school, I thought it would be a good idea to be able to give parents the opportunity to see what’s going on in the school as well as give them some useful tools to help them communicate with us from their phone.
The app, which can be downloaded to any Smartphone running Android or iOS (iPhones) gives parents the opportunity to check in with the latest news from the school, view photographs of events and see upcoming events on the calendar. Parents can also send a note to the school if a child cannot make it to school directly from the app. Another feature for parents who find it difficult to come into the school is the ability to see the noticeboard in the foyer of the school on their phone.
As far as I’m aware, this is the first school in Ireland to have a mobile phone app, possibly even beyond. The main advantage I see for this is that it gives another dimension to allow people to see what’s going on in the school. While our web site provides exactly the same function, how many parents log on to a school web site when they’re standing in a queue in a bank? However, if there’s an app on their phone and they are standing in that queue, there is a stronger likelihood that they might access the app.
Carlow Educate Together’s app can be downloaded free directly from a phone or through the Android Market (http://market.android.com).
Search for “Carlow ETNS” and download. It can also be directly downloaded from this link: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.appmakr.app345308.
The iPhone version can by downloaded from the AppStore or from this link:
http://itunes.apple.com/ie/app/carlow-etns/id478581626?mt=8