A new after-school management service has been developed to offer further protection for primary and special educational needs pupils at collection time. The service, provided by 3fifteen, is a simple yet innovative system designed to inform schools when changes are made to the collection plan for a pupil at the end of the school day. The idea was born out of the experiences of Richard Moss, the man behind 3fifteen, who found issues in balancing his busy work schedule with the demands of the school run.
Richard Moss, Managing Director and founder of 3fifteen, explained ‘As a busy parent, I often had issues with balancing after-school collection with work. The school my son attended was great at accommodating any changes of plan but anyone could see the system was very human-resource heavy and there weren’t many margins for error. If I did get through to school staff, which was rare due to the school phone being constantly engaged, the school had no process or policy to confirm who I claimed to be. In no other walk of life would employees be under so much pressure with so little support – and with something so precious! It got me thinking that there had to be a better way.’
The more Richard explored after-school management, the more he realized there was an opportunity to create a more robust system. His first port of call was to talk to Head Teachers and found that the issues of social disadvantage and language barriers exacerbated the problem significantly. ‘It is one thing juggling a system when you have supportive parents with an excellent command of English but as soon as a school’s system has to accommodate socially disenfranchised families or parents with limited English, this is where even a good method is very challenged.’ To aid this problem 3fifteen incorporated 20 languages into its system, increasing the grounds for communication for parents without English as a first language.
Statistics backed up 3fifteen’s verbal research; the link between reduced school attendance and poverty was demonstrated in the 2010 ‘Poverty and Life Chances Report’. Moss explained ‘Schools are painfully aware for some parents sometimes it is easier to keep a child off school rather than having to cope with the issues of changing collection arrangements. This can be because some foreign-language parents struggle to express themselves over the phone, whilst for some parents, it is simply less hassle. These were key drivers to how we developed 3fifteen.’
Key to this development is the PIN code system incorporated into 3fifteen which allows users to set their own PIN code and when matched with something unique to them, such as an email or mobile phone, 3fifteen can then authenticate and verify the sender of the message. A description of the new collector may also be supplied, along with a photograph if necessary, which results in a comprehensive and thoughtful system where both parent and school are left in no doubt over a pupil’s safety.
If actively working to improve pupil security wasn’t enough, schools who take up 3fifteen could also reap the benefits of enhanced Ofsted Inspection reports, which reward schools for improved safeguarding capabilities and increased parent-to-school engagement, demonstrating that 3fifteen really is mutually beneficial to all who use it.
For more information please visit www.3fifteen.co.uk.
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