iMessage for nurseries, schools and tutors

Communication with parents is the thing settings get judged on, often more than the care itself. The pattern is consistent: parents tolerate problems and do not tolerate being informed last. Messaging is the only channel fast enough to reach a working parent during the day.

The four messages that matter

1. 01Closures and delays. Snow, a burst pipe, a staffing emergency. This has to arrive before the parent leaves the house, which means it has to be a text.
2. 02Pickup changes. Running late, someone different collecting, a changed room or door.
3. 03Minor incident notes. A bumped head, a scraped knee. Parents want to hear it from you at 3pm, not discover it at bathtime.
4. 04Term logistics. Non-uniform day, trip permission outstanding, the thing everyone forgets.

export const setting = {
  closure: (c: Ctx) =>
    `${c.setting}: we're closed today (${c.reason}). ` +
    `Please don't travel in. More detail by email shortly.`,
 
  // Factual, calm, and never diagnostic.
  incident: (c: Ctx) =>
    `${c.setting}: ${c.childFirstName} had a minor bump today — ` +
    `checked by staff, happy and fine. Full note at pickup.`,
 
  outstanding: (c: Ctx) =>
    `${c.setting}: we still need ${c.itemName} for ${c.childFirstName} ` +
    `before ${c.dueDate}. ${c.link}`,
};

Write incident notes carefully

The wording of a minor-incident text determines whether a parent spends the afternoon worried. State what happened, state that the child is fine, and say the full note is available at pickup. Never speculate about injury, never use clinical language, and never send anything about another child — no names, no 'the other child involved'.

Consent and who gets it

• Collect numbers for every person with parental responsibility, and send to all of them. 'We told mum' is not a defence.
• Keep the list current — separations, new partners and changed numbers are constant in this sector, and a stale contact list is a safeguarding issue rather than an admin one.
• Operational messages are expected. Fundraising and marketing are not; those need separate consent.
• Tutors and small settings: text the parent, not the child, unless the student is an adult.

One practical note for tutors specifically: lesson reminders with a one-letter confirm cut cancellations the same way they do in any appointment business, and rescheduling by text is far less awkward for a teenager than a phone call.