Many thanks to all those who completed our communications survey in May. We received 104 responses which enabled us to gain an insight into parents’ preferred methods of communication between school and home. 
The following is a summary of the information collected:
• Most parents are online more than once daily (78%), with the greatest proportion using mobiles (90%).
• Mobile is the main device used to access social media, with WhatsApp (92%) and Facebook (83%) dominating followed by Instagram and Twitter.
• Awareness of the website is very high (94%), with 40% regularly using it.
• Only 16% have never used the Facebook group, while 90% reported that they were unaware of Twitter or never used it.
• Overall, parents want to hear from school with 80% wanting to receive the Newsletter by Email.
• SMS was reported the preferred method of communication to receive ‘alert’s from school, followed by Email and then Whatsapp.
• The majority of parents prefer to receive specific information from their children’s teachers by Email, followed by SMS and then Whatsapp.
• With regards to receiving general information, Email is the preferred method of communication, followed by SMS, Facebook and WhatsApp.
• Parents prefer to receive information regarding their children’s class events or activities by Email, followed by SMS.
• Parents indicated that their preferred method of communication to send/seek specific information to/from the school or their child’s teacher was personal visits followed by Email and website links.
In light of the results of the survey our goals for the new school year will be to:
• Continue to use Email as the primary method of communication to parents.
• Post general and class information on the website to support communication.
• Promote the use of Email as an optional method of communication between parents and teachers.
• Use all available methods for ‘Alerts’ – SMS, Email, Facebook, Twitter.
• Promote and drive membership of the Facebook group.
• Continue to send the Newsletter, when there is sufficient content, by Email.
Sincere thanks to Dave Pepper for compiling our survey and gathering the data. This has been a very worthwhile exercise and will certainly help us to streamline the communications strategy for Springdale National School.