Features · Families

Messages from families

A parent writes to the school about their child, and the class's teachers and the office answer, in the hours the school sets. One conversation per child, with the school and not with one person's own phone. It stays off until the school switches it on.

The pictures are from the demo, a school with made-up names, as the portal and the website are today, on a computer and a phone.

Parent · on the website

Writes to the school about their child

In Messages, “With the school” sits above the class chats: one conversation for each of their children. It is there only where the school has switched it on.
The conversation says who reads it, the class teachers, the school office and both parents, and that it is not for emergencies, with the school’s phone number.
Outside the school’s hours they write as usual. Before sending they see which hours the school reads messages, that theirs will be seen then, and the phone number for something urgent.
When the school answers, they see the name of whoever answered, in the conversation and in Notifications. On the phone, if they have the app, the notification carries neither the words nor a name.
Both of the child’s parents read the conversation, and when one writes the other is told.
Text only, up to 2,000 characters. A message is never edited. They remove their own, after being asked: the text is erased for everyone, and in its place the conversation shows it was removed.

Try it as a parent

Teacher · in the portal, on a computer or a phone

Answers the families of their classes

“Families” in the menu shows how many messages they have not read, from any screen.
They see the conversations of the children in their own classes, not of other classes. Each conversation names the child and the child’s parents.
They answer in their own name: the family sees who answered. The class’s other teachers and the office read the same conversation, so whoever is there answers.
With “New message” they write to a family first, choosing the child. Both of the child’s parents read it.
They are notified only in the hours the school answers. Outside them the message waits in the inbox and their phone stays silent.
The notification on the phone carries neither the message nor the family, because it shows on a locked screen too.

Try it as a teacher

Office · in the portal

Sets when the school answers

It switches it on in Settings, or on the inbox itself, giving the hours the school answers and a phone number for something urgent. Without those two it cannot be switched on.
The hours hold Monday to Friday, except the days the calendar has the school closed.
It sees every conversation in the school, with a search by child or class, and answers as a teacher does.
The school removes any message, with a confirmation: the text is erased for the family and the school, and in its place the conversation shows who removed it. The removal is in the Activity log, without the text.
If it switches it off, parents cannot write a new message. What was written stays readable.

Try it as the office

What each person gets

For the parent

They know where to write and who will read it

One place for anything about their child, which says who reads it, instead of one teacher’s mobile.

For the teacher

They do not give out their own number

They answer from the portal, in the school’s hours, and what arrives outside them waits in the inbox.

For the office

The conversation belongs to the school

When a teacher is away, a colleague or the office answers, reading what has been said.

For everyone

What was written does not change

A message is never edited, and when one is removed the conversation shows that it was, and by which side.

What it does not do

It is not for emergencies: Nobody promises when an answer comes, and outside the hours a message waits. For something urgent the parent phones the school; the conversation gives the number.
Text only: No photos and no files.
It is not a private line to one teacher: What a parent writes is read by all the class’s teachers and the office, and by the child’s other parent.
The hours are the same every day: One start and one end for the whole school, Monday to Friday. There are no separate hours per class or per day.
The phone app does not show the conversation: The version in the stores today does not show it. The notification reaches the phone, the parent reads and writes on nepinest.com, and staff answer in the portal.

Try it

The demo opens on the messages, in the browser: the parent on the website, the teacher and the office in the portal’s inbox, with a message waiting for an answer. It is a school of made-up children, yours alone, which deletes itself.

As a parent As a teacher As the office Sign up your school