Regular communication with parents can improve student performance dramatically. Now you can do it without any cost to the school.

If you want a parent to receive a message from you straightaway the best way to do it is to send them a text.

Unfortunately bulk messaging has been expensive – until now. Now you can communicate with parents instantly, and it won’t cost the school a penny.

This can have a major impact on your communication systems as well as your budget because until now you may well have restricted the number of messages you sent out to parents because of cost.

That is incredibly annoying if you want to remind parents of exam dates, special events and the like.

Now with a free system of communication to mobile phones you can even remind students of each and every assignment, with its due date.

Clearly, if both student and parent know the due date for a homework assignment and are reminded of it at the appropriate moment, then there is more chance that the assignment will be done… on time.

Likewise, information about absences, reminders of rehearsals, etc, can all be sent out. All free of charge.

To run this service all that is required is that the parents download a smartphone app. This then allows parents to download assessment dates, calendar events, etc. The system also sends the parent regular reminder alerts as and when required.

The great bonus of this system is that the sole cost is a charge to parents of £1.49 per year. (This is the price for family, irrespective of the number of people in the family receiving the alerts.)

Experience shows that most parents opt to sign up for the system which then makes existing text messaging systems redundant – thus saving you a considerable amount each year.

There is more information on the Assessment Alert website at www.assessmentalert.co.uk

Or you can email info@assessmentalert.com for more information or call us on 01536 509826.

From mass exercise in Greece, to a cure for heart attacks in Scotland, this remains the favourite playground resource for children.

It is probably not often that you might consider introducing into the playground a form of exercise prevalent in 5th century Greece.

And yet, this activity is one of the most popular activities in British school playgrounds today, although we no longer make the requisite item out of dried up willow, rattan, grapevines, and stiff grasses.

I write, as you may have guessed, of the Hula Hoop – a form of exercise and entertainment the history of which has been largely, and rather sadly, ignored.

Thus you may not know that in 13th century Scotland Hula Hoops were extremely popular within religious ceremonies, while doctors encouraged those who suffered a heart attack to exercise with the Hula Hoop as a form of recovery (a recommendation which has somewhat fallen out of fashion in the intervening centuries however).

The plastic version that we are now familiar with was introduced in the 1950s, and has been popular ever since. World Hoop Day was introduced on 7th July 2007 and continued each year until 12 December last year. I think the committee is still out on what happens in 2013.

The most Hula Hoops twirled at once is said to be 132, although that may be something of an exaggeration. But many children can get up to five or more. Keeping the Hula Hoop twirling around the body is an excellent form of exercise, which uses up a fairly small amount of space.

It is even possible to have Hula Hoop running races, and Hula Hoop dancing – but most children are perfectly happy with beating their own records for the time that they can keep one or more Hula Hoops in circulation.

Our strong Hula Hoops are specifically designed to withstand constant use in a school environment. The 75cm Infant Hoops are just £2.25 each when you buy a pack of 8, while the 85cm Junior Hoops are £2.75 each (again, when you buy a pack of 8).

Edventure Ltd
Hargreaves Business Park
Hargreaves Road
Eastbourne
East Sussex
BN23 6QW

Tel: 01323 50 10 40

Email: sales@edventure.co.uk