Effective Telecommunication just so important in schools
Effective Communication is critical for all schools. Staff need to communicate effectively with parents, local authorities and other stakeholders, reliably and on a regular basis.
There are many ways to improve communication in schools. Here are 5 ways to improve communications, with the help of cutting edge technology, to enable the operation of a modern and effective school.
Five ways to improve communications in schools:
1. Record staff and student absences
Recording absences can prove difficult and time consuming. However, with a modern telecommunications system, this is now something that staff can automate using call routing technology.
To successfully manage this, staff can assign an option in their welcome message to ‘Press 3 to record an absence’. Once pressed, callers are routed to a voicemail box, where they are invited to leave their child’s name, class, reason for absence and expected return date. After the busy morning period, admin staff could then recall the message box and record the absences according to the messages left.
2. Improve how calls are handled and queue them at peak times
Many schools will experience peak call times. Typically, these will be between 8am-10am, as parents, staff and the occasional supplier will need to speak to someone at the school early in the day. Your administration team may consist of one person, or several people. No doubt, you will often find the phone ringing constantly at peak times of the day and this can be difficult to manage.
With modern call routing in place, you can give the caller a series of options, according to the purpose of their call. This way, callers are put through to the most suitable person, who can deal with their request. This can also be combined with call queuing, with some music and/or a suitable greeting/message. This way, your caller will feel properly valued and they will not have to deal with a constant engaged tone!
3. Integrate your school database (e.g. SIMS) with your phones
If your school database is integrated with your phone system, staff can use PC applications to display information from the database on their phones, and vice versa. This allows staff to quickly find the details of parents they need to call, and efficiently manage your school database. Full integration between IT and telecoms systems can reduce the time it takes for staff to manage their tasks.
4. Reduce your monthly phone bills by making and receiving calls over the internet
VoIP (Voice-over-internet protocol) is a method of making calls using your internet connection. Business grade VoIP services are available to schools and offer a number of benefits.
VoIP allows UK schools to reduce their monthly phone bills by up to 50%, while benefiting from the latest technology. VoIP connections also have built-in scalability, meaning you can increase the number of calls you can make and receive over term times, while decreasing them during quiet period, for example, over the summer holidays.
5. Mix corded and cordless phones to stay in contact around the school
School staff are often not in a fixed location throughout their working day. Many will switch between offices, classrooms and outside for break times, or PE lessons. Through these events, many staff still need to stay in contact with each other.
Schools can now mix corded and cordless phones together under the same network, saving time, aiding safety and ensuring staff are always contactable wherever they are.
How can Beckett Telecom help with effective communication in your school?
Beckett Telecom are an independent provider of telecoms services and solutions across the UK. We provide our customers with a single point of contact for their telecommunications needs. We can help your school to become more effective with its communications so that you can manage better.