Contact a teacher or a parent

There are no messages in this app. Instead, a parent and their child's teacher can see how to reach each other, or ask to be reached, and then talk by email or phone.

Who. Only adults already linked through a class: a student's parent (from /family) and that student's teachers (from the class page under /cohorts). You confirm once that you are 18 or older. Students are never part of it.

Your preferences (the Contact preferences box on /family or /cohorts). For each side (the teachers of your children, the parents of your students) choose one:

Show my contact details: they see your account email, plus a phone and a "best time" note if you add them (both optional).
Ask me to get in touch (the default): your details stay hidden, but they can ask you to contact them, and you see their details with the request.
Only through the school: they can't ask you in the app and are pointed to the school instead.

Teachers can set a rule for a whole class from that class's page (Parent contact for this class): for example, "parents in Tuesday Science may only contact me through the school".

On each person's card you can set a different rule for that one person, in any combination (for example: parents may see your details, but one particular parent goes through the school, or a class is closed to parents except one). The most specific rule wins: the one-person rule, then the class rule, then your default.

Asking to talk. Press Ask ... to get in touch (or Let ... know you'd like to talk) on their card. They see a count next to Family or Cohorts in the menu, and your request on your card, with the student's name, a link to the student's work, and how to reach you. Once you have started talking, press We've started talking. The person you asked can also Close this request themselves, for example after calling you back; it then closes for both of you (you are not told who closed it). If neither happens within 48 hours, we email them once (checked once a day, so it arrives within the following day) and replying to that email reaches you directly. A request disappears after 14 days. You can ask the same person about the same student again a day later.

Changing your preferences never notifies anyone.