New safeguarding parental controls set to enhance student wellbeing and school-parent communication

A safeguarding platform for education settings, which is currently used by more than 20,000 students, has implemented new parental controls to improve communication between schools and parents – as it looks to enhance student welfare.

 

The development comes as part of the imabi Inspire platform and follows recognition that safeguarding in schools is often a three-way conversation – with the latest developments reflecting that.

 

Previous versions of the platform were centred on communication between school and student, allowing access to key information and the ability to report concerns. The latest iteration now factors in parents and guardians too, whilst still allowing students to report anonymously.

 

Key features include:

• Parental peace of mind: With access to the school’s version of imabi Inspire, parents can now view the same features and content that’s available to their children. Furthermore, they can use geo-location features to provide reassurance about their child’s safety within the school environment.
• Improved communication: The new parental access feature facilitates better communication between schools and parents regarding their children’s wellness. Schools can provide specific parent-focused content, enabling tailored communication without sharing individual student data initially. Moreover, the “Your Voice” feature empowers parents to share feedback directly with the school.
• Data security and privacy: imabi Inspire maintains rigorous privacy standards, ensuring the security of student data while providing parental access to the platform. The platform adheres to GDPR regulations and does not share child-specific content with parents, preserving student privacy.
• Intuitive interface: The parental interface is designed to be intuitive, with no specialised training needed. With seven clear features, navigating the platform is seamless, allowing easy access for parents.
• Universal safeguarding: The addition of parental access aligns with imabi’s mission to make safeguarding tools accessible to everyone, every day, everywhere. By connecting families with the broader imabi ecosystem, parents can actively participate in their child’s safety and well-being.

Commenting on the changes, Mark Balaam, CEO of imabi, said: “Whilst the primary focus for imabi Inspire is to ensure ease of communication between students and those in a position of authority who are able to help – i.e. teachers – we recognise that, understandably, parents and guardians want to be in the loop too. So, we’ve looked to integrate that capability, giving a level of access to parents that provides reassurance and peace of mind – while ensuring student privacy at the same time. We want students to be confident in reaching out via the app, and we all know that sometimes we don’t want our parents to know certain things – so that is very much factored in.”

 

Centred on helping schools gain a better understanding of their culture, imabi Inspire, is designed to make students feel safer and better represented. Offering named or anonymous reporting to flag inappropriate behaviours, the chance to provide feedback via surveys, targeted guidance from trusted sources, as well as acting as a portal for essential school information – it’s an ‘all in one place’ safeguarding resource.

 

For more information on imabi Inspire, please visit https://www.imabi.com/schools

 

And for a more in depth look at how it’s currently helping a school, please see a case study with Barking Abbey School, here: https://www.imabi.com/barking-abbey