My School Connect, Making Online Easy!

The start of 2020 has been like no other. It has been challenging, enlightening and educational. Despite most people going through their own struggles, we have been given the opportunity to learn new skills, spend quality and uninterrupted time with loved ones, and gain a new perspective on reality. It is heartbreaking to think of the lives lost, but invigorating to think of the good that has come out of it and the way in which it will change our lives moving forward.

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As we approach what appears to be the end of the pandemic, we are entering into a transitional period where we must adjust back to ‘normal’ life. Schools have started to make their way back to business as usual, focusing great attention on the safety and security of their staff and students. 

My School Connect has some key features designed to assist schools in transitioning back to some sort of ‘norm’.

Point of Sale 

Now more than ever before, schools are looking to go cashless. With all the hype around social distancing and avoiding any form of contact with others, schools want to remove cash handling from their system and transition their school online. Our Point of Sale system seamlessly integrates with school canteen and uniform stores, enabling the stores to run more effectively and efficiently, and ensuring parents and kids can purchase the necessary items without relying on cash or even Eftpos! By purchasing items online or topping up My School Credit funds, students can pick up or purchase an item of their choosing by simply swiping their student card at the register, or searching for their account by their student name.

Notifications 

a) In-app – My School Connect has inbuilt functionality to send notifications out. Whether you choose to send out communications to all parent users requesting that they place orders online, or to staff, it’s never been so easy to stay in touch.

b) Notes – We also allow important notes to be displayed within the system, visible to parents during their online purchase process.

Customisation

a) Store customisation – With some states going back to full-time face to face learning, schools all have different needs. Some Tuckshops will be open limited days only and for shorter periods. Our system allows schools to customise the days in which their Tuckshop will be open, what day orders must be placed by, and the cutoff time for ordering.

b) Product customisation – Products can also be enabled/disabled depending on daily availability.

c) Product popularity – in an effort to minimise waste and ensure your Tuckshop is fully stocked with your schools top selling items, the Dashboard will show you your top 10 items every week. This will greatly assist with effective inventory management.

Chip-in

After extended closure, it is no doubt that businesses are struggling. Schools can now opt into the My School Connect chip-in feature and allocate a fund of their choosing. It may be the school, or another business/entity in need. The chip-in feature allows parents to round up every order to the nearest dollar or an amount of their choosing. Schools have raised hundreds of dollars through operation chip-in – a little goes a long way!

Nutrition 

We always value children’s nutrition highly but post-COVID, as we enter into the Winter months, it is more important than ever before! My School Connect is big advocates for the Traffic Light system, where we can classify the nutritional value, energy density, and levels of saturated fat, sugar, salt and fibre content of menu items. Foods classified as green are among the healthiest choices, whilst those classified under red are those that need to be limited. 

Canteens can even create their own ‘Healthy Choice menu’, itemising all healthy food items for parents/students to choose from. 

My School Connect Parent Hub

The My School Connect Parent Hub has been a fantastic place where parents Australia-wide have come together and formed a community. The Hub was designed to help parents during an extreemly difficult time – not just with COVID-19, but all the challenges and changes that Coronavirus brought with it! The Hub will continue to serve as a place where parents can come to discuss, share, collaborate and support similar like-minded parents. If you’re not already a part of the community, please feel free to join HERE!

There is so much choice when it comes to My School Connect, and so many ways that our technology can be leveraged to make lives easier for school staff, parents and students. We are constantly working on developing and evolving our system to better meet schools needs. At present, our focus is on the growing need to go cashless and support the cashless society.

Stay tuned for more updates on how My School Connect remains committed to making a difference in this new era, and making online easy for all schools Australia-wide!