7 problems when tackling parental engagement in primary schools (and how to overcome them)

Problem #1: Communication overload

In everyday life, parents are bombarded with messages from different platforms. And often, schools contribute to the noise, with fragmented communication through disparate channels — letters, apps, phone calls, emails and more. Parents may also be expected to self-serve and find their own information, accessing yet more platforms like the school website. 

Solution: Simplify communication and cut through the noise instead of adding to it — stick to one centralised platform where parents can find everything they need. With a centralised platform, primary schools can streamline communications and deliver need-to-know messages in one place with increased reliability. Parents can receive notifications when new updates arrive, so they never miss a message. Within the platform, schools can share everything from newsletters and school-wide updates to individual pupils’ set homework, exam results and weekly timetables, helping parents of young children to stay organised. 

Problem #2: Low parent turnout for school events and meetings

It can be difficult to get critical mass for school events, and parents evenings always bring the stress of possible low attendance, missed timeslots and no shows. Often, the booking process can be part of the problem, proving to be confusing and time consuming for both primary schools and parents.

Solution: Remove as many barriers to attendance as possible, offering parents flexible appointments and a simple booking process. Remote appointments could be helpful for both parents and teachers. An online booking system can solve many of the common parents evening booking headaches, and it can automate much of the admin. A good booking system will be mobile friendly to provide maximum flexibility, and should offer features like calendar syncing so parents can save appointments on personal devices. 

As well as making events easy to access, schools should consider how they structure meetings and parents evenings. A pupil’s first parents evening is an opportunity for the school to extend a warm welcome. As their education progresses, teachers should be mindful of sharing achievements as well as growth areas, framing their early years positively. This helps to build parent-teacher relationships and can increase the likelihood of continued engagement. 

Problem #3: Missed payments and admin overwhelm

Parents need to pay schools for lunch and meal options, trips, activities, tickets and more, and it can be difficult to keep track. If cash payments are required, this poses additional challenges in primary schools, where children may be too young to handle money and take it into school with them, placing the burden on parents. It’s easy for payments to be delayed or missed altogether, causing frustration for parents and schools. For admin staff, the workload can be overwhelming as they endeavour to keep track of multiple incoming payments and issue reminders.

Solution: Go cashless, with an easy-to-use online system that makes payments simple and seamless. It will save parents even more time if this can be integrated with other platforms, such as communication portals and booking systems. Cashless payments can be made in an instant, and schools will receive automatic notifications for their records. 

Problem #4: Parents don’t know how best to support learning

Parents can often feel disconnected from their child’s learning and may not know the best methods to use when supporting them at home. They may want to help with homework, but perhaps don’t understand the assignments in enough detail. As a result, parents can be left thinking that they can’t add much value.  

Solution: Parents have lots of value to add. Schools need good parental engagement strategies to communicate this so they understand what they can do, and how. “At-home good parenting” has been shown to have a significant positive effect on children’s achievements, and its impact is higher than other forms of parental involvement. It can include the provision of a secure and stable environment, parent-child discussions, setting good examples and intellectual stimulation, so parents don’t need to be experts in their children’s subjects to make a big difference.

As part of these efforts, parents should have holistic visibility of their child’s time at school. It’s important the onus isn’t put entirely on young children — homework can get lost in bags and planners can get left at school. With this information at their fingertips, parents are better equipped to help their children stay organised. School apps will often provide individual timetables, and tools like Google Classroom can be used to share classwork and assignments. 

Problem #5: Multiple logins cause frustration and confusion

Schools may offer parents all the information they need, but it can often be spread across different platforms and channels. This can cause confusion when locating the right information, plus new messages can be missed, rendering it no more efficient than sending children home with a letter. Plus, when parents need to access multiple platforms, they will have a variety of usernames and passwords to remember, putting additional pressure on them.

Solution: Offer single sign-on access to simplify the user experience for parents. One login will get parents access to everything they need from the school, including booking systems, information, payment systems and updates. With single sign-on, parents can access information conveniently, where and when it suits them. 

Problem #6: School admin teams are overworked and have no time to innovate

In a survey, only 5.5% of school support staff said their workload was always manageable within their contracted hours, and 16.5% said it was never manageable. 46% of schools also reported cuts to support staff numbers in a 2024 survey, compounding the pressure on those who remain. Many admin teams in schools rely on manual processes, but they have no time left in their busy days to innovate or make improvements, and they also may not have the tools to support them. Manual data management takes longer and is more open to human error, especially when administrative teams are under enormous strain.

Solution: Connected information is at the heart of reducing stress for school administrators, minimising repetitive tasks and increasing accuracy. A management information system (MIS) can be used to store and process the school’s vital data, and it can consolidate many of the tasks that office staff complete to keep the school running. Staff should consider how an MIS can be used and if there already is one, how to optimise it and tap into its full potential. An MIS can help automate data syncing, comms sends, website updates and more, all while remaining GDPR compliant. 

Problem #7: Independent schools struggle to personalise their comms

Independent schools often find they need more tailored communications to provide optimum experiences for parents. Some independent schools offer boarding facilities, and some have large international student cohorts, which can increase the need for communications regarding pastoral care, especially for primary-age children.

Independent schools will often conduct proactive marketing, so they need to build their brand and communicate their unique selling points. They may also have individual values they want to adhere to. James Allen’s Girls School, which has both a junior and senior school, is one example — their environmental credentials matter deeply to them, but in giving parents access to necessary information, they found they were using lots of paper for records and reports.

Solution: A flexible parental engagement platform that’s designed to meet the needs of independent schools can solve many of the difficulties. Platforms can offer a variety of customisations to ensure independent schools can execute their communications strategies effectively, with everything from personalised branding to bespoke features. For James Allen’s Girls School, a new communication platform has given them the flexibility to adapt to the diverse needs of the school community. Providing parents with instant access to digital information has reduced paper usage significantly, supporting sustainability while ensuring connection. "As a school that’s very committed to a sustainable future, one of the really quantifiable values of My School Portal has been the immediate access to information, which has meant we can cut down on unwieldy amounts of paper," said Headmistress Alex Hutchinson.  

Parental engagement is challenging for primary schools when resources are stretched and staff are busy, which in turn can make everyday life more difficult for parents. Improving parental engagement isn’t about working harder — it’s about using the right tools to cut workload and build a better user experience all in one.

Access Education’s parental engagement software strengthens parent-school relationships and simplifies communication to increase connection. Find out how the platform can reduce the workload for primary schools and make parents’ lives easier, so they can be more involved in their children’s education. Book a product tour today.