2024/2025 Service Definition

SIMS Parent App and Parent App Lite

About the Service

SIMS Parent App Lite

SIMS Parent App Lite offers a cost-effective solution to easily communicate electronically with parents. The app is easy to use, providing a secure tool for collecting pupil and parent data. It offers a convenient and accessible solution for parents to electronically review and request changes to the data held on them and their children from the convenience of their smart phone, tablet or PC. The SIMS Parent App Lite service can also be upgraded to the fully featured SIMS Parent App service.

SIMS Parent App

Effective parental engagement in schools is key to success and the full version of SIMS Parent App is the ideal parental engagement tool. It provides a convenient and accessible way for schools to communicate with parents, whether it’s sharing information such as attendance, timetables, school reports, or sending reminders for homework tasks, the information is easily accessible from the convenience of their phone, tablet or PC.

What are the benefits?

  • Parents and schools find it easy to use and accessible from a smart phone, tablet or PC.
  • Collect up-to-date information from students and their parents to help your school meet the GDPR requirement for ensuring data accuracy.
  • Cost and efficiency savings, less paper data collection sheets and manual entry of data.
  • Send notifications to parents, reminding them to update their details ensuring accurate data recording.
  • Customise the communications you send based on the needs of your school.
  • Parental engagement evidence for Ofsted full audit trail in SIMS of all data collection requests and actions.
  • Only contacts with parental responsibility can access information.
  • Parents with more than one child attending the same school can easily access group information on their children via the app.
  • Safe and secure.

Additional Benefits of SIMS Parent App (the full version of the App)

  • Engage parents with their child’s learning
    Whether it’s sharing information on attendance, homework, timetables, school reports or conduct, parents can stay on top of their child’s progress. Schools can easily send automated alerts and notifications directly to parents' smart phones. A clear dashboard gives parents an overview of their child’s school life, making conversations more meaningful at parents’ evenings. Parents are more involved and can help support development and work with the school to improve outcomes for their children.
  • Evidence for your next inspection
    Ofsted are increasingly focused on how schools are working to improve parental engagement. SIMS Parent App provides an audit trail of the communications that can be used as evidence at your next inspection. Ofsted Inspectors also want to see evidence of safeguarding measures. SIMS Parent app allows schools to provide information to parents in real-time.
  • Manage extra-curricular activities
    Schools can efficiently manage extra-curricular activities such as school trips, homework clubs and after school activities, reducing administration time for staff and helping to improve safeguarding. It enables you to easily send out invites, manage responses and keep parents regularly updated. Plus, schools can register pupils and access key information at any time.
  • Delivers cost and efficiency savings on administrative activities
    SIMS Parent App enables your school to enhance its communication strategy for engaging with parents, while reducing costs and improving efficiency.
  • SIMS Student App for Secondary schools
    All secondary schools purchasing SIMS Parent App, also receive the SIMS Student App as part of their subscription.

What's Included?

Service Features

  • Ease of management – SIMS Parent App Lite / SIMS Parent App are easy to use and rollout to Parents. Parents can use an existing email account log-in, removing the need for a school to manage user accounts.
  • Secure single sign-on functionality, using ESS SIMS ID service, removes the burden of resetting passwords from the school.
  • Schools can easily control which SIMS information they share with parents from the admin management portal.
  • Parents can provide additional information on crucial details such as medical information or dietary requirements, allowing these to be held in SIMS.
  • Supports data upkeep. When a parent has submitted a change request, automatic emails are sent to nominated SIMS accounts. Administrators can view previous requests and details of any action taken via the audit trail within SIMS.
  • Lancashire County Council Education Digital Services offers support for both versions of the App, so that you are fully supported for SIMS integration and assistance with the management console for SIMS administrators.
Features Comparison Table

SIMS Parent App Lite

SIMS Parent App

Secure web-based access
(mobile phone compatible)
Available as iOS App from Apple App Store and Android App from Google Play
Parent can see all their children even if at different schools
School Details
Term Dates
Data collection
Homework
Attendance
Conduct
Timetable
School Diary
Publish reports
Assessment
Create and Send Push Notifications
Extra-curricular activities
Student Access