Texting parents saves you money
Chasing unauthorised absence takes a huge amount of resource every single day. It may take several calls to a parent to determine the whereabouts of their child and the reason for their absence. What's more it's expensive. Every call to a mobile costs around 9p minimum to connect, plus the time on the call.
A text message will never cost you more than 5.5p - guaranteed. You save at least 3.5p every time you send a text rather than call.
It's better for parents - especially those on low incomes
What's more if a parent on a pay-as-you-go mobile has no credit they will not be able to receive your voicemail message until the next time that they top up, which may be several days later. And they are not going to thank you for wasting their credit with an obsolete message.
Your message is clearer
How often have you received a voicemail only to spend the next 10 minutes trying to figure out exactly what was said? Then, imagine you are a busy parent whose first language isn't English - how difficult is it now? A text message by comparison will always be as clear when it arrives as when it was sent. Your message WILL get through.
Reach parents in minutes not hours
Calling parents takes time, making calls, leaving messages, waiting for return calls etc. If you have a lot of absences to deal with it can take the whole school day to resolve all the issues.
Alternatively, you can use TXTRound. Simply gather the absence information from the register. Select the parents you want to contact and send a single message that every parent receives, typically 30 seconds after you have pressed send. You have a full audit trail of the messages that you send.
Parents simply hit reply on their phone and you will get their response straight into your email inbox.
The saving in time and effort is enormous, leaving you free to get on with the rest of your tasks for the day.