What can I do on Classlist?

Welcome to Classlist! This article gives you a quick run through of the main features on Classlist, with links to provide more information if you need it. Classlist is super-flexible, allowing you to talk with other parents in ways that are relevant for you, without either blanketing everyone in the school with mass communication or inadvertently excluding people. 

The Parent Board and posts

The Parent Board is the first screen you see when you open Classlist. It works like a noticeboard, often known as the 'feed' or 'wall' on many social media sites, where you can create and read posts, which are for communicating publicly with a group of people. You can choose which group will see your post using a drop-down filter.

For sending a message to just one person, or a few you select individually, you can use the private message feature. Posting to the whole school on the Parent Board is an optional feature which can be turned on or off by your admin team. 

Posts to the Parent Board can include images as well as text. Announcements from your admin team (often the PTA or Friends group) will also appear in your Parent Board feed.

The Parent board (home page) on a desktop:

The same screen on the app:

Navigating around the site

On a desktop (or tablet in landscape view) the navigation side bar displayed down the left hand side of the screen lists the various features and functions on Classlist: simply click on an item in the list to move to that feature or section on your Classlist site (see top image above). The icons used here mirror the ones used in the mobile app. When you move from one page or section to another you will notice that the icon for your current location will be highlighted in colour, so you can always check where you are by glancing at the side bar. Clicking on 'Help and Training' on any page will take you to the article in the Help pages which corresponds to the feature you are currently using.

On smaller screens and mobile phones there are shortcut icons for the most popular features displayed across the bottom of the screen, with more options to discover listed under the More menu (the three horizontal bars icon on the right).

The Classlist app on your mobile phone: shortcuts from left to right along the bottom of the screen are Parent Board (home page), Contacts, Create (anything from a 'for sale' advert to an event), Messages and More (main menu).

The Contacts page

The Contacts page is crucial to your whole experience of using the system. It can show you a personalised list of those parents whose children are in the same year or class grouping as your children. Each parent will therefore see a different list of names, according to which class and year groups their children are placed in. You can private message anyone in the school, even if they are not in one of your groups.

There is a drop down filter box which allows you to refine your list if you only want to see parents in one of your school groups (see image below) and a search function if you are looking for an individual parent (you can also search using the child's name). Under the parent's name you can also see their children's names. If you click on a parent's name you will be taken to their public profile, which displays their contact details and which class/es their children are in (if they have shared these details and if they are in the same group as you). You can use this page to send a private message or even call them directly if you are on a mobile and they have shared a phone number.

To send a parent a private message from here, just click the speech bubble icon on the right hand side opposite their name. 

You can also access the Parent Map here.

Classlist takes your security very seriously: you can choose to hide your contact details from other parents if you want. 

Private Messages

You can send private messages to individual members of your Classlist community using the messages feature. This is more like sending a text message rather than a public post to a group. The message summary page will also store your previous conversations so that you can re-read them at any time you need. You can use the messaging feature to create small group conversations if you wish (up to eight people). While the Classlists page only shows you the parents you are grouped with, you can private message any parent in the school, but you will not be abe to see their contact details yourself unless they are in one of your class/year groups and they have shared their details with the class/year.

Your Groups 

Every member of Classlist is automatically sorted into school groups based on the class/year to which their children belong. You can also build your own parent groups manually, so that people with a shared common interest, eg parents with children in the same sports team or extra-curricular club, or parent social groups like dog walkers or book clubs. You can use the groups page to post directly to a group, though this can also be done from the Parent Board.

The Parent Map

The Parent Map operates as an 'opt in' feature: only parents who have specifically chosen to share their details on the map can use this feature. You can access the Parent Map from the Contacts page: if you have opted in you will appear as a marker on a map, you can then click on other markers to obtain the contact details of those parents or send them a private message. This feature is ideal for creating lift-shares or even making a walking bus. Remember it is your responsibility to decide if it is safe to entrust your child to another person's care. 

Some safety tips for the Parent Map.

Your Profile

Your profile is where all your personal information is stored. You can edit this at any time to share/hide contact information, change family and child details, and change how you receive notifications. 

Your profile is broken down into different areas: 

Whenever you change any details in your profile, remember to hit save - the button can be easy to overlook!

This section also allows you to change your password: make sure you have typed the new password correctly twice and note that all passwords are case sensitive.

The School page

The School page provides useful inormation about the school such as the address, website and phone number, and shows you who your admin representatives are on Classlist as well as your school's key parent representatives - usually the PTA or Friends committee. If you'd like to get more involved in your school community you can volunteer to be a Class Admin from this page. 

The Marketplace and Business Directory

The Marketplace works like the personal ads or listings column in a newspaper. Classlist users can buy and sell things like second-hand bikes or school uniform, post notices about lost and found items, or request informal services such as occasional babysitting etc. It must not be used for advertising businesses or commercial services. 

Marketplace posts are only sent out to parents once a week, although they are visible on the Marketplace page as soon as you post them. This is to prevent email overload!

Some schools will also have a Business Directory, identified in the navigation as 'Recommendations', where local businesses can be listed and recommended by parents. 

Events

The events page displays a list of all the events that you have been invited to, as well as any events that you have created.  To create an event, simply click on the 'Create Event' button and follow the on-screen instructions. Events can be ticketed, and even paid for via Classlist through PayPal. 

Announcements

Announcements are a special type of post that can be sent out by administrative users. They can be sent to the whole school or selected groups, classes or years. Announcements can contain a file attachment, making them a perfect platform for important messages. Announcements can also be emailed to the address you signed up for Classlist with.