We currently use a product called Classlist which is effectively a forum for the PTA to plan and promote events. It can also be used to arrange car sharing. It takes a lot of time to manage as there is no sync on the plan we're on and the next plan up would be prohibitively expensive given the number of pupils we have.
Please consider adding that sort of functionality into the Parent Portal with management controls along the lines of:
Parent Portal Staff with Full Rights - ability to turn it on and off wholesale, ability to set the Years Groups and/or Form Groups that parents can see and post in based on the Year/Form groups their children are in, ability to set Parent Moderators for the forum based on those parents who have the PTFA tick box ticked within Student Manager contacts, along with which forum(s) they can moderate.
Parents with PFTA ticked - ability to moderate, lock and delete threads.
Other parents - ability to post and comment on posts.
When it comes to us supporting our parents with the Portal, the more they make use of it the fewer issues we see, especially around logging in.
