What's new
Key features
Targeted Trip Payment Communications – Enhanced mailing list functionality for overdue payments.
App: Find Your School Improvements – Enhanced school search with intelligent matching.
App Access Control – Clear messaging for non-guardian users accessing the Guardian app.
Editor Updates – Enhanced content creation capabilities across the platform.
Wonde Integration Enhancement – Improved Form Tutor data synchronisation.
SIMS Integration Enhancement – Enhanced dual registration student handling.
Targeted Trip Payment Communications
We’ve introduced a new filter on the bookable trips mailing list source to help school administrators manage trip payment communications. This enhancement allows for more targeted and effective communication with parents and guardians regarding outstanding trip payments.
Benefits
Improved Payment Collection: More effective follow-up on outstanding trip payments.
Reduced Administrative Burden: Automated identification of users requiring payment reminders.
Better Parent Experience: Targeted, relevant communications rather than generic messages.
This feature integrates seamlessly with the existing messaging system, maintaining the familiar workflow whilst providing enhanced targeting capabilities for trip-related communications.
📌Note: Future improvements will be made to automate this process further, reducing the administrative burden of following up on outstanding payments.
App: Find Your School Improvements
Following the successful launch of the My School Portal mobile app, we’ve made significant improvements to the school search functionality based on user feedback. These enhancements make it much easier for parents and guardians to find and connect to their child’s school during the registration process.
Enhanced school search with intelligent matching
We’ve completely upgraded the school search feature to handle various punctuation, formatting, and naming variations. Parents no longer need to worry about exact formatting when searching for their child’s school.
What’s improved
Flexible Punctuation Handling: Search now works with apostrophes, full stops, hyphens, and mixed punctuation.
Improved User Experience: No more frustration when exact formatting isn’t known.
Real-world examples: The enhanced search now successfully handles schools with complex names, including: • Apostrophes: “St Margaret’s” or “St Margaret’” both find “St Margaret’s Primary School” • Full stops: “St. Thomas” or “St Thomas” both locate the correct school • Hyphens: “Meadow-Vale” or “Meadow Vale” both return relevant results • Mixed punctuation: “St. Catherine’s Academy” works regardless of punctuation combination
Previously, parents may have struggled to find their child’s school if they didn’t use the exact punctuation and formatting — particularly for schools with names containing apostrophes, full stops, or hyphens. The improved search removes these barriers, making the registration process smoother and more intuitive.
Cross-platform compatibility: This enhancement works seamlessly across both iOS and Android devices, ensuring a consistent experience for all users regardless of their mobile platform.
Guardian App Access Control
We’ve improved the user experience for non-guardian users who attempt to access the Guardian app by implementing clear, helpful messaging instead of confusing error pages. This provides better guidance and reduces support queries whilst maintaining appropriate access controls.
Previously, when non-guardian users successfully authenticated but attempted to access the Guardian app, they would encounter a generic 404 error page. This created confusion as authentication was successful, but they couldn’t proceed due to insufficient permissions.
What’s improved
Clear Custom Error Page: Replaces generic 404 errors with helpful messaging.
Helpful Guidance: Clear explanation of why access is restricted.
Easy Navigation: A ‘Back to Login’ button provides a straightforward return path.
Benefits
Reduced Confusion: Clear explanation replaces frustrating 404 errors.
Clear Guidance: Users understand exactly why access is denied and what alternatives exist.
For Administrators: Non-guardian users understand that the Guardian app is specifically designed for parent and guardian accounts.
📌Note: Coming soon: In-app guardian impersonation for admins!
Editor Updates
We’ve upgraded the content editor throughout My School Portal from version 4.4.4 to 4.4.6, bringing enhanced functionality and improved performance to content creation across the platform. This update affects both admin tools and frontend forms, providing a better experience for all users who create and edit content.
What’s improved
Enhanced Stability: Improved reliability and performance across all content creation areas.
Updated Features: Access to the latest editor functionality and improvements.
Better Performance: Faster loading and a more responsive editing experience.
Bug Fixes: Resolution of various minor issues and improvements to overall functionality.
These improvements are designed to be seamless — you’ll continue using the editor as before, but with enhanced performance and reliability. The familiar interface remains unchanged, ensuring no disruption to your established workflows whilst providing better functionality under the surface.
Wonde Integration Enhancement
We’ve made an important update to improve the accuracy of Form Tutor data synchronisation between Wonde and My School Portal. This enhancement ensures that Form Tutor assignments are correctly identified and imported, providing more accurate staff–student relationships within the portal.
Benefits
Accurate Staff Assignments: Form Tutors are correctly identified and assigned to their students.
Improved Data Reliability: Better consistency between MIS data via Wonde and My School Portal records.
Enhanced User Experience: Correct Form Tutor information displayed throughout the portal.
For schools: This update works automatically in the background during your regular data synchronisation. Form Tutor assignments will now be more accurately reflected in My School Portal, ensuring parents and staff see the correct tutor information for each student.
SIMS Integration Enhancement
Our SIMS integration now recognises students with “Main - Dual registration” status as current students, alongside the existing “On Roll” status. This improvement ensures that all active students are properly included in My School Portal, regardless of their specific registration arrangement.
Schools with dual registration arrangements previously found that some of their current students weren’t being imported into My School Portal because they had “Main - Dual registration” status rather than standard “On Roll” status. This update ensures all active students are included.
Automatic implementation: This improvement works seamlessly in the background during your regular SIMS data synchronisation. No action is required from school administrators — the enhanced student recognition will be effective from your next scheduled data import.
As always, if you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to reach out. Stay tuned for more exciting updates coming soon!
— The My School Portal Team
How this version will be made available
This update will be applied automatically to all schools.