The Messaging platform enables administrators to send updates, reminders, alerts, and more to parents through brightwheel. Messages can be sent to individual students, multiple students, entire rooms, or all students in the program. Messages are delivered to all parent contacts added to the student's brightwheel account.

Messaging Individual Parents

Admins and Managers have the option to send a message to individual parents and have the thread be viewable by all staff OR be viewable by only Admins and Managers. Choosing to send a direct Admin/Manager <> Parent message can be a great option if there's a matter that should only be discussed between these parties without staff involved.

🚩 Please be aware that this is not a direct message between a specific Admin/Manager and Parent Contacts, it will visible to all program Admins/Managers and all parent contacts associated with a student.

To better understand the parent experience, view our Messaging the Childcare Provider resource.

Send a Message on the Web

Similar to text messages or emails, while brightwheel messages can be deleted by Admins, they can’t be edited once they’re sent. With this in mind, please review the message content and recipients before sending to ensure completion and accuracy!

Navigate to the Messaging page
Click the + New Message button in the top right corner, and select Parents
Choose whether to send the message to:
- Individual parent(s) (and visible by all staff)
- Individual parent(s) (and only visible by admins/managers)
- Entire Room(s)/Program
Click on each student or room that should receive the message, and click on Next
Select the desired Message Type
💡If choosing to send a message to an individual parent and have it viewable by only Admins/Managers, you will not be able to change the Type
To add an attachment, click the + Add file and drop a file into the popup window or browse to add. When finished, click Add
1. Review the Allowed File Types as needed
2. Please note that currently message attachments can only be sent from existing message threads, you will not see this option when creating a new message.
Add the message contents
1. If you need to add a link/hyperlink to the message, simply paste the full URL and it will be clickable
Review the message content and recipients, and click Send Message when ready

Send a Message on the App

💡 Use the Talk-to-Text feature on your mobile device to speak your message. Click the 🎙️ icon next to the keyboard, and it will transcribe your speech and save time! For more details, refer to these Apple and Android articles.

Tap the purple Messages tile from the Administrator Home screen
Tap the message bubble icon in the top right corner to compose a new message and select Parents
Choose whether to send the message to:
- Individual parent(s) (and visible by all staff)
- Individual parent(s) (and only visible by admins/managers)
  💡 If this option is selected, the message thread will clearly indicate it at the top of the page
- Entire Room(s)/Program
Click on each student or room that should receive the message, and click on Next
Select the desired Message Type
💡If choosing to send a message to an individual parent and have it viewable by only Admins/Managers, you will not be able to change the Type
To add an attachment, click + Add file
💡 Review the Allowed File Types as needed
1. Select Media or File
2. If selecting Media, take a photo/video or use one from your library
3. If selecting File, select a file from your device and click Use file
Add the message contents
1. If you need to add a link/hyperlink to the message, simply paste the full URL
Review the message content and recipients, and click Send Message when ready

View Parent Messages

Easily view and filter all messages sent to parents at your program, whether they were sent to and viewable by all staff assigned to selected rooms, admins/managers only, or the entire program.

On the Web

Navigate to the Messaging page
View message thread visible on the Parents tab (open by default)
Use the Recipient, Room, Student, and Student status filters to narrow down threads as needed
Use the Order By drop-down to sort messages by Unread or Most Recent (set to Most Recent by default)

On the App

Tap the purple Messages tile from the Administrator Home screen
View message thread visible on the Parents tab (open by default)
Use the Students search bar or "Admin only" toggle to narrow down threads as needed
Use the Order By drop-down to sort messages by Unread or Most Recent (set to Most Recent by default)

Teacher to Parent Messaging

Messaging Overview

Message Types

Admin and Staff Messaging

Messaging the Childcare Provider