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Messaging the Childcare Provider

[For Guardians] Learn how to view and send messages to your child's program to stay connected.

Sabrina avatar
Written by Sabrina
Updated over 2 months ago

Communication between staff and student contacts is vital to the success of any student's education. Brightwheel makes it simple with a suite of easy-to-use built-in Messaging tools on the web and mobile app. Communicate directly with all of the teachers the student interacts with daily or to the administrators at a program by sending instant messages and getting notified of replies in the brightwheel mobile app.

Access to Messages

The ability to view and send messages in brightwheel varies depending on the type of student contact the user has been set up as by the provider.

  • Parent Contacts - Have full access to all messages sent by any student contact listed on their child's profile or staff member regarding that student.

  • Family Contacts - Can send messages to the provider, but are unable to view any inbound messages.

  • Approved Pickups & Emergency Contacts - No access to any messaging tools or features.

Message Types

To improve communication and make messages more readable for all parties, brightwheel offers five different message types for student contacts. When selecting any message type other than General, the first line of the message will be bolded with that message type to help indicate to teachers and staff the subject of the message.

  • General - This is the most commonly used message type. Use this for typical back-and-forth conversations, just like a text message.

  • Late drop off - With a bolded header, quickly communicate that the student will be dropped off later than usual with an optional note.

  • Late pick up - With a bolded header, quickly communicate that the student will be picked up later than usual with an optional note.

  • Early pick up - With a bolded header, quickly communicate that the student will be picked up earlier than usual with an optional note.

  • Absent - With a bolded header, quickly communicate that the student will be not be attending on a scheduled day with an optional note.

View Messages

Parents can view messages sent to and from the provider from the Messages tab on the web, or from a mobile device by tapping the Message icon from a child's profile. Parents will see two message threads for students.

  • One thread is for communications between you and all staff assigned to your student's classroom, including staff and admins.

  • The other thread is for communications between you and Admins only - staff won't see this message thread.

The two threads will be present on the Messaging page on the web and mobile app even if no previous message history exists yet, This serves as a way for you to initiate a message conversation if needed! Attachments can be sent to the program through either thread type.

Parents can also mark messages as read or unread as needed.

Send Messages

Send on the Web

Send on the App

  1. Navigate to the Messaging page

  2. Click the desired thread for your student to communicate with Staff & Admins or Admins Only

  3. Select your message 'Type': General, Late Drop Off, Late Pick Up, Early Pick Up, or Absent

  4. Enter the message contents

  5. Click the icon to add an optional attachment

  6. Click Send when ready

  1. Navigate to the student’s Profile

  2. Tap the Message icon under the child's profile picture in iOS or the top right-hand corner on Android

  3. Click the desired thread for your student to either communicate with Staff & Admins or Admins Only.

  4. Select your message 'Type': General, Late Drop Off, Late Pick Up, Early Pick Up, or Absent

  5. Enter the message contents

  6. Click the paperclip or plus icon to add a optional attachment

  7. Click Send when ready

ℹ️ Important Notes:

  • Only parents listed on the child's profile will be able to view the messages sent between parents and staff.

  • If you are sending a message on an Admins Only only thread, you will not be able to change the message type and it will default to 'General'

  • If attaching a file to a message, pleaser review the Allowed File Types

Newsletters

Newsletters are a specific message type that teachers and administrators can use to create longer and more in-depth updates about the provider and their activities. These messages will display with the bolded message type Newsletter with the title of the newsletter. Tap or click on that message to view the entirety of the newsletter.

Print Messages

There is not functionality built-in at this time to export/print messages from your child's program, but the workaround below can be followed to achieve the desired outcome.

Screenshot and Print

This option is ideal if accessing brightwheel on the mobile app.

  1. Log in to brightwheel on the mobile app

  2. Navigate to the student’s Profile

  3. Tap the Message icon under the child's profile picture in iOS or the top right-hand corner on Android

  4. Click the desired thread (Staff & Admins or Admins Only)

  5. Take a screenshot of the message on your device and save to your photos

  6. Print the desired screenshots

Copy and Print

This option is deal if accessing brightwheel in a web browser.

  1. Log in to brightwheel on the web

  2. Open the Messaging page

  3. Open the desired thread (Staff & Admins or Admins Only)

  4. Start at the most recent message and begin highlighting the message contents and scrolling up

  5. Once you've highlighted the message contents needed, copy the information

  6. Paste the message contents into a Google Doc or similar

  7. Print the document

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