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Messaging the Childcare Provider
Easily communicate with the staff, admins, and managers at your child's program as a Parent Contact by using brightwheel's Messaging feature
Sabrina avatar
Written by Sabrina. Updated over a week 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.

Table of Contents

Messages Access

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.

View and Send Messages

Parent contacts can view, send, and reply to messages from Admins, Staff, and other student contacts listed on their child's profile on the web and mobile app at any time.

You will see two message threads for your student(s). 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!

Please note: Only parents listed on the child's profile will be able to view the messages sent between parents and staff. Other parents not listed as a contact on the child's profile will not be able to view these messages.

Send a Message on the Web

  1. Navigate to the Messaging page

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

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

  4. Enter the message content and click Send when ready

Send a Message on the App

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

  5. Enter the message content and click Send when ready

Please note: Only Parents can see the messages in a student’s profile. Family Contacts can send but not receive messages. Approved Pickups and Emergency Contacts have no access to messages.

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.

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.

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