Case study 2 · Teardown

Why parents miss what matters in school apps

A school parent app should answer one question fast: “Is there anything I need to do?” The app I reviewed spreads that answer across emails, menus and a newsletter link. Important alerts look the same as everything else. And getting money back is much harder than putting it in.

2 critical
4 high
1 medium
1 big opportunity

Why I wrote this. I nearly missed school events because messages were spread across emails, the app and the newsletter. Most weeks it was my daughter who reminded me what was happening. I'm not neurodivergent and neither is she, so I kept thinking: if this is hard for us, how hard is it for SEN families?

About this teardown. It's an independent review based on my own experience as a parent, and on my time in schools as a supply teacher and coding teacher. I also hold a Level 3 Diploma in Special Educational Needs skills. I don't name the product, because many UK school apps share these patterns. The redesigns are concepts. They haven't been built into the real app or tested with parents yet.

Who I tested as

Two parents, one busy morning

The overloaded parent, 8:40am

Two children, work in 20 minutes, phone in one hand. Wants to know: is today non-uniform day, is there a form to sign, is lunch paid for?

A parent of an SEN child, who may be neurodivergent too

Extra meetings, support plans and appointments on top of everything else. If the parent has ADHD or dyslexia, long emails and PDFs are hard to scan, and anything that isn't in front of them at the right moment is forgotten.

The journey today

“Do I need to do anything this week?”

To answer that one question, a parent has to check up to three places and remember what they found in each. With children at more than one school, multiply that.

Check email for anything from school. Place 1: email inbox
Open the app. A red badge shows a number, but not what it's about. Place 2: app home
Tap through sections (messages, notices, payments, clubs) to find what's new. Place 2: app sections
Find the newsletter link, open it and scroll to find dates and actions. Place 3: newsletter
Hold it all in your head, or write it down somewhere else. In my house, the backup system was my daughter. The parent's memory

The core problem: the app stores information, but it doesn't help parents act on it. The parent ends up doing the sorting.

What I found

Issue log, most serious first

Severity: critical means a parent can miss something important. High means real stress or lost money. Medium means extra effort. Each issue links to the W3C guidance Making Content Usable for People with Cognitive and Learning Disabilities (COGA) or WCAG 2.2.

Critical

1. Important alerts look the same as everything else

What happens: Notifications are generic, or don't arrive for the things that matter most. A trip deadline and a cake sale look the same.
Why it matters: When everything is equally loud, parents learn to ignore it all. The urgent message gets lost.
Guidance: COGA Objective 5: help users focus. Objective 3: clear content.
Fix: Three alert levels: Action needed (with a deadline), Good to know and a weekly digest for everything else. Parents choose quiet hours.

Critical

2. No single place to see what's happening

What happens: News comes by email, in different app sections and in a newsletter link. None of them are in sync.
Why it matters: Parents have to remember to check three places and connect the dots themselves. That's hardest for parents with ADHD or memory difficulties.
Guidance: COGA Objective 6: don't rely on memory. Objective 2: help users find what they need.
Fix: A Today home screen: everything that needs a parent's action, in date order, from every source. Email becomes a copy of the app, not a separate channel.

High

3. Putting money in is easy. Getting it back isn't.

What happens: Topping up credit and booking clubs or lunches takes a few taps. Cancelling and getting a refund means contacting the school office.
Why it matters: Mistakes happen, plans change and children get ill. A one-way money flow causes stress and loses trust.
Guidance: WCAG 2.2 success criterion 3.3.4, Error Prevention (Legal, Financial, Data): financial actions should be reversible, checked or confirmed. COGA Objective 4: help users correct mistakes.
Fix: A Cancel booking button next to every booking. Show the cancellation deadline before payment. Refund straight to the app balance, with a receipt.

High

4. Information is hidden inside sections

What happens: The home screen is a grid of menus. To find out what's new, you open each one.
Why it matters: The app is organised the way the school's systems work, not the way parents think. Parents think in “today”, “this week” and “my child”.
Guidance: COGA Objective 1: help users understand what things are. Objective 2: help users find what they need.
Fix: Lead with tasks and dates. Keep the menus, but put them one level down.

High

5. Not designed for parents with SEN or neurodivergent parents

What happens: Dense text, no reading settings and no way to control how much comes through, or when.
Why it matters: The parents with the most to manage (support plans, appointments, extra communication) get the least help from the app.
Guidance: COGA Objective 8: support adaptation and personalisation.
Fix: Easier-reading mode, a short plain-language summary at the top of every message, digest frequency settings and the option to read messages aloud.

High

6. One login per school, sometimes one per child

What happens: Families with children at different schools (or nursery, school and clubs) often need a separate app, portal or login for each. Even within one school, siblings can sit in separate views.
Why it matters: Every extra portal is another place to remember to check and another password to recover. The load grows with every child.
Guidance: COGA Objective 6: don't rely on memory. WCAG 2.2 success criterion 3.3.8, Accessible Authentication (Minimum), on logins that don't depend on memory tests.
Fix: All children on one account, with one combined Today view. Each item shows which child it's for. Across different schools, this needs schools or their software suppliers to share data properly. A single school app can't fix it on its own.

Medium

7. The newsletter is a link, not part of the app

What happens: The newsletter arrives by email with a link, and the app links to it too. Dates and actions are buried in long text.
Why it matters: Key dates get missed. If the newsletter is a PDF, it may also not work well with screen readers or zoom (WCAG 1.3.1 and 1.4.10).
Guidance: COGA Objective 3: use clear and understandable content.
Fix: Turn the newsletter into short in-app cards. Each starts with “What this means for you”. Dates have an Add to calendar button and actions go to Today automatically.

Opportunity

8. The app could be a learning and communication hub

What happens: Parents get admin, not learning. Talking to staff means phoning or emailing the office.
The opportunity: A class page showing what children are learning this week, with one or two ideas for helping at home. Plus simple two-way messaging with staff.
Guidance: COGA Objective 7: provide help and support.
Fix: A Class hub with a weekly learning card and messaging that shows when staff usually reply (for example “within 2 school days”). That protects staff time as well as helping parents.

Concept redesign

From a menu of sections to a list of what to do

Same information, different starting point. Left is the typical pattern today. Right is my concept.

Before

School app

Messages3

Notices

Payments

Clubs

Lunches

Calendar

Documents

Newsletter

Contact

Meanwhile, in your email

Newsletter: Autumn week 6
Please see the link below for this week's news…

Reminder
Please check the app for an important update.

Before: nine menus, a badge with no context and emails that send you back to the app.

After (concept)

Today · Tuesday

Action needed

Sign the museum trip formDue Thursday · Year 4
Sign now

Lunch balance is low: £1.20Enough for 0 days
Top up Cancel a booking

Good to know

Friday is non-uniform dayBring £1 for charity
Add to calendar

This week in Year 4: fractionsOne idea to try at home

Everything else: in Friday's digest

After: actions first, with deadlines and a button to act. Less urgent news waits for the weekly digest.

Concept redesign

Make refunds as easy as top-ups

Today

Top up

Payments
Add credit
Pay
Done

Get money back

Can't find an option
Email or phone the office
Wait
Check balance again later

Concept

Top up

Top up
Pay
Done

Get money back

My bookings
Cancel
£2.40 back in your balance

Before you pay: “You can cancel until 9am on the day for a full refund to your balance.”

Concept redesign

Alerts parents can trust

Three proposed alert levels
Level	Used for	How it reaches you
Action needed	Forms, payments, deadlines, safety and closures	Push notification straight away, pinned to the top of Today until it's done
Good to know	Dates this week, kit reminders, changes to clubs	On Today, plus an optional evening summary
Digest	Newsletter stories, celebrations, general news	One weekly summary, never a separate push

Rule for staff: if a message has no action and no date, it goes in the digest.

What I'd do next

How I'd test this

Test with 5 parents, including at least 2 who are neurodivergent or parent an SEN child.
Give them one task: “Find everything you need to do this week.”
Measure time taken, places checked and anything missed, on the current app and on the prototype.
Talk to 2 office staff about refunds and parent queries, to check the fixes save them time too.

What success would look like

Parents find every action in one place, in under a minute
No missed deadlines in testing
Fewer refund and “where do I find…” queries to the office

These are targets, not results. I'll update this page if I run the test.

The takeaway for product teams: most of these fixes don't need new features. They need the information you already have to be sorted by what the parent has to do, and when.

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