With more and more developments coming forward about when the majority of schools will reopen their doors again, it is good to be prepared for what the future will bring. At the start of lockdown, we donated our anonymous reporting tool Whisper to every school throughout the nation, giving them a chance to open up a new line of communication within their community. We had a fantastic response to the donation, with over 100 schools taking advantage of the tool which allowed them to stay in touch with their vulnerable students throughout this difficult time.
Not only that, but Whisper highlighted and stressed the importance of actively managing safeguarding duties away from the classroom – a topic which got many people talking.
SWGfL ran a questionnaire online which asked whether safeguarding issues had increased since being in lockdown as well as asking what would improve their digital communication as a whole. A large number of education professionals had highlighted that safeguarding issues had indeed increased since being taken away from the school grounds.
Digital communication had obviously skyrocketed with platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams becoming a major contributor in their day to day work. Some had highlighted though that platforms such as these came with certain risks and limitations, particularly when dealing with safeguarding issues. Most importantly though, many had highlighted that digital communication needed to be improved with some even mentioning that an anonymous reporting tool would resolve many issues they were facing.
This, along with many other things, was why Whisper was created. The lockdown period alone has shown that the tool can hugely help schools improve their communication.
What next?
Originally, SWGfL were planning to run the donation of Whisper up until schools were allowed to go back to regular practice. As some schools have already started the process, this still leaves a large majority not returning until a later date. Always looking to support wherever we can, SWGfL has made the decision to extend the donation of Whisper until September 1st 2020.
This will allow your school community to continue using Whisper as a free service through the final part of term and into the summer holidays, where no doubt, communication will still be just as important. That’s not to say though that after the summer holidays, Whisper will stop!
If you have found the tool to be a useful addition in your day to day communication, don’t worry, you will still be able to continue to use it for the foreseeable future. To get all the information about continuing your subscription from the Autumn please contact enquiries@swgfl.org.uk
Please note: No payment will be taken without your prior consent
Where can we help?
The donation was the first step, but that doesn’t mean we can’t continue to help where we can. As part of our continued work with Whisper, we are offering a 30% off special if you sign up for a full Whisper subscription by 6th July 2020.
To sign up for this while you can, please contact us
Remember, Whisper is the anonymous reporting tool that allows you to stay in touch with your vulnerable students whilst actively managing your safeguarding duties. Give your school a voice with Whisper.
