Busy teachers need practical tools, and busy parents need effective communication lines with schools and teachers. Are you sitting there thinking, ‘I wish there was a one-stop shop for such a platform’? Meet ClassDojo! Many of you will already be familiar with the ClassDojo app, but if you haven’t used the app before – or if you want to use it more effectively – please read on!

In an ever-busy and increasingly demanding classroom, it can be very difficult to forge strong home-school links. Too often, communication with parents is limited to reporting the ‘bad news’. Sometimes ensuring a strong social line from the school to the home is difficult because you don’t quite know the approach or tone to take.

This year I’ve found the opportunity to communicate with parents using ClassDojo to be integral in maintaining strong links to the home. From a practical point of view, the parent can check in on their child’s progress so they feel like more of an active participant than a passive bystander in their child’s daily school life. But moreover, I’ve found the simple messages of ‘Remember it’s Swimming tomorrow’ or ‘Don’t forget to bring your coat for the Sponsored Walk!’ to be a subtle but incredibly useful way to utilise the potential of ClassDojo. The parent gets an alert, they don’t need to say anything back. They’re happy to have the reminder!

The first time I heard about ClassDojo was at a Teachmeet – a unique opportunity to share and contribute the most creative and innovative ideas unfolding in our classrooms today. Since so many of us Ambassadors and Community Leads are hoping to engage in Teachmeets in our own countries, I thought it might be helpful for us to outline exactly what is involved in a Teachmeet.