Awful. We are being cheated for profits.
So, now i have had the misfortune to deal with schoolcloud in several different schools that we have been with, because they all use this software.
Its VERY unreliable. Stay with me and i will explain why..
Parents evenings, in entirety, are now down to 2 mins airtime (at best). Its supposed to be a huge 5 mins but it usually isnt - Even if we assume that a quick 5 minutes chat with a teacher online is any way near enough time for anything vaguley meaningful to be exchanged.
In the last 5 years of my childs school I have spend a grand sum of around 30 mins engaging with school staff, struggling to talk to any of the relevant teachers. Often this did not happen at all. This system is substandard at best and we have become so accustomed to this inferior means of getting any feedback regarding our childrens academic prowess or welfare in school because of settling for this current system. It has become normalised, but it really shouldnt be.
Sometimes these issues may be down to human error, but mostly, and most obviously, its the software at fault.
Messages that are urgent or time sensitive taking too long to reach parents. This alone, can be quite destructive to the communication between families and schools.
Unhappy with this? Tough. There is a complete lack of transparency to complain effectively or hold anyone to account for this. How convenient.
To outline: School cloud is owned by TES Global.
They, in turn, are owned by the Providence Equity Partners, a private US equity firm.
They evidently couldnt give two tiny shits about a parent missing vital information from a scrambled five minute online call with a beleagured teacher.
We have nowhere to go with this. It is inadequate for purpose and just a means to saving time/ money.
Why are we being so short-changed with our childrens education? Because School Cloud make profits, TES Global make profits, Providence Equity Partners make profits - but they are private Equity, so we will never know. The overall cloud computing education market is experiencing significant growth, with an estimated value of $59.09 billion in 2025, projected to grow at a CAGR of 22.84% until 2035.
So the part of our taxable income which is ring-fenced for such events as parents evenings, or school-parent communications has been outsourced to a private equity firm for profit-making. Nothing about this helps improve childrens education, and the money sure-as-sh*t doesnt go to the teachers or school staff.
What ever happened to visiting the school, queueing to chat to the teacher, grabbing a cup of tea & chatting to other parents, watching some kids perform in the hall, you know - valuable community building stuff. An event in which we could all feel more connected to the school, able to absorb the environment, notice the subtle changes, actually meet the teachers, experiential learning, etc.
But this has been removed and replaced by 'School Cloud' to squeeze an extra quid from our lives, or save an extra few minutes, whilst simultaneously dehumanising the whole point and process of 'parents evening'.
Fark them and fark this.