A Plug for the ASTRA App!

Parents and Carers are strongly encouraged to download the Astra app. This is the primary platform for school communication that is not related to individual students or classes. 

The Astra app allows us to be better connected with the school community. The push notification feature allows us to get urgent information to the right parents quickly and easily.

Examples of the types of information that have recently been posted on Astra for parents and carers include: 

• The request for masks to be worn by all students in Year 3 and above from Monday 23rd May.
   
• Updates on Rapid Antigen Testing requirements and advice for close contacts.
   
• Information about high levels of staff and student absences.
   
• Announcement of the appointment of Mr Don Thompson to the position of Acting Deputy Head of Girton. 

The benefits of communicating via the school’s Astra portal rather than sending parents and carers individual emails include: 

• The end-user controls what information they receive by using preferred notifications via the “settings” function. This can include receiving email notifications of news that has been posted for users whose preferred method of communication from the school is email. 
   
• The app indicates receipt of news items the same way as many social media platforms, with a small number on the app icon indicating how many messages await the user. 
   
• The end-user can have notifications appear on their phone homepage as you may already do with your preferred news media or other apps of interest. This way, parents and carers do not miss important school information. 
   
• On occasion, when sending bulk emails our mail server is blocked from sending, which can include sending to BigPond emails. This means parents and carers sometimes miss important information.
   
• The school can mark certain news items as a priority if the message is urgent, which will mean the message remains ‘pinned’ to the top position in Astra news. In this instance, a notification is pushed to parents no matter their Asta settings. 
   
• From the school’s perspective, Astra news is easier for targeting specific audiences, quicker to use and more reliable than email, providing administrative efficiency. 

Below are instructions on downloading the Girton Astra app: