How to use the diary for classwork, homework and notes to families

In many schools the diary is still a small notebook in the school bag. The teacher writes the homework on the board, children copy it down with mistakes or not at all, and a note about a missing book only reaches home if the child hands it over. Parents then ask in a group chat what the class did today. SkoolBro now gives every class a diary page for each day, written by the teachers and read by families in the portal.

Where the diary lives

Open a class in SkoolBro and you will find a Diary tab. It shows one day at a time. Use the back and forward buttons to move a day, or pick a date to jump to it.

A day's page can hold four kinds of entries:

• Classwork for a subject: what the class did in that lesson, such as "Read chapter 4 and answered questions 1 to 6".
• A note for the class: something every family in the class should know, such as "Sports day on Friday, please send trainers".
• A note about one student: something only that student's family sees, such as "Ada forgot her book today".
• Homework: homework posted for that day appears on the same diary page, so families see the classwork and the homework together.

A photo or a PDF, up to 5 MB, can go with classwork or a note. That is enough for a photo of the board, a worksheet or a permission slip. Homework can have files too.

Writing the day: a teacher's routine

Take Hillcrest Primary, a fictional school, and its Grade 4 class of 30 students. Ms Tanaka teaches English and Mathematics, and Mr Mensah teaches Science.

1. After her English lesson, Ms Tanaka opens Grade 4, goes to the Diary tab and adds classwork for English: "Wrote a short story about a lost key. Finish the last paragraph at home if needed."
2. She adds homework for Mathematics with a photo of the worksheet attached. It shows on the same day's page.
3. Ayaan was missing his PE kit, so she adds a note about him. Only Ayaan's family will see it.
4. Mr Mensah adds his Science classwork after the afternoon lesson, with a PDF of the diagram the class labelled.
5. The office adds a note for the whole class: "School closes at 12:30 on Thursday for a staff meeting."

Each teacher writes for the classes they teach, so Mr Mensah can add Science classwork to Grade 4 but not to a class he does not teach. The school office can write for any class.

What families see

Families open the family portal on a phone and go to their child's Diary tab. It shows the same day by day view: classwork per subject, the notes for the class, any note about their own child, the homework and the files.

Files are private. They are not on a public web address, and when a family opens one, SkoolBro gives them a short-lived link that stops working after a few minutes. A worksheet photo shared with Grade 4 cannot be passed around as a permanent link.

The diary does not send a separate notification for every entry. Families look at it when they choose, often in the evening when homework starts. If something is urgent, such as an early closing tomorrow, send an announcement as well. Our guide to better parent communication explains which channel suits which kind of message.

Seeing who looked

When a family opens a day that has something in it, SkoolBro records that the day was seen. On the class Diary tab, the teacher sees a line such as "Seen by 12 of 30 families". By the next morning Ms Tanaka knows whether most homes saw the note about Thursday, and which families she may need to phone.

The count is per day, so a quiet day with no entries does not count against anyone. It shows whether a family opened the page, and it cannot show whether they read every line, so it works best as a guide to who might need a call.

Removing entries

A teacher can remove what they wrote, which covers the usual case of a note posted to the wrong day. The office can remove anything in any class, for example a note that should have gone to one student and went to the whole class.

Colleges, academies and training institutes

The diary works the same way outside schools. If you have chosen your type of institution in School details, the diary uses your words, so a coaching centre sees batch and learner where a school sees class and student. Using your own words in SkoolBro explains how to set this up.

The diary sits next to the class's other tabs. Attendance and exams are covered in attendance and exams in one place. For notes, files and video or live class links per subject, see sharing online lessons. The full list of class features is on the school management system page.

A few tips

• Agree a time of day for diary entries, such as by 3pm, so families know when to look.
• Keep classwork short. One or two lines per subject is enough for a parent to follow.
• Write a note about one child with care. It goes to that child's family only, but it is still a record the school keeps.
• Check the "Seen by" count at the end of the week. A family that never opens the diary may not have signed in to the portal yet.

Questions

Can other parents see a note I write about one child?

No. A note about one student is shown only to that student's family. Notes for the class are shown to every family in the class.

Do families get a notification for every diary entry?

No. The diary does not send a separate notification for each entry. Families open the Diary tab in the portal when they want to see the day, and the teacher can see how many families have looked.

Who can change or remove a diary entry?

A teacher can remove what they wrote. The school office can write for any class and remove any entry, for example a note posted to the wrong class.