Why did you choose Reach? 

Why we chose to investigate Reach originally was that when I took over as head of boarding we were still using pen and paper which involved the previous head of boarding having to come round and check everything and make sure we were actually reporting and registering what was going on. When I took over, I started to research the different options out there and obviously came across Reach and then discovered it did far more than I even imagined something could in my head for what we needed. Primarily we wanted paperless registers, paperless duty reports and to go paperless in our boarding operations but actually, we use it for so much more.

What areas do you currently use Reach in?

Our primary use for our first initial year and a half was the duty reports, the registers but we have found that the UKVI tracking has been one of the most important features, particularly for some of my colleagues in the more staff supporting roles who are responsible for our UKVI side of the school. Parental communication in terms of managing and approving leave has also really helped my colleagues that are working in the houses and the parents now have a good understanding of those responsibilities and why we need them to approve it and why their own child can’t approve their own leave!

We use it for a range of other things as well such as guardianship questionnaires, so a lot of our students go to guardians over the half term and longer breaks and we have a duty of care for them while they’re there still in the UK, so we do check in with them when they get back and return to us. Over the years we’ve compiled a list of questions that we ask them to make sure that they have been safeguarded and looked after well and we use Reach to manage that.