You may be aware that Manchester LA has procured a subscription for Groupcall Messenger for one year, Jan – Dec 2010 for all Manchester schools. The subscription costs are being provided to you by means of the Harnessing Technology grant 2008/10. The value of this service is £1500 per Secondary and £400 per Primary school, and this covers subscription, installation and support.
Technology can have a vital role in energising the dialogue between schools, parents and their children and where parents have timely and accessible information about their children at school it can have a significant effect on stimulating engagement in a child’s learning.
Groupcall Messenger is a service which enables schools to send automated email, text messages and voice messages in a range of languages. As a communication tool it aims to help schools improve attendance, improve communication with parents and meet new Ofsted requirements.
This subscription purchased by the LA entitles each school to a package, as outlined in the ICT SLA 2009/10. This includes:
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Full Integration with SIMS and Facility for sending Text (SMS), e-Mail and voicemail messages
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Licence for up to 5 school users
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A number of free text messages – 6,000 (Secondary) 1,000 (Primary)
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Unlimited voice mail messages
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Unlimited e Mail messages
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Unlimited 24/7 telephone support at local call rates from Groupcall
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Automatic Software updates
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Unique ID to the Groupcall website to send messages from anywhere
The LA has an agreement that current and future subscriptions will be heavily discounted. Therefore, for the services you use, the on-going costs to be met by a school, based on 2009/10 prices are:
| Item | Year 1 | Year 2 |
| Additional Texts @ 6p per text | 
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| Automatic voicemail messages - (12p per minute to landline, 25p per minute to mobiles) |
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| Annual Subscriptions - £1,500 Secondary and £300 Primary | |
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| Additional Licences |
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| Voice Mail - £100* | | |
| Incoming Text Messaging Facility - £150 | |
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*included for secondary schools
