Sending parent emails has a positive impact on student success. At Sparx Learning, we have discovered that parent or carer involvement plays a crucial role in students' success.
You don't have to share parent emails
You don't have to share parent emails
The provision of parent email addresses is optional, and you do not need to use our parent email function in order to use Sparx effectively. You can change your preferences at any time via your Wonde portal, which is managed by your Network Manager.
You can use parents' email addresses under a lawful basis other than consent
You can use parents' email addresses under a lawful basis other than consent
Parent emails are provided to Sparx (as data processor) by the school (the data controller). As such, the school is effectively the sender of the emails.
As covered in our question on lawful basis for data processing (including parents' personal data), we have found that most schools are able to rely upon lawful bases other than consent, for example, public task (or legitimate interests for independent schools). This is because the school either uses the data for its public task to educate students, or considers that engaging parents (in that education) is in the legitimate interest of the student. If the school's Privacy Notice does not exclude sharing data with third parties under this basis, no consent is required.
We do ask that you notify parents that you are going to start using Sparx before the system starts sending emails. We have an article with a template letter and other strategies to engage parents/carers.
If you wish to seek consent from parents, once you have gathered consent, you can manage selective parent email sharing through the Wonde portal. Please see a video on how to do this here, under 'Preventing us from accessing parent data in your MIS'.
Parents can unsubscribe from emails at any time
Parents can unsubscribe from emails at any time
At the bottom of every parent email is a link which allows parents to manage their email preferences, so they can unsubscribe and opt out at any time.
There is also a link to our Privacy Notice for Schools on every parent email. This contains a specific section detailing exactly what personal information we gather or create and how it is used (see in particular the section “Personal information relating to parents (Parent Data)”).
You can stop and start sending parent emails when you choose
You can stop and start sending parent emails when you choose
If you want to start sending parent emails, simply opt to start sharing parent email information with us through your Wonde portal.
If you have previously been sending emails but want to stop, opt out of sharing parent email data through Wonde. Any subsequent homework set after you have opted out of sharing this data with us will not have associated parent contacts.
In cases where you have emails enabled for your school but require email suppression for an individual student for welfare issues, you can suppress email to that parent through the Teacher Portal on the student manager page.