Add a parent notice
Add a parent notice
A parent notice is a one-off message you write and send to parents/guardians — a trip reminder, a closure, a note about a class. It's separate from the notifications bell, which is about problems inside ADAdmin itself, not messages to parents.
Both admins and mentors can create and send a notice. Mentors are limited to the pupils and groups in their own cohorts; admins can reach anyone at the school.
Before you start
- Smart Parents must be switched on for your school. If you don't see this page or link anywhere, ask your school admin — an admin turns it on from Smart Parents → Settings (see Smart Parents settings).
- Mentors can only add pupils and groups from their own cohorts.
- A pupil can only be added to a notice if they have at least one parent/guardian contact linked — otherwise there's no one to send it to.
Steps
Step 1 — Open Add a parent notice {#step-1}
How you get here depends on your role:
- Mentors — select Add parent notice near the bottom of the sidebar. Or, from My cohorts, use the notice shortcut next to a group or an individual learner — either one opens this page with that group or learner already added as a recipient.
- Admins — open Smart Parents in the sidebar (under Engagement), select the Notifications tab, then select New notification.
Step 2 — Write the notice {#step-2}
On the Add a Notice tab, fill in:
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Title | The notice's headline |
| Brief description | Up to 255 characters — the short preview text |
| Featured image | Optional |
| Body | The main content |
Step 3 — Choose recipients {#step-3}
Switch to the Recipients tab. Use the search box to add any mix of:
- Individual pupils
- Whole groups (every pupil currently in that cohort)
- Parents directly
Each one you add appears as a removable pill. The page keeps a running count — "Selected X students out of Y" — and you can expand any pupil in the list to see exactly which parents will receive the notice.
Added a pupil and nothing happened? If a pupil has no parent/guardian contact linked, adding them shows a warning and they're not added — there's no one to notify. Add a parent contact for them first if you need to reach their family.
Step 4 — Save a draft, or send {#step-4}
- Save Draft — keeps your title, content and recipients so far. Drafts stay fully editable — come back and finish, or reopen from the Notifications list, any time.
- Send Notification — sends immediately to every parent linked to your selected pupils (plus any parents you added directly). You'll be asked to confirm, because a sent notice can't be edited or have its recipients changed afterwards.
- Cancel leaves without saving; Delete (drafts only) removes it permanently and also asks you to confirm first.
Result
Once sent, the notice moves from Draft to sent and appears in the Notifications list (Smart Parents → Notifications) for admins to review later. Recipients and content are locked once a notice has been sent.