Early Tree
Funding Portal Features Parent Communications

Parent Notifications Done Right

3 min read by Early Tree Team

Chasing parents for signatures and declarations is one of the most time-consuming parts of funding administration. The Funding Portal automates this with built-in notifications—but we've designed the system to be fair and predictable.

The notification challenge

During a typical funding period, you might need to:

  • Invite parents to complete their initial declaration
  • Remind those who haven't responded
  • Request updated eligibility codes
  • Confirm submission details
  • Chase missing information

Multiply that across dozens of families, and you're looking at hundreds of individual communications. Doing this manually—whether by email, text, or paper letters—takes hours.

How notifications work in the Funding Portal

Automatic triggers

When you need parent action, the system handles outreach automatically:

  • New declarations: Parents receive an email invitation with a secure link to complete their declaration
  • Reminders: If a parent hasn't responded, follow-up reminders go out on a schedule you control
  • Expiring codes: Parents with eligibility codes approaching expiry get prompted to reconfirm

Multiple channels

Notifications can go via:

  • Email: The primary channel, with trackable delivery and open status
  • SMS: For urgent reminders or parents who don't engage with email

Parent-friendly experience

Parents receive clear, simple communications. No jargon, no confusing forms. They click a link, see what's needed, and complete it on any device.

Our notification pricing model

We wanted pricing to be fair and predictable, so we built a simple model:

150 notifications per term included

Your £50/term subscription includes 150 notifications. For most single-setting nurseries, this is plenty—covering initial invitations, a round of reminders, and ad-hoc communications.

1p per additional notification

If you exceed 150 in a term, additional notifications cost just 1p each. This is billed on a true-up basis at the end of the term—no surprises mid-period.

Why this model?

We could have charged per-child or per-family, but that penalises settings with more children. We could have made notifications unlimited, but that encourages spam.

The per-notification model means:

  • Small settings don't overpay
  • Large settings pay fairly for higher usage
  • Everyone is incentivised to communicate efficiently

Tips for efficient notifications

Get declarations early

Send initial invitations as soon as you know a child will be claiming funded hours. The earlier you start, the less chasing required.

Set realistic reminder schedules

Don't send daily reminders—parents tune out. A reminder after 3 days, then another after a week, is usually enough.

Use SMS sparingly

SMS has higher engagement but costs more and can feel intrusive. Save it for genuinely urgent follow-ups.

Review your templates

Clear, friendly communication gets better responses. If parents understand exactly what's needed and why, they're more likely to act promptly.

Transparent tracking

The Funding Portal shows you exactly how many notifications you've sent, to whom, and what the response was. No black box—you always know where you stand.

Explore the notification system in our demo and see how parent communications can work smoothly.

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