Parent Communications

Weekly Newsletters

The Senior School and Sixth Form weekly newsletter is sent via email every Wednesday in term time. It contains school news and notices, including details of upcoming events, trips and meetings.

On arrival to the School all parents are signed up to receive the weekly email, as well as other email communication. If you would like to update your contact details for this please use the data collection option in SIMS Parent. The email is sent from a BGS address – weeklyemail@bgs.bristol.sch.uk – you may want to add this to your saved contacts to minimise the chances of the messages being flagged as spam or diverted from your main inbox. If, having done this, you still aren't receiving the emails please contact bgshelpdesk@bgs.bristol.sch.uk. If you would prefer not to receive these emails please contact bgshelpdesk@bgs.bristol.sch.uk with your child’s name and form as well as your own name requesting to opt out. Please note that by making this choice you will be opting out of all email communication from the School.

BGS Infants and Juniors have a separate email newsletter. This is sent by Nicola Prince, the Infant and Junior School secretary, every Thursday in term time. Please contact nprince@bgs.bristol.sch.uk in the Junior School office if you have any queries. You will also receive a weekly email from your child’s Form Tutor. This provides an insight into what your child’s class has been doing in School and gives useful reminders such as what kit is needed in School and when.

SIMS Parent

SIMS Parent is the central place for parents of Senior School and Sixth Form pupils to access information. It provides access to pupil specific information such as timetables, homework, behaviour and achievement points as well as access to reports and the ability to provide us with updated information regarding your child or children at the School. Additional features for this service are currently being finalised such as access to letters home, archives of weekly emails and instrumental lesson timetables. SIMS Parent can be accessed as a web based service via the School website or there is a very good App available for download to both Apple and Android smartphones (simply search for SIMS Parent).

If you experience any issues using SIMS Parent, or haven't yet accessed the system and would like to do so, please email parentaccess@bgs.bristol.sch.uk

Operoo (formerly CareMonkey)

We use this system to simplify the administration around school trips, for the collection and recording of parental consent (for example for pupils to participate in events or receive vaccinations) and to collect up-to-date medical and emergency contact information. All consents to trips, including signatures, can be completed on Operoo, without the need for email attachments or returns on paper. Furthermore, staff can use this platform to share key trip information with you, such as itineraries, kit lists and accommodation details.

Parents/guardians will have a secure login to this system, from where you will see your child’s/children's core details and you can use it to provide updates at any time during their school career. You will also be reminded to check and update any critical information each time you give consent to a school trip. You can also use the system to provide information on complex conditions. The information that you provide will synchronise to SIMS, the school’s primary pupil database, meaning that all adults involved in the care of your child/children will always have access to the most up-to-date information. In addition to this, staff taking your child on a trip, or sports fixture, will also have access to emergency information and parental contact details in a robust and secure way without having to rely on paper.

Operoo operates on a broad range of platforms, including PC, tablets and an excellent app (still named CareMonkey on some platforms) for mobile phones. Data is held with the same levels of security that apply to online banking and no data is shared with any third parties.

Once you have received your Operoo login details, you can sign in here: https://eu.operoo.com/

If you have any comments or queries regarding the use of Operoo at BGS, please contact us at operoo@bgs.bristol.sch.uk

SOCS co-curricular

The SOCS co-curricular system is used to manage clubs and music lessons at School. Your child has an account to select their activities but parents and guardians can also access the system to see when things are happening. A parental account allows you to view what clubs your child has signed up to, sign up to clubs on their behalf and see when clubs, music lessons and sports practices are happening.

Please click here for online guidance as to how to access SOCS as a parent/guardian and further information about how the system works.