A helpful first conversation, and everyday support for school life

For a prospective parent, a school website is the start of an important decision. They want to understand the school day, admissions, wraparound care and how their child might fit in. A useful answer can lead naturally to a visit, but that next step needs to be easy to arrange.

Existing parents arrive with a different purpose: finding a term date, checking an activity for their child’s class or understanding a recent letter. The information may already be published, but spread across pages, calendars and documents. Sapperton needed a welcoming way to help both audiences reach the information or person they needed.

We built Ask Sapperton into the school website and connected it to the school’s live published information. The assistant can look up current classes, staff and clubs, search the events calendar and find school letters. When a parent asks about the contents of a letter, it can read the document before answering.

Different questions follow different sources. Calendar questions start with live events; questions about admissions, uniform, meals, SEND or wraparound care draw on the school website. Answers can include links to the relevant page or document, and the assistant can take a visitor to a school page when they accept its offer.

The conversation also creates a practical handover. Parents can explain what matters to them once, and the assistant can carry that context into a tour request or a message they ask it to send to the school office.

For prospective parents, the assistant helps turn initial interest into a clear next step. It can explain published admissions information, check the current class structure for a child’s year group and help families explore school life. To request a tour, it collects a name, preferred timing and an email address or phone number, then sends the school a request with a conversation summary. The Head of School arranges the appointment; the assistant does not promise a place or confirm a tour slot.

For existing parents, the same conversation becomes a practical guide to the school week. Families can ask about term dates, INSET days and class events, find current clubs, locate letters and ask what they say. Class information includes useful files and calendar subscription links, helping parents move from a quick answer to the source they need.

When a parent wants to contact the office, the assistant can collect their name and contact details, confirm the subject and message, and send it on. Uploaded files are included only when the parent explicitly asks. It reports a request as sent only after the sending tool succeeds, and directs families to the office when live information cannot answer their question.

Sapperton has one welcoming point of help for families at different stages of their relationship with the school. Prospective parents can explore what matters to them and move towards a visit. Existing parents can use the same assistant to find the details that make day-to-day school life easier to navigate.

For the school, tour requests arrive with contact details, preferred timing and the context of the enquiry. Routine information is easier for parents to find, while staff retain the conversations and decisions that need personal attention. The result is a school website that can guide a family from a question to a useful answer or a clear handover.