About us
Discovering Schoolzine
Schoolzine was founded in January 2007 during a student football game. A parent and a primary school principal became engaged in conversation about transforming communication channels between schools and parents/caregivers. Guided by the conviction that engaging parents/caregivers in their children’s school lives leads to better educational outcomes, the parent and the principal embarked on a mission to revolutionise school communication.
Eight school principals then took part in a round-table discussion, where the concept of an integrated communication platform, aimed at fostering connections between schools and their local communities, was introduced. It was at this time Schoolzine was born. And the rest is history.
Notably, the initial eight schools that supported Schoolzine’s inception continue to benefit from the system today.
Real people making a real difference
Our team encompasses the perfect blend of education knowledge, strong technical capability, innovative forward-thinking, and unlimited local support.
We understand the little things that other people may not. We also get that you’re juggling a million different things: answering phones, following up school fees, looking after children in the sick bay, having a parent/guardian standing in front of you firing off questions. So unless it’s urgent, we know not to contact you between 9:00 am and 3:30 pm on weekdays, or in the first week of a new term when everything seems to happen at once.
Meet the leaders
Dan Dawson
Dan is our passionate CEO, and an expert in turning around tech teams and projects, and realigning tech with business strategy. Drawing on his diverse experience as a CTO, CEO, and advisory and governance board member across the educational technology space, Dan always just gets the job done.
Leveraging extensive software engineering experience, along with professional skills and knowledge, Dan is the reason Schoolzine thrives in the technical space – demonstrated in part by its ongoing enterprise-grade security and ST4S-approved status. Dan is also certified in Cybersecurity at Work, meaning the systems he builds are extremely safe and secure for all schools, dioceses and parents/guardians – plus, of course, the students.
Dan’s passions still revolve around tech, such as building apps, software, robots, and “other construction stuff”. But when he does step away from the screen, he loves to run, surf, ride his motorbike, attend live music events, and enjoy some craft beer, wine, or scotch!
Dion Guthrie
Dion is our Head of Global Sales, and he is obsessed with the education sector. He has lived and breathed school communication systems for more than 17 years, and Schoolzine benefits, as this is its sole focus. Dion’s passion for the sector means he knows the places, people and standards that live within the school and diocese environment. He just knows.
You will generally find Dion decked out in vintage clothes – a passion of his. And when not thinking about education communication (which is rare), Dion keeps active by surfing and playing basketball. He also regularly watches his son play baseball.
Stacey Telford
Stacey is our General Manager, leading a growing ecosystem of platforms used by thousands of schools across Australia and beyond, including Sports Tracker, School Stream, Gopha and School-links. At the centre of it all is one simple goal: help schools communicate better.
She cares about impact, and she cares about people. She also has a low tolerance for things that aren’t working, which makes her a problem solver who delivers the best outcomes for each and every client.
Outside of work, Stacey is a mum of four, including a toddler who keeps her humble. She is a huge advocate in the domestic and family violence space, and strongly believes in equity, inclusion and creating spaces where people don’t have to ask to belong.
"From the point of engagement, it is clear that Schoolzine knows schools, is focussed on continuous improvement, and will tailor what they offer to meet the needs of the organisation. The personal approach of their senior leaders is invaluable, and this translates to the service and support offered by the rest of the Schoolzine team. [It has] led to quality outcomes for all."
Tracey Jacklin – Executive Officer, Toowoomba Catholic Schools
A fully supported service
Some companies just say it, but we actually do it: we make a genuine difference for schools and dioceses globally through our fully supported service.
Across Australasia and beyond, our team brings complementary capabilities in education communication. We’re known for our ecosystem of products, but supporting it is an ecosystem of people who deliver the first time. And therein lies our major point of difference.
With Schoolzine, you benefit from unlimited training and support from real people who really understand, and who really care. There are no tickets, no standard response system, no bots. With us, you’re getting human beings who work with their hearts as well as their heads.
We become an extension of your team, yet our approach still gives you the independence you need. And we’re here for anything and everything, even the small stuff – inserting photos into your newsletter, changing a sentence on your website. We care about your reputation. What’s important to you is important to us.
Safety, compliance and inclusivity certainty
Our team know what it takes to be safe, compliant and inclusive when communicating about schools and students. Our built-from-scratch system adheres to compliance, security, accessibility and best-practice standards, including ongoing enterprise-grade security and ST4S-approved status. The protection of child identification is also made possible through Image Guardian’s facial blur and redact tools, and consent-to-publish protocols. And our EduTranslate tool delivers multilingual content that meets the Australian Accessibility Standards – WCAG 2.
If you can have peace of mind across all your comms, why not just do it?
Products built for schools, by schools
We know you’re not just after products; you want products that work easily and first time. And you want a team that knows and understands your needs inside out, so the right products can be recommended.
This is where our difference makes the difference. First, we listen. Then we build custom communication tools based on what we heard. And then, we stick around. We monitor, tweak and continuously improve the system and tools the way you want, to make sure your every need is met now and into the future. Crucially, everything we deliver comes with unlimited training and support from our local, knowledgeable and approachable team of real people.
Our products adhere to strict safety and security standards, and we’re also big on inclusivity – accessible messaging (e.g., larger fonts for any vision impaired recipients), language translation, image blurring. . . Operating around the world, we have the tools to make Schoolzine work for any school, anywhere. After 20+ years in this space (and this space alone), we know your needs.
Introducing Enterprise
There is nothing else like Enterprise on the market that lets you monitor school newsletter engagement across your diocese or multi-campus school.
Enterprise is a new system built specifically for dioceses, multi-campus schools, and anyone managing multiple sites and keeping their communities connected. The platform sits on top of your newsletters and, very soon, websites, helping you monitor engagement and brand consistency, publish centralised articles, and push out your content to all sites in one go – saving your teams a lot of precious time. Enterprise is built for parent/guardian engagement, which has been shown to encourage better educational outcomes for students.
Examples of Schoolzine in action
FAQ
What makes your team, and your products and services, different to other education communication providers?
Schoolzine’s key difference is our team. We are all human (no bots). We live locally, across Australia and NZ. And we live and breathe education communication systems – and this is all we do. Our focus is 100% on maintaining and improving a system that simply works, and works simply. We understand dioceses, large schools, small schools and multi-campus schools, and we understand your specific needs and nuances. We’ve built the Schoolzine system and implemented updates purely based on diocese and school feedback, to ensure it really does address your needs, even when things change. We also offer unlimited training and support. And you will always get a quick response, and a human answering the phone.
How many schools are using Schoolzine?
We’re trusted by Catholic education dioceses. We’re trusted by every state department. That adds up to a client base of more than 2,000 schools, so there’s likely a school within 10 kilometres of you using Schoolzine right now. Want to be among those 2,000? Speak with us or book a demo so we can show you how Schoolzine improves not just your comms, but the whole process behind them.
Is the Schoolzine system safe?
Yes, Schoolzine is safe. We have enterprise-grade security, ST4S-approved status, and our Image Guardian tool enables non-scrapable face blurring on images.
Can I trial Schoolzine to see if it’s right for us?
We offer a free demonstration of the system so you can see how it works and understand the benefits it can bring. Book a demo here.