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The story

From frustration to platform.

How a week of parent admin in Smartschool, in October 2025, led to a completely rethought school platform by May 2026.

The trigger

A friend's child fell ill during a school trip. The parents received simultaneously: three identical push notifications, one email in their inbox, one message in Smartschool, and no phone call. Nobody knew where the child was — every communication channel worked separately, none integrated. That's when I knew this had to change.

Market research

Three weeks of interviews with teachers, principals and IT coordinators from primary and secondary. The pattern: everyone complains about the same things, nobody expects it can change. "Smartschool is what we have." That resignation was the market opportunity.

Product plan

Three weeks of design around what schools actually need: clear roles, safe data flows, mobile access and a migration path that does not put a school year at risk. Decision: one coherent web and mobile experience, not a pile of separate tools.

First pilot tests

200 fictional students and 12 fictional classes on a staging environment. Schedule worked. Reports worked. Attendance worked. AgODi XML export worked. The parent portal was still rough — three extra weeks on that.

Privacy audit

Self-conducted DPIA based on the AgODi template. Result: three red flags (loket export flow, under-12 messaging, evidence retention policy). All three resolved before the first pilot.

Ready for one pilot school

The basis is ready for a controlled pilot: recognisable portals per role, mobile flows, reports, attendance, care follow-up and a migration approach with shadow mode. Looking for one pilot school for the 2026-2027 academic year.