How to Help Parents Subscribe to Your School Calendar
The calendar subscription feature allows parents and community members to automatically receive your school's events in their personal calendar applications. As a school administrator or teacher, you can guide parents through this process to help them stay informed about important school dates and events.
Where Parents Can Access Calendar Subscriptions
There are two ways parents can subscribe to school calendars:
School-Wide Calendar
When parents visit your school website, they should click the "Show All Events" button on the homepage. This will open the full calendar view where they can access the subscription feature for all school events.
Individual Teacher Calendars
Parents can also subscribe to individual teacher calendars by:
Finding the teacher through the staff directory
Visiting the teacher's personal page
Locating the calendar section on the teacher's page
Clicking "Show All Events" to open the full calendar view
The same subscription options are available for both school-wide and individual teacher calendars.
Guiding Parents Through the Subscription Process
On the calendar page, parents will find a "Subscribe" link in the upper right corner. When clicked, this opens a dropdown menu with several calendar application options, making it easy for them to add your school's events to their preferred calendar system.
Explaining the Subscription Options to Parents
Help parents choose the best option for their needs:
iCal, Outlook 2007+ This option works with most modern calendar applications including Apple Calendar (iCal), Microsoft Outlook 2007 and newer versions, and other calendar programs that support the iCal format. This is the most universal option that works across different devices and platforms.
Google Calendar Perfect for parents who use Google Calendar as their primary calendar system. This option integrates directly with Google's calendar service and automatically syncs events across all their Google-connected devices.
Download .ICS This option downloads a calendar file (.ICS format) that parents can manually import into their calendar application. This is useful for parents who prefer to have more control over the import process or are using calendar applications not covered by the other options.
Benefits of Promoting Calendar Subscriptions
Encouraging parents to subscribe to your school calendar helps:
Reduce missed appointments and events
Decrease the need for repeated communications about important dates
Keep families informed about school holidays, conferences, sports events, and special activities
Improve overall parent engagement and participation in school events
When you promote this feature through newsletters, back-to-school nights, or parent communications, emphasize how it will help busy families stay organized and connected to school activities.