6 min read · Updated 2026-10-18
In short
Tell families before anything arrives, then send one plain message when you are ready for them to sign in: what is changing, the one thing they need to do, what stays the same and who to ask. Invite families in small batches rather than all at once, watch who has signed in, and ring the families who have not by the end of the first fortnight.
You have imported every family into the new system and the admin is ready to press send. The worry is easy to picture: two hundred parents get an email they were not expecting, half of them think it is a scam, thirty reply to ask which password to use, and the phone does not stop on Monday. Bringing existing families onto a new parent portal goes wrong when it happens to them rather than with them. Done in a planned order, most families sign in within a week and the front desk barely notices.
Two weeks before
A short heads-up through the channel families already know.
The week before
Staff try the parent view themselves and agree the answers to the usual questions.
Day one
Invitations go to a first batch of families, with one plain message.
Days two to seven
The rest go out in batches, and the front desk answers questions the same day.
End of week two
Ring every family that has not signed in.
Tell them before anything arrives
A parent who has heard about the portal from you first will open the invitation; a parent who has not may delete it. Two weeks ahead, send a short note through whatever families already trust: the newsletter, the old system's email, a word from the tutor at pick-up. Say that a new portal is coming, roughly when, which address the invitation will come from, and that you will never ask for a password or bank details by email.
One plain message
When you are ready for families to sign in, send one message that answers four questions, in this order. Keep it short enough to read on a phone at the school gate.
- What is changing: lessons, notes from the tutor and homework now live in one app.
- What you need to do: set a password from the link, then check your children and contact details.
- What stays the same: the same tutor, the same lesson times, and the same way of paying until the date you name.
- Who to ask: one name, one phone number and the hours someone will answer.
In XTutio nothing goes to families until you choose. The import from Teachworks makes every parent a sign-in and emails nobody. When you are ready, staff pick families on the Users page or a family's own page, see a preview of who will be emailed and who is left out and why, can send themselves a test first, and then send. Each parent gets a link to set a password on your centre's own site, from your centre's own email, and the link works for 14 days. A parent who misses it can simply use Forgot password. Children are never emailed: their parent looks after their sign-in. See importing from Teachworks.
Invite in batches, not all at once
Send the first invitations to twenty or thirty families you know well, perhaps those whose children have lessons that afternoon, and see what they ask. Fix the message if one question keeps coming up, then send the rest over the week. Batches turn a flood of calls into a steady trickle the front desk can answer the same day. XTutio leaves out anyone invited in the last day unless you tick the box to include them, so a second press does not email the same family twice by accident.
What the parent sees
Before anything goes out, every staff member who answers the phone should sign in as a parent and walk the screens themselves. In XTutio's parent app, a parent sees each child's lessons and the tutor's note after each one, homework with its due date, and a calendar with every child in their own colour. The Safety centre is where a parent reports a concern and reads how the centre keeps children safe, and the parent answers photo consent for each child. Help written for parents sits inside the app, so the 9 pm question about where to find homework gets answered without a call.
If you are running the new portal beside your old system for a while, say so plainly. While a centre in XTutio still bills through its old system, the parent's billing pages show one line: that the centre bills through its current system until the date you set, and nothing is charged in the portal before then. There is no payment button to confuse anyone. How that works is on switching to XTutio.
A brand new family, not one you imported, can be invited with a short code the staff member shares, which signs the parent straight into that family. It is the quick route when a family enrols at the counter.
The first week checklist
- Every staff member who answers the phone has signed in as a parent and tried the main screens
- The heads-up went out at least a week before the first invitation
- The message names one person, one number and the hours they answer
- A test invitation was sent to a staff address and read on a phone
- The first batch went to families you know, and the message was fixed after their questions
- Every contact address bounced or missing is listed and being chased by phone
- Tutors know to point families to the app for notes and homework
- Families who share a device or an email address have been asked for a second address
The first fortnight
Most families sign in in the first few days; the rest need a nudge. At the end of week one, look at who has not signed in and send them a second, shorter note. At the end of week two, ring them. A phone call usually finds a simple reason: the email went to an old address, the parent who reads email is not the one who books lessons, or the link expired while they were away. Fix the address and send a fresh invitation while you are on the phone.
Then make the portal the normal way in. Ask tutors to mention the note in the app at pick-up, answer "when is the next lesson?" by showing where to find it, and keep sending lesson notes there rather than by text. Our article on parent communication covers the habits that keep families reading, and moving off Teachworks covers the rest of the move.
Teachworks is a trade mark of its owner. XTutio is not affiliated with or endorsed by Teachworks.
Questions centres ask
- Should I invite all my families to a new portal at once?
- No. Send a first batch to families you know, fix your message after their questions, then invite the rest over a week. Batches keep the calls to a level the front desk can answer the same day.
- What if a parent never received the invitation?
- Check the address on file first, since an old or shared email is the usual cause. In XTutio a parent can also set a password with Forgot password on the sign-in page, or staff can send a fresh invitation.
- Do children get their own invitation email?
- Not in XTutio. Children are never emailed an invitation; their parent looks after their sign-in.
