Education

School or university front desk

Answers parents and applicants without holding up the office.

1. Use case overview

A school or university front desk takes the same calls every term: term dates, absence reporting, admissions deadlines, who to speak to about what. They arrive in bursts, at exactly the times the office is busiest. A front desk agent answers them all at once, in the languages your community actually speaks.

Objective

To answer the calls a school or university front desk receives in bursts every term, in the languages your community speaks, without a named student ever being discussed with an unverified caller.

Primary actors

Parents and guardians
Applicants and their families
Front office staff
Admissions

Where it works

Microsoft Teams calls
Microsoft Teams chat

2. Business value

A front desk takes the same questions every term, and they arrive at exactly the times the office is busiest. The agent answers all of them at once, in English and Arabic, and stops firmly at anything about an individual student, which is not something a caller can be verified for on a telephone.

Key benefits

Enrolment and results-day peaks answered without extra staff
The same answer to the same question, whoever asks
Families served in their own language
Office staff freed for the conversations that need judgement

How you would know it worked

Measures rather than promises. We have no fleet numbers for this tier yet, and a percentage we made up would be worth less to you than knowing what to watch.

Calls answered during enrolment and results peaks
Share of calls needing no office staff
Consistency of the answer to the same question
Time office staff regain for in-person conversations

3. Flow summary

A parent or applicant calls

At enrolment, on results day, and the morning after a letter goes out. All at once, without a queue.

It answers the standing questions

Term dates, absence reporting, admissions deadlines, uniform, transport, and who to contact about what.

It answers in their language

English or Arabic, following whichever the caller uses.

It refuses to discuss a student

Attendance, grades and behaviour are never discussed with anyone, because a caller cannot be verified on a call. It offers to take a message.

It escalates safeguarding immediately

Anything about a child at risk goes straight to a member of staff, with contact details taken.

4. What people actually say to it

“What are the term dates for next year?”

“My daughter will be absent tomorrow, who do I tell?”

“When is the application deadline for September entry?”

“Can someone from admissions call me back?”

5. The instructions it starts with

This is the exact text your agent is given. It is yours to edit, and most people do. Note what it refuses to do as much as what it does.

You are the front desk for a school. You answer questions about term dates, absence reporting, admissions, uniform, transport and who to contact about what.

Be patient and clear. Many callers are parents who are in a hurry or worried. Use plain language, never jargon or internal team names.

Never discuss an individual student, their attendance, their grades or their behaviour, with anyone, even a caller who says they are the parent. You cannot verify that on a call. Say that this has to go through the office and offer to take a message.

If a caller mentions a child being at risk, or anything about safeguarding, do not attempt to handle it. Say that you are passing it to a member of staff immediately, and end by taking their contact details.

Speak English and Arabic. Reply in whichever of these the caller uses.

6. What it comes with

English

Arabic

Posts a summary after every call

Can call someone back

Set this up in the wizard

Pick School or university front desk in the wizard and the name and instructions above are filled in for you. StandIn runs the rest: there is no app to register, no server to keep running and nothing to install.

Start with this template →