THOUSANDS of parents are awarding top marks to a tech firm’s virtual school gate.

Classlist, founded by two Oxfordshire mums, help parents of school children connect online.

Almost 500 schools around the country have already signed up, including Phil & Jim’s, the Dragon, Oxford High, Great Milton, St Hugh’s in Faringdon, St Mary's in Henley and The Hendreds in Wantage.

Chief executive Susan Burton from Oxford and chief community and marketing and community officer Clare Wright, who lives near Wheatley, recently raised £840,000 through crowdfunding site Crowdcube.

Some 240 people, including parents and investors, snapped up shares in the company, beating the £550,000 target.

The duo, who each have three children, have also recruited Will Hobhouse, former Tie Rack and Whittard of Chelsea boss and chair of men’s clothing chain Jack Wills, as chairman.

Classlist, which can be tapped into from a smartphone or tablet, lists parents’ names, numbers and addresses, for arranging lift shares, play dates, birthday parties, childcare and checking homework.

Ms Burton said: “Most people say ‘It’s such an obvious idea - why hasn’t anyone thought of it before?’”

The pair came up with the notion after moving to Oxford and finding it difficult to connect with other parents at their children’s schools, because of strict data protection laws.

Classlist has proved popular with Parent Teacher Associations who use it to share announcements, drum-up support for fundraising events and find volunteers.

Parents, who are vetted before they are allowed to join, update their own profiles.

Mr Burton said: “We see it as a golden triangle between parents, PTAs and schools.

“Integrating the three is what makes a school community work and now that Ofsted tracks parental engagement, schools like Classlist, because it helps improve their Ofsted rating.”

She added. “Our goal is to make parents’ lives easier.

“For example, we are delighted 40 per cent of parents have opted into lift sharing.”

“But we are not a Mumsnet in that it’s not about gossip, so if it doesn’t save them time, it doesn’t go on.”

More than two thirds of Classlist schools are primary but this is changing.

Ms Burton said: “At first we thought ‘Maybe it’s not relevant for secondary schools?’ but it’s turned out to be very relevant.

“Think about all those issues such as kids’ parties, sleepovers and alcohol.

“This is about giving power back to parents.”

Classlist, which has 16 staff mainly in Oxford but also in London and Cambridge, plans to raise more funds through private investors.

The majority of registered schools are in the south east with clusters in Manchester, York, Scotland and as far away as Australia, New Zealand and New York.

Ms Burton said: “There are 30,000 schools in the UK and we want every one of them to be signed up to Classlist.”