A 'VIRTUAL school gate' created by two Oxfordshire mums has won a prestigious national award and been praised for bringing new funding to schools.

Susan Burton and Clare Wright founded Classlist – a private social network for parents to communicate online – in 2016.

Hundreds of schools around the country have since signed up including Phil & Jim, the Dragon, Oxford High, Great Milton, and The Hendreds in Wantage along with thousands of parents.

The team scooped the Education Technology Start-up of the Year award at the Bett Awards 2018.

The judges also praised the app for creating new funding streams for schools at a time when money and resources were tight.

Parents can generate income for their school through sponsorship from local companies.

Co-founder Susan Burton said the award was down to the parents across Oxfordshire and the wider country, who had built communities through the app.

She said: “We thank all our parent ambassadors and Classlist parents for their enthusiasm and energy, for their input in to our ongoing product development and for finding so many creative ways to use the app.

“We provided a platform and they have built the communities – this award belongs to them.

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.

It has proved popular with parent teacher associations who use it to share announcements, drum-up support for fundraising events and find volunteers.

It has also been used for arranging lift shares, play dates, birthday parties, childcare and checking homework.

Ms Burton, who lives in Oxford, said: “Classlist enables parents to build strong, positive and respectful relationships and active communities.

“The key to our rapid growth is that it is entirely free and simple to set up.

“In addition, each Classlist community can generate income for their school through sponsorship from local companies.”

Content is moderated by a Classlist ambassador, usually the PTA lead or school admin, and parents can send messages to the whole school parent community, parents in their child’s class or to individual parents.

Head teacher of Christ Church Cathedral School, Richard Murray, said: “It has fundamentally transformed our PTA’s ability to organise events, fundraise and communicate. It is far more than simply a super communication tool for our parents.”

Former Dragon School headmaster, John Baugh, said: “Parents can very easily organise all the things they need to around their children. The school doesn’t need to get involved in data protection issues. As a parent I would find it an absolute blessing.”