🏫 Built for UK schools

Every parent call
answered. Every time.

RingDesk is an AI phone receptionist built for UK schools. It handles absence reports, admissions enquiries, after-hours messages and 20+ more scenarios - then logs them directly into your MIS.

Works with your existing school number
Arbor · SIMS · Bromcom integration
UK GDPR compliant
🏫
Live call — Elmwood Academy
RingDesk School Reception AI
Live
EA
Hello, thanks for calling Elmwood Academy - I'm the school's virtual assistant. How can I help you today?
👤
Hi, I need to report my son absent today - he's been sick overnight.
EA
Of course, I'm sorry to hear that. Can I take his full name and year group please?
👤
Oliver Thompson, Year 4.
EA
Got it - I've logged Oliver's absence. Do you expect him back tomorrow, or are you unsure yet?
40%
of school calls are absence reports — mostly before 9am
50+
calls per day received by a typical primary school
80%
of academy trusts now operate centralised services
24/7
coverage before 8am, after 4pm, evenings and weekends
🔔

Try Elmwood Academy — live, right now

Call our fictional demo school and experience RingDesk exactly as your parents would. Report an absence, ask about admissions, enquire about the uniform — it handles it all.

📞 01473 974571

Calls answered 24/7 · Standard UK call rates apply · This is a fictional school for demonstration purposes

What it handles

20+ school scenarios,
handled automatically

From the 8am absence rush to after-hours enquiries - RingDesk covers every common reason a parent or visitor calls your school.

⏰ The morning rush (8am - 9am)
🤒

Absence reporting

Takes child's name, year group, reason, and expected return date. Logs message for office and syncs with your MIS attendance register.

Fully handled + MIS logged
🚌

Late arrival notice

Parents running late can call ahead. AI notes the child's name, reason, and expected arrival time for the office.

Fully handled
📋

Medical appointment

Parent calls to say child will be collected for a dental or GP appointment. AI logs time, parent name, and passes to office.

Fully handled
📞 General enquiries (all day)
📅

Term dates & inset days

Instantly answers questions about when school is and isn't in, upcoming half-terms, and INSET days.

Fully answered
👕

Uniform queries

Describes the full school uniform including PE kit, where to buy, and any updates to the policy.

Fully answered
🍽️

School meals & allergens

Explains the school meal service, how to pay via ParentPay, and who to contact about dietary requirements or allergies.

Fully answered
🎒

Lost property

Explains how lost property works, where items are kept, and how to reclaim them.

Fully answered

After-school clubs

Tells parents what clubs are available, what days they run, and who to contact to register their child.

Fully answered
🚌

Trip information

Answers questions about upcoming trips - what to bring, return times, payment deadlines - using information you've provided.

Fully answered
📝 Admissions & administration
🏫

Admissions enquiries

Explains how to apply, whether places are available, when open days are, and directs prospective parents to the right application route.

Enquiry logged for follow-up
📅

Parents' evening booking

Tells parents when consultations are happening, how to book slots, and links them to the booking system.

Fully answered + booking link
💳

ParentPay & payments

Helps parents with ParentPay activation, forgotten login details, and payment questions for trips or meals.

Guided + office contact
🔴 Smart escalation (always to a human)
🛡️

Safeguarding concerns

Any concern about a child's welfare is immediately escalated to the Designated Safeguarding Lead. Never handled by AI.

Always escalated immediately
💬

Complaints

Takes the caller's name and contact details, acknowledges their concern, and ensures a senior member of staff calls them back.

Message taken + callback arranged
🎙️

Media & press enquiries

Politely takes contact details and routes to the headteacher or trust communications lead for a formal response.

Always routed to leadership
How it works

From ring to resolution in seconds

Every call follows a consistent, intelligent process - whether it's 7:30am or 7:30pm.

📞

Parent calls

Your existing school number, unchanged

🎙️

RingDesk answers

In your school's name, within 1 second

🧠

Understands request

Identifies query type from natural conversation

Resolves instantly

Answers, logs, or escalates based on your rules

Answers directly

Hours, uniform, trips, clubs, meals — answered immediately from your configured knowledge base.

📋
Logs to your MIS

Absence reports, admissions enquiries, and messages written directly to Arbor, SIMS, or Bromcom via API.

🔴
Transfers to staff

Safeguarding concerns, complaints, and urgent calls instantly connected to your team — no delay.

MIS & platform integrations

Connects to the systems
your school already uses

RingDesk integrates directly with the UK's leading school management systems, so absence reports and enquiries flow into your records automatically.

Arbor
39% market share

The UK's fastest-growing cloud MIS with 39% market share - used by 1 in 2 academy trusts. Full REST and GraphQL API with no cost to integrate.

  • Absence registration logged directly to attendance register
  • Admissions enquiries captured as prospect records
  • Guardian consultation availability queried and booked
  • Cross-school data access for academy trusts
SIMS
Widely used

Still used by around 28% of UK schools. RingDesk connects to SIMS via Wonde — no on-premise software or direct API agreement required.

  • Absence and attendance record updates
  • Parent contact record lookups
  • Message logging for office follow-up
  • Works with SIMS 7 (on-premise) and SIMS 8 (cloud) via Wonde
Bromcom
Growing fast

Cloud-native with a modern REST API, especially popular with secondary schools and academy trusts. Integration via Wonde or direct Bromcom partnership.

  • Attendance write-back via Bromcom API
  • Parent contact record lookups
  • Behaviour incident triage and message logging
  • Full UK data residency
ParentPay
In 90%+ of schools

The UK's dominant school payment platform. RingDesk answers parents' ParentPay questions — no need to call the office for basic payment help.

  • How to activate a new ParentPay account
  • How to top up and where to find trip payment links
  • Who to contact for payment issues or refunds
  • Dinner money and cashless catering explained
ParentMail & Schoolcomms
3,000+ schools

When a call ends, RingDesk can trigger a follow-up message to the parent via ParentMail or Schoolcomms - confirming what was logged.

  • Absence confirmation sent to parent automatically
  • Trip reminder follow-up after enquiry call
  • Message delivery in 130+ languages
  • Works alongside your existing parent comms
SchoolCloud & booking
Parents' evenings

RingDesk tells parents when parents' evening is, which teachers are available, and directs them to book via SchoolCloud, Arbor portal, or your school's booking link.

  • Parents' evening dates and session times
  • Direct parents to your booking portal with the correct link
  • Answers about which teachers are participating
  • Reminders to book before the deadline closes
🔗

Also integrates via Wonde

Wonde connects RingDesk to 23 school MIS systems via a single standardised API — including ScholarPack, Progresso, iSAMS, and more.

ScholarPack Progresso iSAMS Pupil Asset +19 more
Trusts

One platform.
Every school in your trust.

With 80% of academy trusts now operating centralised services, RingDesk is built to scale across your whole trust — a single dashboard, consistent policy, volume pricing.

🏛️

Central oversight, school-level configuration

Trust leadership sees all schools in one dashboard. Each school keeps its own persona, greeting, and local FAQs.

📊

Trust-wide absence analytics

See absence patterns across all schools in real time. Spot trends early and report to governors with accurate data.

🔁

Consistent call handling policy

Ensure every school in your trust handles calls the same way - same escalation rules, same safeguarding approach.

💷

Volume pricing for trusts

Academy trusts qualify for significant discounts. One invoice, one contract, one point of contact for all schools.

Request a trust demo →
Elmwood Academy Trust — Live dashboard
6 schools
Elmwood Academy (Primary)
23 calls today
9 absences
Meadow View Primary
17 calls today
6 absences
Riverside Junior School
31 calls today
14 absences
Birchwood Academy
19 calls today
7 absences
St. Mary's CE Primary
11 calls today
5 absences
Greenfield Free School
26 calls today
11 absences
Safety & compliance

Built with safeguarding
at its core

We understand the unique duty of care schools have. RingDesk is designed from the ground up around the Keeping Children Safe in Education statutory guidance.

🛡️

Safeguarding calls always go to a human

The moment RingDesk detects a potential safeguarding concern — a worry about a child's welfare, a disclosure, or anything that requires professional judgement — it immediately transfers to your Designated Safeguarding Lead. It never tries to handle these calls itself.

🇬🇧

UK GDPR compliant

All data processed and stored in the UK. Full compliance with UK GDPR and the DPA 2018. DPA available on request.

🔐

No personal data retained

Call transcripts are retained for your configured period only. No data is ever shared with third parties for marketing.

📝

Full audit trail

Every call is transcribed and logged with timestamp. School leaders can review any interaction at any time.

🔄

Always a fallback

Callers can always request to speak to a person. RingDesk is a supplement to your team — not a replacement.

⚖️

KCSIE aligned

Configured to follow Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance on escalation, information sharing, and data handling.

🏫

Ofsted-ready

Schools can demonstrate consistent, documented call handling as part of their administrative governance evidence.

Getting started

Live in an afternoon — no IT project required

No hardware. No number change. No disruption to your existing telecoms. Your school number stays exactly where it is - we use call forwarding.

1

Forward your school number

Set call forwarding from your existing school number to RingDesk — either via a short code dialled from the phone, or your provider's portal. Your school's number is untouched and still rings through normally during the school day if you prefer.

2

Configure your school's agent

We set up your virtual receptionist with your school's name, staff contacts, term dates, uniform policy, school meals info, and common FAQs. Our AI crawls your school website to build the knowledge base automatically.

3

Every call answered, logged, resolved

From the next call your school receives, RingDesk handles it — answering questions, logging absences to your MIS, and escalating anything that needs a human. Your office team get their time back.

Pricing for schools

Simple, honest pricing

Start free for 14 days. No credit card needed. Academy trusts qualify for volume pricing — contact us.

Pay As You Go
30p/min

No monthly fee. Pay for the minutes you use - ideal for low-volume or seasonal businesses.

  • Billed per second, 30s minimum
  • 1 venue, 1 number
  • All industry templates
  • Call transcripts
  • Smart call transfer
  • Email support
Start free trial
Starter
£49/mo

Simple monthly allowance for small businesses with regular, predictable call volumes.

  • 300 minutes per month
  • 1 venue, 1 number
  • All industry templates
  • Call transcripts
  • Smart call transfer
  • Email support
Start free trial
Pro
£199/mo

High-volume or multi-site businesses that need capacity, control, and dedicated support.

  • 1,800 minutes per month
  • Multiple locations & numbers
  • All industry templates
  • Call transcripts
  • Advanced analytics
  • Dedicated onboarding & SLA support
Start free trial

All plans include a 14-day free trial. Prices shown ex-VAT. View full pricing →

Free trial for schools

Give your school office
time back

Start a 14-day trial today — no credit card, no commitment, no new number needed.

Or call our demo school right now to experience it exactly as your parents would.

Your school number stays unchanged
Live in under an hour
Integrates with Arbor, SIMS & Bromcom
UK GDPR compliant