AN ingenious piece of software is about to help keep Essex parents in the loop about school news.

A mobile phone app called Schoop – a contraction of Schools in the Loop – was inspired after one dad discovered he needed to provide a lamb’s heart for his daughter’s science project.

The FitzWimarc School, in Rayleigh, is the first secondary school in Essex to adopt Schoop, which is being marketed by a Leigh company.

The app was devised by Paul Smith, 44, from Cardiff.

He said: “My wife’s a teacher, and we have teenage kids in a high school that only communicates with mum.

“She’d get e-mails that end up in the junk folder, and the occasional text message.

“Schoop was born out of frustration, particularly when we missed deadlines for school trip deposits, and simple equipment reminders that could have been alerted by the teacher if they had a simple way to tell us.

“It was when my daughter told me she needed a lamb’s heart for a science project at 8am that triggered the idea.

“Six months later, Schoop was alive and being tested in my wife’s school.”

The Schoop app for Apple and Android smartphones and tablets gives all schools a quick and easy way to connect with a much wider audience than just the parents.

It allows schools to share unlimited alerts, newsletters and school calendars in one place. Schools pay to use it, but it is free to download.

Andrew Quinn, deputy headteacher at FitzWimarc, said: “Many people use their mobile devices as their primary means of accessing information and communicating, so we are using Schoop to improve the school’s communication with parents and other stakeholders.”

Peter Moss, 54, Schoop’s managing director and former FitzWimarc pupil, said: “Schoop connects with everyone who needs to be in the loop, such as extended family, childminders, PTAs, governors, teachers, pupils and more.”

Heycroft Primary School, in Eastwood, is already signed up to the scheme.