8tend
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For South African schools, clubs & academies

School attendance and parent communication, all in one place.

Run classes, timetables and registers from the office computer. Mark attendance on a phone in seconds. Parents hear the moment their child is absent, and can message the school right back.

Start free for your schoolSee how it works

Free for your school · Two-minute setup · Works on computer, tablet and phone

Built for organisations like

Schools•Sports Academies•Churches•Tutoring Centres•Music Studios•Camps•Aftercare

The problem

Running a school shouldn't feel like air traffic control.

Today the timetable lives in one place, the register in another, and parent messages are scattered across WhatsApp groups. The people who care most, the parents, are the last to know what's happening.

WhatsApp overload

Parents drown in group chats. Important updates get buried under stickers and side conversations.

Manual attendance

Paper registers, half-filled spreadsheets, missed marks. Nobody knows who showed up — until later.

Parents in the dark

Where is my child right now? Did they make practice? When does it end? Silence isn't reassurance.

How 8tend works

A school day, from the register to every parent's phone

The office runs it from a computer. Teachers and coaches use their phones. Parents get everything on theirs.

  1. 1Set up

    Set up your classes and teams in minutes

    Add classes, sports teams, clubs and their learners. Invite teachers and coaches, then share one link or QR code so parents can join and link their child.

    • Classes, teams and clubs in one place
    • Import learners or add them as you go
    • Parents join with a link or QR code
  2. 2Plan

    Build the timetable once

    Recurring registers, lessons, practices, matches and outings. Change one session or the whole series, and everyone affected sees it straight away.

    • Recurring sessions and one-off events
    • Assign teachers and coaches
    • Outings and away games on the same calendar
  3. 3Take attendance

    Mark the register in seconds

    Teachers mark attendance on their phone: Present, Absent, Late or Excused, one tap each. Notes from parents already sit next to the child's name.

    • One tap per learner, or mark the whole class
    • Works on any phone, no app store needed
    • Parent excuses show up before the register
  4. 4Parents know

    Parents hear the moment their child is absent

    Mark a learner absent and their parents get a WhatsApp message and a phone notification within seconds: which child, which class, what time.

    • WhatsApp and push notifications
    • Sent automatically, nobody has to phone home
    • Every message logged for the school
  5. 5Talk

    Parents can message the right person

    Questions about fees, sport or anything else go to the staff who handle that topic. The whole family sees one conversation, and nothing gets lost in a WhatsApp group.

    • Topics like School fees, Sports and General
    • Routed to the bursar, coach or office
    • Unread badges so nothing is missed
  6. 6Keep everyone informed

    Announcements and forms, without the paper

    Send news to the whole school or one class. Collect consent, indemnity and registration forms online, with a proper record of who signed what.

    • Announcements to everyone or one group
    • Consent and registration forms with sign-off
    • A public school page for new families
  7. 7Outings

    Parents follow every outing

    Staff tap Departed, Arrived and Heading back, and parents see each step with a live-location link. Everyone gets the all-clear when the bus is back.

    • Status updates at each stage
    • Live location from staff phones
    • All-safe alert when everyone is back
  8. 8Report

    Reports the office can actually use

    Attendance by class, learner or date range, ready for the principal, the governing body or the department. Export to Excel or PDF in one click.

    • Attendance trends by class and learner
    • Absent and late counts at a glance
    • Excel and PDF exports

See it in action

Mark attendance. A parent is alerted. In seconds.

Try it yourself — mark a child absent below and watch the parent get an instant WhatsApp notification. This is the everyday moment 8tend makes effortless.

Mark students
Pre-Primary
Fri 19 Jun · 08:00
Pre-Primary
2 of 5 marked
Ava Davis
STU-005
+ Add note
Emma Johnson
STU-001
+ Add note
Ethan Miller
STU-006
+ Add note
Isabella Taylor
STU-009
Excused by parent

“Away at a swim gala today — Dad”

Liam King
STU-012
+ Add note

Demo · sample data — no real messages are sent

Who it's for

One platform, configured for how you actually work.

Members or Students. Groups or Classes. Sessions or Periods. 8tend adapts to your terminology — and your branding — so it feels like it was built for you.

Schools
Primary & high
Sports Clubs
Rugby, soccer, swim
Churches
Youth & small groups
Academies
Multi-discipline
Tutoring
Maths, language, exam
Music & Dance
Private & group
Camps
Holiday & overnight
Aftercare
Daycare & afterschool

Pricing

Start free for 14 days. Then choose who pays.

Every organisation begins with a 14-day free trial — full premium visibility for everyone, no card required. When it ends, you decide: let parents fund the premium experience, or cover it yourself so everyone uses it free. Same product, different funding model.

Free for the organisation

Community Hosted

FREE
for organisations

Best for schools, churches, clubs, academies, and community organisations where parents and members value visibility.

SchoolsChurchesClubsAcademiesCommunity orgs
What's included
  • Organisation profile & public page
  • Staff management
  • Scheduling & attendance
  • Communications & announcements
  • Push absence alerts (WhatsApp on Plus)
  • Parent/member invitations
Parents/members pay
R29
/month per child · app alerts
R49
/month per child · app + WhatsApp alerts
Each parent gets their own 14-day free trial first, WhatsApp included. Cancel any time.
Start free for your organisation
Recommended for businesses
Everything unlocked, org-paid

Organisation Hosted

R599
/month
Billed monthly · cancel any time · counted by students/members · over 2,000? Ask for a quote

Best for businesses, academies, tutoring centres, and aftercare programmes that want to cover costs themselves. Includes up to 25 students / members.

BusinessesAcademiesTutoringAftercareTraining centres
What's included
  • Everything in Community Hosted
  • up to 25 students / members included
  • Premium visibility for every parent
  • No parent subscriptions required
  • WhatsApp alerts from a prepaid wallet (R0.50 each)
  • Priority support
Parents & members use
FREE
— no subscription required
Start your 14-day trial

Organisation Hosted plans go up to 2,000 students or members. Bigger, or more complex needs? Talk to our team →

FAQ

Questions, answered.

How does the free 14-day trial work?

Every new organisation starts with a 14-day free trial — full premium visibility unlocked for all staff and parents, no card required. When the trial ends you choose who pays: stay free with Community Hosted (parents fund their own premium), or move to Organisation Hosted (you cover it and everyone uses it free). If you don't choose, you stay on the free Community plan — core attendance and operations are never locked.

Is 8tend really free for schools and community organisations?

Yes — on the Community Hosted plan. Schools, churches, clubs, academies, and community organisations get the full operational platform free (up to 10 staff). Premium visibility for parents is funded by the families who want it: R29/month per child for app alerts, or R49/month to add WhatsApp alerts.

What if our organisation wants to cover the cost instead?

Then Organisation Hosted is for you. Pricing is by students/members: R599/mo up to 25, R1,499/mo up to 100, R2,499/mo up to 250, R3,999/mo up to 500, R6,999/mo up to 1,000 and R11,999/mo up to 2,000. Larger organisations get a quote. Billing is monthly. Premium visibility is unlocked for every parent and member automatically — no individual subscriptions needed.

What happens as we grow past a tier?

You move up a band, and the price per learner drops as you grow: from about R24 each at 25 learners to about R6 each at 2,000. Over 2,000, or for bespoke needs, talk to our team for a quote.

Do parents get to try premium before paying?

Yes. On a Community organisation, the first time a parent reaches the paywall they get 14 days of premium visibility free across all their children and organisations — no card required. It's one-time per parent and starts only after the organisation's own trial ends, so the two trials stack rather than overlap. After it ends they pay R29/month per child (app alerts) or R49/month (app + WhatsApp), or fall back to the free tier.

How do absence alerts reach parents?

When a child is marked absent, 8tend automatically sends the linked parent both an in-app push notification and a WhatsApp message with the child's name, activity, and time. Invites and org announcements use the same WhatsApp + push channels — no SMS, no noisy group chats.

Can a parent have multiple children at different organisations?

Yes — and this is a core design principle. Parents link to members (students/children), not to organisations. One parent app, all your kids, all their activities, across as many orgs as you need.

How is this different from WhatsApp groups?

WhatsApp is for chatting. 8tend is for operating. Schedules, confirmed attendance, structured announcements, and real-time visibility — without the noise of stickers, side conversations, and 47 unread messages. We still use WhatsApp where it matters: targeted absence alerts and invites land directly in the right person's chat.

What about data privacy and POPIA?

Each organisation is fully tenant-isolated. Parents see only their own children. Data is encrypted at rest and in transit, and our infrastructure is hosted in South Africa for compliance with POPIA. See our Privacy Policy for the full detail.

Bring calm to your operations

Connected every step.

Join the schools, academies and organisations using 8tend to give parents and customers the operational clarity they've been asking for.

Start free for your schoolTalk to our team

No credit card required for schools. Set up in under an hour.

Contact

Get in touch

Questions about 8tend, want a walkthrough, or ready to bring it to your school, club, or church? Send us a message and we'll reply within one business day.

warren@simpleapps.co.za+27 79 469 8498