Get Connected

Our school uses two platforms:

See the FAQ below if you have other questions.

If you have trouble joining either platform, please don't give up! Instead, click here to reach out to us to get help. We want you on these platforms so that you can be a part of our community.

To get started on Discord, follow these steps:

(the process is slightly easier on either a computer or Android device)

To get started on FreshSchools, follow these steps:

Follow these steps if you do not have a current student registered in FreshSchools:

Follow these steps if you do have a current student registered in FreshSchools, but need to add a new child:

If you're having trouble navigating the platform, reach out here. You can also find some tutorials here.

FAQ

Will teachers and staff be on it FreshSchools?

Yes, you can use it to reach out to Staff and Teachers.

Will teachers and staff be on it Discord?

No, it’s only for parents and managed by parents. This is not a school platform.

What happens to my account when my child graduates?

Your Discord account remains, but we don’t have an “alumni” channel set up yet. We’d love to have a parent step up and lead the Alumni chapter of New Traditions!

Your FreshSchools account is removed from the platform since our FreshSchools account doesn't support alumni features.

Why can’t we use just FreshSchools?

Freshschools lacks the basic technical capabilities needed to serve as a parent-to-parent platform. For example, when you send an email in FreshSchool, a reply only goes back to the original sender. As a result, if the Greening Committee wants to have a discussion amongst themselves, they can’t use FreshSchools. There’s a long list of technical limitations that prevent FreshSchools from being our one and only platform.

Why do we still need FreshSchools?

Because it has a School Directory feature. It can organize students into classrooms, assign parents to each student, assign teachers to those classrooms, etc. FreshSchools is an excellent school directory, along with a few other capabilities that a chat platform can’t support.

Why don't we just use WhatsApp?

WhatsApp biggest benefit was the familiarity with parents. However, Discord provides many more features that we think would be beneficial in the long-term. For example, parents can indicate what grade(s) their child is in during onboarding, join committees, and even set notifications per conversation. Furthermore, it allows for verification, which keeps our community safe. And lastly, anyone can join without having to know someone to provide an invite.

Are we migrating existing WhatsApp groups?

All existing WhatsApp groups are technically parent-owned and were adopted due to FreshSchools' lack of parent-to-parent engagement tools. We're encouraging parents to migrate so that every parent can be part of the community.