Running a parent community: a guide for admins

Parents · 4 min read

The KiddoSG app is launching soon. This guide shows how it will work.

Photo: for illustration.

Thank you for starting a community. Admins make Parents' Corner work. This guide covers the tools you have and how to keep your group kind and safe.

1. Start a community

1. Go to Corner → Communities → Start a community.
2. Give it a clear name that says who it's for, for example "Punggol K2 Parents" or "Sec 3 Chemistry Help".
3. Choose a main topic from our list. Our team sets the main topics so members can always find communities.
4. Say who it's for and what you'll talk about.
5. You become the admin.

Communities can't be about race, religion, nationality, politics or income. The app checks names, descriptions and sub-topics for these.

2. Add your sub-topics

Sub-topics help members find posts. Add up to 12, for example:

• a P1 group: "P1 registration", "Routines and school bags", "After-school care";
• a subject group: "Model drawing", "Heuristics", "Exam weeks".

Keep them short, and remove ones nobody uses.

3. Choose who can join

In Community admin → Who can join:

• Approve each new member, or let anyone who meets your conditions join at once.
• Only parents who stay in these towns: good for neighbourhood groups.
• Only parents of children at these levels: good for school-year or exam groups.

4. Choose your join questions

Pick from KiddoSG's question list: the town they stay in, the town of their child's school, the child's level and age, their role (parent, grandparent, guardian or caregiver), and what they'd like from the group. You can't write your own questions, so no one is asked anything sensitive.

Your duties as an admin:

• Use the answers only to decide who joins.
• Never copy or share the answers. They are deleted after you decide.
• Don't decide on unfair grounds. A request should only be declined because it doesn't fit your community's stated purpose.

5. Keep it kind

• Welcome new members. A short "Welcome! Start with the P1 registration sub-topic" helps.
• Model the rules. No children's names or photos, no school names, no selling.
• Report anything worrying instead of arguing in replies. Our moderators handle reports. Three reports hide a post until it's checked.
• Don't share members' posts outside the app. That includes screenshots.

6. What members see about you

Members see your username and an "Admin" label. Your mobile number is never shown, and neither is anyone else's. That's a big difference from WhatsApp groups, where the admin's number and everyone else's are visible to all.

7. If you need help

Write to help@kiddosg.com, or use Report for anything urgent. If a child may be at risk, call 999 first.