Pedro Prado started working at City Language School in October 2017. Initially, Pedro was charged with looking after all things IT at our English School in Dublin but he soon began to look into other areas in which he could help.
“I noticed that another school had an app,” he says. “And I thought that I could build one for our school. I started to develop the app in December as a hobby really and then I showed it to Will and he liked it. So I built it and we launched February 2nd. On the first day, twenty-seven people downloaded the app from Google Play.”
Since then more students have started using the app. The idea is quite simple. Pedro’s app allows students to do various things from their phone such as send requests to the school for a GNIB letter or PPS letter, to make holiday requests. Students can access My IELTS to study more and of course they are able to look at their attendance record.
“As a society we are obviously becoming more reliant on technology,” says City Language School CEO, Will Dowling. “As a language school we are going to adapt to that. We have a strategy in place to develop apps and this is the first piece of the jigsaw. For long term students and particularly those who want to renew this allows them to check their attendance but going forward we want to make it as easy as possible for students to access information at their fingertips. Pedro has come up with something great here but it’s just the start. We’re hoping to have an app ready for the summer that will make it easier for students to navigate Dublin a little easier.”
“It was a dream for me in my life to create apps,” says Pedro. “In Brazil I studied information systems and there I know how to develop software but apps no. So I started to study again and made this app and now I am working on another one.”
Pedro is already looking to the future and hope to develop the app so that teachers can use it to give students their attendance in real time.
What can students do with the app?
- Students can go to the online academy without having to go to the website
- The process is more direct
- Students can access everything they need no matter where they are – the bus, at home
- Students can access My IELTS and their online academy and practice their English wherever they are, even if they are on holidays they can still keep up with what is happening
- Students can access their attendance records
- Students can request letters for GNIB/PPS number (social security number)
- Students can send holiday requests
- Students can request level/class changes
- Students have access to the app for one month after they finish their course
- Students can access details of their social programme
- Currently available on Google Play