Auckland Kindergarten Association (AKA) has launched a new mobile app to manage its relief staff bookings. The Jitbug Relievers App, launched in May, is a secure time saving app that matches schools and early childhood education services with the relievers that they need. It is the next step towards greater efficiency in management across all 107 of the AKA’s kindergartens.

It’s a well-known fact amongst head teachers that hunting down relief teachers, particulary at short notice can be a very stressful and time consuming task.

Tanya Harvey from AKA, explains: “We needed a solution for our teachers that was accessible, easy to use and provided a comprehensive system that allowed our pool of relievers to manage their own availability, and for AKA, a greater visibility of available relief teachers. Working closely with Jitbug enabled us to develop a product to meet our own needs while also benefitting other users.”

The Relievers app boasts an easy to use interface, that can be used across multiple devices, with everything held in a calender for future reference. Job invites can be sent to any number of relievers who are available for the period, simultaneously. The reliever is only contacted for the days they are available to relieve, and are automatically shown as unavailable for other jobs during the same timeframe once a job is accepted. Relievers can also manage their availability on their own accounts for whatever times are dates they might not be able to do – either one off, or recurring.

AKA is the first early childhood centre to use innovative systems management technology like this.

AKA is New Zealands largest kindergarten association, and also the largest education provider outside the tertiary sector. Each year they provide quality early childhood education to over 10,000 young children.

With their strong impact they make on the lives of young children and parents, it’s only natural that AKA are at the forefront of innovation again.