Bromcom FAQs

A Management Information System (MIS) is a secure, centralised digital database that stores key information about a student’s journey through school in one place. This includes attendance, assessment data, behaviour, personal details and medical information. 

Hailsham Academy will move to Bromcom on Tuesday 1 September 2026. 

We are moving from Arbor to Bromcom to take advantage of a more modern, flexible, cloud-based system. Bromcom offers improved tools for staff, enhanced communication features, and better long-term sustainability for our school. 

Bromcom will help our school to: 

• Work more efficiently using a fully cloud-based system 
• Improve data management and reporting
• Provide better tools for managing attendance, assessment and communication
• Enhance engagement with parents and carers through MCAS
• Support long-term sustainability across the trust

You will need to use a new app called My Child at School (MCAS). 
This will be the main portal for: 

• Viewing your child’s information (attendance, timetable, behaviour, reports)
• Receiving messages from the school
• Updating certain personal and contact information
• Communicating with the school

My Child At School (MCAS) is Hailsham Academy's new parent and carer portal, which will replace the Arbor Parent App from 1 September 2026.

MCAS can be accessed through a mobile app or a web browser, and allows parents and carers to:

• Receive school messages and communications
• Report student absences
• View attendance information
• Access timetables
• View reports and other important information about their child
• Make payments for meals, trips, clubs and wraparound care (Primary Phase only)

MCAS will become the school's primary method of communicating with families. We therefore recommend downloading the app and enabling notifications to ensure you do not miss important updates.

Important: Parents and carers must register for MCAS using the email address currently held on our school records.

Parents and carers can now self-register for My Child At School (MCAS).

To register:

1. Open the MCAS app and select Activate, or visit the MCAS website and select Sign Up.
2. Enter the school postcode: BN27 1DT.
3. Enter the email address currently held on our school records.
4. Enter the one-time passcode sent to your email.
5. Create your password.

Once completed, your account will be ready to use.

Important: Registration will only work if you use the email address currently held on school records.

Children joining Hailsham Academy in September will not appear in MCAS until their official start date and have been enrolled onto the school's Bromcom system.

• Secondary Phase: Access will be available from Thursday 3 September 2026.
• Primary Phase: Access will be available from your child's first session on 9 or 10 September 2026, depending on your allocated start date.

There is no action required before these dates. Once your child has started, you will be able to activate your MCAS account using the email address you have provided to the school.

MCAS will only recognise email addresses that are currently recorded on our system.

If you receive an error message or cannot register, please contact the school office to check that we hold the correct email address for you before attempting to register again.

Please note: families of children joining Hailsham Academy for the first time in September will not be able to activate their MCAS account until their child’s official start date. New starter families will receive a separate communication confirming when access will be available.

Yes.

Current parents and carers must register for MCAS before using the system before Tuesday 1 September. You will create your own password during the registration process using the email address currently held on our school records.

On Tuesday 25 August, you will receive an email with:

• MCAS app download details
• Your MCAS login details
• A temporary password

You will be prompted to set your own password when you first log in.

Yes. MCAS is a different system to Arbor, so you will need to:

• Download the My Child At School (MCAS) app (available on iOS and Android), or
• Access it via a web browser

We strongly recommend downloading the MCAS app and enabling notifications, as this will become our primary method of communicating with families from September 2026.

Yes. MCAS has a different layout and interface compared to Arbor. However, it is designed to be user-friendly and we will provide guidance to help you get familiar with it.

You can continue to contact the school by telephone or email as normal.

However, from September 2026, MCAS will become our primary platform for routine communications with parents and carers. Most routine messages, notices, updates and notifications will be sent through MCAS rather than by email.

For this reason, it is important that all parents and carers register for MCAS and enable app notifications.

Yes.

From Tuesday 1 September 2026, absences should be reported through MCAS. Parents and carers should ensure that their MCAS account is activated and notifications are enabled.

Parents and carers can access the Attendance section within MCAS and submit absence information directly to the school.

To support families during the transition period, telephone absence reporting will remain available for a limited time.

Primary Phase: 

Payments will move to MCAS from 1 September 2026. This includes: 

• School meals
• Educational visits
• Clubs
• Wraparound care
• Other school-related payments

Any balances currently held within Arbor will be transferred to MCAS.

Secondary Phase: 

• There is no change to payment arrangements in the Secondary Phase. 
• ParentPay will continue in the Secondary Phase and will be used for school meals, trips and other payments.

In the Primary Phase, behaviour information will be recorded and shared using Bromcom.  

In the Secondary Phase, ClassCharts will continue to be used for monitoring and communicating behaviour.

The Arbor Parent App will no longer be available from 1 September 2026.

From this date, parents and carers should use MCAS to access student information, receive communications and report absences.

Most student information will transfer automatically.

However, some historical content will not move across, including:

• Homework announcements
• Previous messages or notifications
• Attachments

If you would like to keep any of this information, please save or screenshot it before 31 August 2026.

Core data will transfer to Bromcom.

However, some historical items such as messages or older notifications may not be available after the transition. We recommend saving anything important in advance. 

Key information will transfer, including:

• Attendance
• Behaviour
• Timetable
• Assessment
• Personal and contact details

However, some historical information may not transfer, such as:

• Old messages or notifications
• Past homework records

We recommend saving anything you may wish to keep.

Yes. All data will be securely transferred in line with UK data protection regulations.

Both Arbor and Bromcom meet strict national standards for data security and safeguarding.

We do not anticipate any service downtime. We are safely transferring data from Arbor to Bromcom.

You can continue using Arbor until the end of the summer term.

We do not anticipate any Arbor downtime during term 6 or over the summer. Parents and carers will begin using MCAS from Tuesday 1 September. 

During our migration, you will be able to access: 

• Attendance records
• Homework details
• Messages
• Reports
• Other parent portal features

From 1 September, information relating to these areas will be available through MCAS only. 

Yes.

Before 1 September 2026, current parents and carers should:

• Register for MCAS using the email address currently held on our school records.
• Download the MCAS app and enable notifications.
• Before 31 August 2026, save or screenshot any Arbor messages, attachments or information they wish to keep.
• Familiarise themselves with MCAS before the start of term.

From September:

• Once using MCAS in September, ensure your child’s details (medical information, emergency contacts, address) is up to date 

Please note: families of children joining Hailsham Academy for the first time in September will not be able to activate their MCAS account until their child’s official start date. New starter families will receive a separate communication confirming when access will be available.

Students may notice differences depending on how systems are used in school, but the transition will be managed to minimise disruption to their daily experience. 

Yes. We will provide:

• Guidance on using MCAS
• Instructions for logging in
• Ongoing updates during the transition

Our aim is to ensure the process is as smooth and straightforward as possible. This system is used by many schools and multi-academy trusts across the country. 

If you have any questions, please contact the school office in the first instance:

Email: hcc@hccat.net

Phone: (01323) 841468

We are happy to support you throughout the process.

1. Log in to MCAS.
2. Select Attendance.
3. Select Report an Absence.
4. Enter the reason for the absence.
5. Upload supporting evidence if required.
6. Submit the notification.

1. Open MCAS.
2. Select Dinner or Dinner Money.
3. Scroll to the target week.
4. Choose the date.
5. Select a main meal option.
6. Click Submit.

1. Open MCAS.
2. Select Wraparound Care.
3. Choose the blue/available session slot(s) in the calendar.
4. Select your preferred days or session length (full or half session)
5. Click Enrol or Proceed.
6. Complete payment if required.