Involve Education
Involve Education is a UK-based SaaS company that provides an AI-powered unified school management platform serving around 250 UK schools. Its Involve School Portal and Involve for Performing Arts products centralize timetabling, attendance, lesson scheduling, communication, and reporting.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2012
- HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Involve Education does
Involve Education (legal entity Practice Pal Limited) is a London-based school-software vendor that builds a unified school management platform used by around 250 UK schools across grammars, independents, comprehensives, and multi-academy trusts (MATs). The company originated in 2012 as Practice Pal Music, a peripatetic music-lesson management tool co-founded by Ross Garrod and James King, and has since broadened into a two-product suite: the Involve School Portal (full-school management of timetabling, attendance, communication, and reports) and Involve for Performing Arts (the rebrand of the original music product).
The platform is positioned as a single-architecture system rather than a bundle of add-ons, with native integrations into the dominant UK school MIS (management information systems) — SIMS, iSAMS, Arbor, Bromcom — plus SOCS, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and Stripe. AI-driven capabilities include lesson scheduling, room and resource allocation, curriculum-impact reduction, and report drafting. Companion iOS and Android apps extend the product to parents and staff. Pricing is subscription-based and quote-led, reflecting institutional procurement rather than self-serve SMB motion; GTM is direct enterprise sales with demo-led conversion.
Involve Education firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Involve Education
- Legal name
- Practice Pal Limited
- Website
- https://involveeducation.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2012
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Involve Education is a UK-based SaaS company that provides an AI-powered unified school management platform serving around 250 UK schools. Its Involve School Portal and Involve for Performing Arts products centralize timetabling, attendance, lesson scheduling, communication, and reporting.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Involve Education industry classification
Industry- Product category
- School Management Software
- NAICS
- Educational Services (611)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Attendance, Scheduling, Timetabling & Calendar Management (EDAFAEAF)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Parent/Student Portals, Communications & Consent Management (EDAFAEAK), Curriculum Design & Scope/Sequence (School-Led) (EDAJAFAA)
Keywords
Where Involve Education is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- London
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices3 records
Markets served
Involve Education business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- School Subscription: Schools pay subscription fees for access to the Involve platform. Fees are determined based on usage and agreed with each school. Payment is typically made weekly, monthly, termly or on other agreed periods.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | School subscription pricing |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels6 records
Involve Education product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Involve Education provides a unified, AI-powered school management platform that consolidates co-curricular activity scheduling, attendance tracking, communication, payments, and reporting for UK schools. The platform replaces fragmented, siloed point tools with a single interface and integrates natively in real time with leading UK Management Information Systems such as SIMS, iSAMS, Arbor, and Bromcom, eliminating duplicate data entry for school administrators.
Product overview
Involve Education offers a unified school management platform consisting of two core products: (1) Involve School Portal - a comprehensive operations platform for all school activities including clubs, trips, fixtures, wraparound care, behaviour management, admissions, and general school administration; (2) Involve for Performing Arts (formerly Practice Pal Music) - a specialized module for managing music, drama, and dance departments with scheduling, attendance, parent communication, billing, and progress tracking. Both products share a unified architecture meaning data is not siloed across modules. The platform is accessible via web browser and native iOS/Android mobile apps.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Involve School Portal: A complete operations platform for teachers, parents, students and school leaders covering co-curricular activities, clubs, trips, fixtures, and more
- Involve for Performing Arts
Products and services
- Involve School Portal
- Involve for Performing Arts
- Involve Mobile Apps
Quantifiable outcome
- 3,275 hours saved on average per year per school
- +5 more outcomes
Companies that use Involve Education
Customer profileNamed customers11 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Involve Education technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration10 records
AI capability4 records
Feature7 records
Involve Education partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Five partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- SIMScoreSIMS is a major UK school Management Information System (MIS). Involve provides bi-directional attendance writeback and data sync with SIMS, allowing real-time attendance tracking that syncs immediately to the central school system.
- iSAMScoreiSAMS is a cloud-based MIS used by independent schools. Official iSAMS Partner status. Involve syncs with iSAMS for student data and attendance tracking.
- ArborcoreArbor is a popular MIS for UK schools. Involve provides real-time attendance writeback to Arbor, enabling instant sync of music lesson attendance to the main school system.
- BromcomcoreBromcom is a UK cloud-based MIS. Involve integrates with Bromcom for live register functionality and attendance sync, enabling peripatetic teachers to complete registers with immediate visibility on Bromcom.
- StripecoreStripe is used for payment processing. Stripe collects transactional data and handles payment security. Involve does not store payment or bank details on its servers - all payment information goes directly to Stripe.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Involve Education competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- iSAMS: UK-based MIS focused on independent schools, and an official Involve integration partner. A broader incumbent operating the core student information system that Involve's engagement and scheduling layer sits alongside.
- SIMS (Capita): Long-standing dominant UK school MIS operated by Capita, used in a large share of UK state schools. Both a partner (Involve syncs attendance writeback to SIMS) and the broadest incumbent competing for the UK school admin budget.
- Bromcom: UK cloud-based MIS for primary and secondary schools, increasingly adopted in UK schools and MATs. Both a partner via Involve's live-register integration and a broader incumbent for the same school admin wallet.
- Arbor Education: Leading UK cloud-based school MIS used by a large share of UK schools. Sits both as an integration partner (Involve syncs attendance into Arbor) and as a broader incumbent competing for the same school-wide admin budget.
Emerging players
- Edval: Specialised school timetabling and cover-management platform (originating in Australia, expanding globally) with comparable scheduling AI/optimisation capabilities; competes in the same scheduling niche as Involve's Magic Scheduling.
Direct peers
- Weduc: UK-based school communication and payments platform used by primary and secondary schools for parent messaging, payments, and consent. Directly comparable to Involve's parent communication, consent, and engagement functionality for the same buyer segment.
- ClassCharts: UK behaviour management, seating plans, and parental engagement platform widely used in UK secondary schools. Overlaps with Involve on behaviour management and parent-facing functionality and targets the same UK K–12 buyer.
- SOCS: UK sports fixtures, team selection, and co-curricular management platform used by UK schools. Directly comparable to Involve's fixtures and co-curricular scheduling, and is also an integration partner in Involve's stack.
- SchoolGateway: UK school-parent communication, messaging, and payments app widely used by primary and secondary schools. Competes head-on with Involve on parent/student communication and engagement use cases in the UK K–12 market.
- Satchel One: UK school platform combining homework (ex-Show My Homework), behaviour, seating, and parental engagement; widely deployed in UK secondary schools. Competes with several Involve modules (homework, behaviour, engagement) for the same UK K–12 budget.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Involve Education social profiles
Digital presenceInvolve Education compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
Involve Education financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Involve Education leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
Involve Education funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Involve Education M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Involve Education
What does Involve Education do?
Involve Education provides a unified, AI-powered school management platform that consolidates co-curricular activity scheduling, attendance tracking, communication, payments, and reporting for UK schools. The platform replaces fragmented, siloed point tools with a single interface and integrates natively in real time with leading UK Management Information Systems such as SIMS, iSAMS, Arbor, and Bromcom, eliminating duplicate data entry for school administrators.
Is Involve Education a public or private company?
Involve Education is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Involve Education founded?
Involve Education was founded in 2012. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Involve Education based?
Involve Education is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Involve Education make money?
One revenue line is on record: school Subscription.
Who are Involve Education's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are iSAMS, SIMS (Capita), Bromcom and Arbor Education. Edval is listed as an emerging player. Direct peers are Weduc, ClassCharts, SOCS, SchoolGateway and Satchel One.
Does Involve Education have an API?
No public API is recorded for Involve Education.
What industry is Involve Education in?
Involve Education's product category is School Management Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAFAEAF, Attendance, Scheduling, Timetabling & Calendar Management, with a secondary code of EDAFAEAK, Parent/Student Portals, Communications & Consent Management. Its NAICS code is 611 and its SIC code is 7370.