Firefly Learning review

Firefly Learning is a learning platform built in London and used mostly by UK secondary schools, along with a number of international schools. Teachers use it to set homework, build pages of resources for each class or department, and record marks. Students and parents see what is due through the website or the Firefly apps. Since February 2023 Firefly has been part of Veracross, a US company that makes school information systems for independent schools.

Who it’s for

Firefly suits UK secondary schools, independent schools and international schools that want one place for homework and course resources, linked to their MIS. A typical case is a school where the head of Year 8 wants every form to see the same homework list, and parents keep asking what their child is meant to be doing tonight. Firefly answers that question well.

It is a narrower tool than Canvas or Moodle. If you want students working through long online units with quizzes that unlock the next step, Firefly is not built around that. If you only need free homework collection and your staff already live in Google, Google Classroom does the job at no cost. Firefly makes most sense when the school wants a branded site, MIS-driven classes and a parent view, all from one supplier.

What it does well

Setting a task is quick. A teacher picks a class or group, writes the instructions, attaches files, sets a due date and publishes. Students see it on their dashboard and in the Firefly for Students app, mark it as done or hand in work, and the teacher marks it. School guides note one catch worth telling students early. Tasks they do not mark as done show as overdue, which worries parents.

The markbook ties each task to the student’s submission and the teacher’s feedback, so a head of department can open one entry and see the full history of a piece of homework. Teachers can also choose whether a task appears in the parent view, which is useful for coursework drafts you would rather not have parents reviewing at 10pm.

Firefly pages let departments build resource areas for each subject or year group. A science department can keep practical guides, revision booklets and past papers in one place, and students find them from the same login they use for homework.

Class lists, timetables and user accounts come from the school’s MIS. Firefly lists partners including iSAMS, Bromcom, WCBS and Veracross, plus Wonde, which connects to many other UK systems. When a student moves sets in the MIS, their Firefly classes follow, so teachers are not editing groups by hand in September. There are also integrations with Google and Microsoft, including a Firefly app for Microsoft Teams.

Where it falls short

Firefly’s privacy policy says personal information for Firefly users is stored with third-party processors in the United States. For many UK schools this is fine with the right contracts in place, but your data protection officer will want to see it before signing. It belongs in your DPIA, and our student data privacy checklist covers the questions to ask.

The parent portal is a separate product from the LMS. If parent access to homework, behaviour and achievement is part of why you are buying, confirm that your quote includes it.

Pages need ownership. A Firefly site that ten departments have built with no house style becomes hard for students to navigate after a couple of years. Agree a page template and someone to prune old content.

Firefly also does less than a full LMS on assessment. Teachers who want detailed online quizzes or adaptive routes through content usually pair it with a separate quiz tool.

Pricing

Firefly does not publish prices. Pricing is quoted per school, and the LMS, Parent Portal and other products such as ePraise are sold separately. Firefly offers demos through its website. Ask what setup, training and renewal increases will cost before you sign.

Privacy and data

Firefly says student records belong to and are controlled by the school. It says the Firefly product does not use cookies for advertising, does not advertise or market to students or parents, and does not use student data for marketing. It says it encrypts protected data at rest and in transit, and deletes records within 30 days after a contract ends.

As noted above, the policy says Firefly user data is stored with processors in the US and shared within the Veracross group. Firefly says these transfers are covered by data processing agreements and UK government-approved contracts, and that Veracross LLC has certified to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework and its UK Extension. Firefly runs a Trust Centre that lists its third-party providers. We could not find a published list of security certifications, so ask for current certificates and a hosting summary during procurement. The policy does not mention AI use of customer data.

Verdict

Firefly is a sound choice for a UK or international secondary school that wants homework, resources and a parent view linked to its MIS, with less setup than a full LMS. Check the US data storage and the parent portal costs before you sign. Primary schools will find Seesaw a better fit, and schools that mainly need homework and behaviour in one app should compare Satchel One.

See the best Firefly Learning alternatives