Satchel One review

Satchel One is a homework and school organisation platform from Satchel, a UK company. Many teachers still know it by its old name, Show My Homework. At its core is a calendar of homework that pupils, parents and staff can all see. Around that, Satchel sells further modules for behaviour, detentions, attendance, seating plans and timetables. It is used mainly in UK secondary schools.

Who it’s for

Satchel One suits UK secondary schools that want one agreed place for homework, so a Year 8 pupil with ten subjects is not checking ten different systems. Heads of year and pastoral teams like that homework, behaviour points and detentions can sit in one platform. It also suits schools that want parents to see homework without phoning the office.

It is less suited to primary schools, which tend to want a portfolio tool such as Seesaw, and to schools that want a full LMS with structured courses. If your teachers want to build units of work with lessons, quizzes and resources in order, Google Classroom or another LMS does more.

What it does well

The homework calendar is clear and easy to read. A teacher sets a task with a title, description, attachments and a due date, and it appears on the calendar and to-do list of every pupil in the class. Class lists come from the school’s MIS, so teachers do not build groups by hand. Pupils can submit work online through the website or the app, and teachers can mark it and leave feedback. Satchel One also lets teachers set quizzes and spelling tests and view the results once pupils finish.

Parents get their own login and can follow what has been set and whether it has been handed in. The app sends push alerts for new homework, overdue homework and submissions. For a parent whose child says “I don’t have any homework” every evening, that visibility alone justifies the platform. Schools should still set rules for how teachers reply to parent messages, as covered in our parent communication policy guide.

The MIS sync saves a lot of admin. Satchel says it integrates with all the major MIS providers, and its help centre describes syncing through data connectors such as Wonde and Groupcall’s XoD. Timetables, classes and pupils update without manual entry, which matters in September when sets change.

The extra modules work well for schools that want one pastoral system. Behaviour points, detention scheduling and seating plans share the same pupil records as homework. A form tutor can see in one place that a pupil has missed three homework deadlines and picked up two behaviour points this week. Schools comparing behaviour tools should also look at Class Charts, which covers similar ground.

Where it falls short

Satchel One is mainly about homework. It does not give you the course structure, conditional release or detailed gradebook of a full LMS. Schools that also run Google Classroom or Microsoft Teams sometimes end up with homework set in two places, which defeats the purpose. Decide which tool owns homework before rollout.

Consistency depends on staff. The calendar only works if every teacher sets homework there, with clear instructions and realistic due dates. In schools where some departments post tasks late or not at all, parents and pupils lose trust in it quickly.

App reviews are mixed, with users reporting missing homework and notification problems. Some of this comes from teachers not setting tasks, but test the app on a few parent phones during a pilot.

Pricing

Satchel does not publish prices on its website. Pricing is quoted per school, and the total depends on which modules you take. Satchel is listed as an approved supplier on the UK government’s G-Cloud 14 framework, which some schools and trusts use for procurement.

Privacy and data

Satchel’s privacy notice says the school is the data controller for personal data in Satchel One, with Satchel acting as data processor. It says Satchel deletes data on the school’s instruction, and that leavers’ data is deleted or anonymised within 28 days of the school deleting the account.

Satchel hosts on Amazon Web Services. Its security page says the infrastructure is in AWS UK regions, while the privacy notice lists AWS in Ireland for the product database and says some data may be transferred outside the UK, including to the United States, under safeguards such as standard contractual clauses. Ask Satchel to confirm which applies before you sign the data processing agreement. Satchel says it can provide SOC 2 reports on request, uses a CREST-accredited third party for penetration testing and has a dedicated Data Protection Officer. Our student data privacy checklist covers the rest of the questions for a DPIA.

Verdict

Satchel One is a sensible choice for a UK secondary school that wants homework, and possibly behaviour and detentions, in one place with good parent visibility. It only pays off if every department commits to using it. Schools that want structured online courses, or primary schools, should look at a full LMS or Seesaw instead.

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