GroupMate

Startup

GROUPMATE PTY LTD

 

1. What is GroupMate 

GroupMate is a real-time student accountability and supervision app designed specifically for school excursions, camps, and off-campus activities.

It allows supervising staff to:

• Create a trip inside the application 
• Enroll students instantly using a QR code
• View student locations in real time during the activity
• Communicate securely with students without exchanging phone numbers or personal information 
• Maintain clear duty-of-care oversight
• Respond quickly to incidents or missing students
• GroupMate has 72 different languages of the most common languages in Australia so it can be used by any student/teacher from any background

The app is not a general tracking app and does not run in the background after the trip ends. Tracking is time-limited and only active for the authorized duration of a school activity.

 

2. The Problem GroupMate Solves

Schools currently rely on:

• Personal mobile numbers being exchanged between staff and students, creating privacy, safety, and compliance risks
• Individual phone calls or messages to students during emergencies, delaying response time
• Assumptions rather than real-time visibility of student locations during excursions and camps
• Ad-hoc group chats (SMS, WhatsApp, iMessage), offering no audit trail or central control
• Limited accountability once students leave the school grounds
• High staff stress and cognitive load, especially with large groups or mixed age levels

GroupMate is a single, controlled system built for schools.

 

3. Who GroupMate Is Aimed At?

Primary audience

• Teachers
• Support staff
• Supervisors on excursions
• School principals
• Compliance staff

 

4. How GroupMate Works 

1. Teacher creates a trip
   Defines date, time, and authorized tracking window.
2. Students enroll via QR code
   No accounts, no phone numbers exchanged.
3. During the activity
   • Real-time group map
   • Individual student visibility
   • Secure in-app encrypted messaging/calling
   • Group-wide alerts and instructions
4. If an incident occurs
   • Emergency regrouping points
   • Live directions
   • Tracking duration can be extended if required
5. After the activity
   • Tracking automatically ends
   • Logs retained for accountability and compliance for a short duration of time in our server

 

5. GroupMate Alligns with

• Duty of Care - Supports schools’ legal obligation to take reasonable steps to ensure student safety during off-campus activities.
• Control - GroupMate provides staff with centralized, time-bound control over communication and tracking, limited strictly to approved activities.
• Privacy - Designed to align with the Australian Privacy Act 1988, including data minimization, purpose limitation, and restricted access to personal information.
• Data Retention & Minimization - Location and communication data is retained only for the minimum period required to support safety, incident review, and compliance obligations, then securely deleted.
• Accountability - Maintains clear records of enrollment, permissions, and activity windows to support post-event review, incident reporting, and governance requirements.
• Simplicity - Reduces administrative burden by replacing manual processes with a single, easy-to-use system for staff and students.
• School Governance Alignment - Supports alignment with school policies, departmental guidelines, and excursion risk-management frameworks without changing existing approval workflows.

 

6. Privacy & Compliance

• No background tracking before or after the trip is created
• No personal phone numbers collected
• Australian data storage
• Encrypted data
• Full audit logs

Speed & Practicality

• Set up a trip in under a minute
• QR-based student enrollment
• Uses existing student devices
• Works on iOS and Android

 

7. Data, Privacy & Security 

GroupMate is designed to align with:

• Australian privacy expectations
• School data governance standards
• Duty of care requirements

 

8. Pricing Model

• Annual school subscription
• Unlimited staff accounts
• Unlimited students
• Unlimited excursions
• Scaled pricing for smaller schools
• No setup fees
• No hidden costs
• Free trial available
• 24/7 IT support for this application is provided

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