Our story
From parent to parent. From frustration to solution.
Reconnecting schools and families
Cortile exists so no family is left out of the school conversation. A space where communication flows without language barriers, without lost messages, without chaos.
It all started in a WhatsApp group
I'm Stefan, a father of a 4-year-old attending an international private school. Like many parents, I found myself in five WhatsApp groups by the first month: one per class, another for the canteen, another for birthdays, a 'important notices only' one that nobody respected, and one someone accidentally created. All mixed in with work conversations, family photos, and endless notifications.
The language problem
International schools bring together families from many countries. It's very common for one parent not to speak the school's language well. Important messages from the school arrive in one language, parents talk to each other in another, and someone always ends up left out of the conversation. I realised that something as simple as auto-translating messages would completely transform the experience.
Emails that get lost
Schools send everything by email. The lunch menu, an important circular, a trip reminder, a meeting notice. Everything lands in the same inbox as invoices, newsletters, and work emails. It's practically impossible to tell what's urgent and what can wait. And when you need to find that menu email from two weeks ago, good luck searching for it.
Organising anything was chaos
Planning a joint birthday party, coordinating a gift for the teacher, arranging a get-together between families. Every attempt turned into an endless WhatsApp thread where decisions got buried, nobody knew what had been agreed, and someone was always yet to confirm. And if you needed to contact the school administration for anything, you had to call, wait, call again, and cross your fingers.
That's why Cortile was born
Cortile was born from that real frustration. It's not a project built in a boardroom or designed by consultants. It's the app I would have wanted from my son's very first day at school. One single place where the school communicates in an organised way, where parents can chat, translate messages, organise events, vote on proposals, and check grades. Where booking an appointment with administration is as easy as picking a slot in the calendar.
What drives us
For families
Cortile is designed with parents in mind. Every feature exists because it solves a real problem we experience daily at the school gate.
No barriers
Language should never be an obstacle. With built-in automatic translation, every family participates on equal terms.
All in one
Communication, events, grades, appointments, polls. One single place where everything is organized and nothing gets lost.
Cortile is the Italian word for 'courtyard', that space where families meet every day at school drop-off and pick-up, sharing news and building connections. We wanted to bring that spirit into the digital world.
Stefan Barbarez
Founder of Cortile
Be part of the change
The first 3 schools will receive all Cortile services free of charge, forever.