Discover our latest blogs, guides, whitepapers, and much more.
Learn why this Lewisham school chose ParentPay for managing all their school payments.
We’ve put together this step-by-step guide to walk you through the process of adopting or switching your cashless solution. You’ll find everything from why schools are choosing to fully embrace a cashless environment all the way down to how you can get the most out of your new software.
Shakespeare Primary goes cashless. Shakespeare Primary school is one of 8000 schools using ParentPay. Like many, they started out with a simple objective, however, they soon found the vast majority of parents and staff saw the advantages of a cashless school environment. Like many School Business Managers, Deborah Latham from Shakespeare Primary School in Lancashire, was concerned about the problems associated with the collection of cash in school.
Why Cheadle Hulme went cashless. We asked Cheadle Hulme School, one of ParentPay’s leading Independent users of the system, why they made the move to cashless, and how they’ve made such a success of the conversion. Sam Jones, Fees Ledger Manager at Cheadle Hulme School outlines why they made the move to become a cashless school.
Lomond School were seeking an easy-to-use product that could help them manage payments. Since the school had to deal with a large number of trips, it was critical that they chose a product that could streamline the process for trips. Read on to know how Lomond School were able to achieve smoother functioning of their day-to-day tasks and find the solution to hassle-free trip management.
Our EdTech product suite includes a diverse range of items. ParentPay is the industry leader in cashless payments, Schoolcomms is transforming parental interaction, and solutions like Cypad, BlueRunner, and Meal Manager are helping schools deliver safe and healthy meals. ParentPay Group and its family have been at the forefront of assisting schools in running smoothly. Discover everything ParentPay Group has to offer.
Berkeley Primary on going cashless. In 2016 North Lincolnshire Council decided to utilise ParentPay as a means for schools to collect income online from parents for school meals. Now, ParentPay is used by 30+ schools in North Lincolnshire, and is helping save time and improve processes. Sukhi Dhinsa, Administration Assistant at Berkeley Primary School shares their experience of ParentPay.
Learn why Hampshire's King’s School decided to choose ParentPay as their online payments provider.
St Lawrence share their cashless experience. St Lawrence CE Primary school is one of thousands of schools across the country that has changed the way they collect payments from parents. They’re using ParentPay in partnership with BT Lancashire Services to streamline income collection as well as saving valuable time and resource. Maria Smith, School Bursar explains: “Since introducing ParentPay, we have achieved 100% activation rate amongst parents which is great. We’re really pleased to have reached the stage where all our parents are paying online.”
ParentPay Group today announced the acquisition of GDPR In Schools Limited (“GDPRiS”), an established provider of cloud-based data protection compliance solutions for schools.
We understand every school is unique. That’s why, unlike many school payment systems, your school can collect payments for ALL types of school items with ParentPay Shops. Learn how you can collect donations and payments for a range of items in our blog.
Why St Christopher's CofE High School went cashless. Joanne Nutter, School Administrator at St Christopher’s High School in Lancashire talks about why her school decided to collect payments online.Joanne outlined the challenges being faced on a daily basis with cash and cheques coming into school.
ParentPay Group, and its family of leading edtech products SIMS, ParentPay, Schoolcomms, Reading Cloud, Cypad and BlueRunner will be exhibiting at BETT 24-26 January 2024 on stand number SC50.
Southborough Primary School wanted to introduce online payments to reduce the amount of cash and cheques coming into school, which would also save them administration time. Additionally, they were keen to have a system that allowed the payments to link into a school meal package to avoid double entries. The school was able to almost immediately notice the benefits since introducing online payments, with the School Business Manager stating, “The amount of cash and cheques our team has to count, and bank has dropped significantly, which has had a positive impact on staff due to the time this has saved.”
School trips are a valuable way to bring the curriculum to life for students, boost their confidence and broaden their horizons – but there’s no denying that organising those school trips can be a long and difficult task for teachers. Here are a few things to consider when planning your school trip, and how ParentPay’s Trips module can make it so much simpler.
The Edinburgh SLT decided that removing cash from school by deploying an online payment and debt management system was the clear way forward.
To make our payment options easier for parents to understand, we’ve updated the name of Bank Transfer to One-click payments, as it enables parents to checkout in just one click. One-click payments enables parents and guardians to make payments for any school items via ParentPay directly from their bank account, eliminating the need to enter or store card details.
Since using ParentPay to collect income for school meals, the school was able to quickly realise the benefits it brings. Being cashless meant that less time was spent on counting money/banking and rectifying errors since there is no need to write receipts or process any cash.
Download our Ultimate Guide to Club Management, designed to help you boost your budget, improve efficiency, and enhance the quality of your wraparound care.
Download the Ultimate Guide to Improving Your School Meal Service. Your recipe for improving efficiency, cutting costs, and increasing meal uptake through all aspects of the school meal service.
Falla Park were looking for a better way to handle and process school payments, initially in response to safety concerns brought about by the pandemic. Coming to the conclusion that online payments was the way forward for the school, they were looking for something that would “eliminate the need for staff to visit the bank whilst carrying large amounts of cash”, as well as “reduce paper-based activities in favour of more time-efficient methods”.
Building meaningful parental engagement requires a well-thought-out communications strategy, encompassing a range of channels with clear purposes for each. This means connecting with parents where they naturally will be, with appropriate messaging, and at the right times.
There is no secret to being able to effectively manage your own mental health and wellbeing, let alone that of your school staff. Maintaining positive mental health in schools is an ongoing process that requires constant investment. Everyone has their own individual needs and different levels of attention.
We’ve listened to the experiences of over 3,000 school staff and found that 19% of schools are planning to increase their fundraising activity in the coming year. Compare that to our previous research in 2020, which found this number to be 20%, and we can see that this is still a key focus for schools.
Total Cashless Catering Solutions for Primary and Secondary schools. We are trusted by many local authorities and schools across Scotland, to deliver a seamless and secure solution for cashless catering. And we’re proud to be a chosen provider of Scotland Excel, for the provision of cashless catering.
We strongly advise all users to urgently update their passwords (including email passwords) to ensure these are as strong as possible.
This ‘gap’ in academic achievement for children of low socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds is what many describe as the ‘attainment gap’, and it hasn’t shown signs of closing for 20 years. But what causes the attainment gap? And what would closing the gap mean for schools?
Were you aware that meaningful parental engagement can equivalate to an additional 4 months of progression per year for children in school? It isn’t just down to teachers to ensure that children get the best education and support they can. Parents also play a key role in their children’s educational experience and, as such, it’s crucial that schools can involve them in the best ways possible.
Why the Trust decided to go cashless. More and more schools across the UK are joining Multi Academy Trusts. Schools are seeing the benefits of working closely together towards a shared goal. Many MATs have the shared processes and systems to gain efficiencies. This is the case for the Avocet Multi Academy Trust. Zoe Stewart, the Trust Finance Officer explains why they made the move to online payments.
71% of schools say that social inclusion causing limited access to the internet is their biggest barrier to adopting education technology (EdTech) solutions, according to our recent survey of 3,000 UK school staff. Although a daunting obstacle for schools to tackle, there is a lot that schools can do to support low-income and low-social-economic status (SES) families to promote social inclusion.
How has your school meal service responded to the requirements imposed by Natasha’s Law? While the purpose of Natasha’s Law is to enforce accurate labelling of potentially fatal allergens, it also represents a shift towards further inclusion and care for people living with food allergies.
Read our whitepaper to get unrivalled insights into schools’ changing attitudes towards technology, income, and efficiency - from over 3,000 school staff.
In a recent survey, we listened to over 3,000 staff working in primary schools, secondary schools, nurseries, sixth forms, local authorities, multi-academy trusts, and catering organisations.
We are delighted to announce that we have been chosen to be part of the Scotland Excel framework for the supply and provision of cashless payments, cashless catering, and kitchen management software.
At ParentPay, we’re committed to making life easier for schools, staff, and parents, and that’s always been our driving focus. Since 2003, we’ve been at the spearhead of a ‘cashless revolution’ which is happening in schools of all types throughout the UK.
Watch how Applegarth Primary School found success with ParentPay. Justin Peoples, Headteacher, and Sheila Fowler, Clerical Assistant, sit down with us to discuss the impact that ParentPay has had on their school.
Watch how Harris Westminster Sixth Form have found success with ParentPay. We met Maeyen Nteyen of Harris Westminster Sixth Form to discuss the impact that ParentPay has had on her school.
Since the Education Act of 1880, which made school compulsory for children aged 5-10, we have never experienced such a sustained disruption to education as Covid-19 has brought to bear.
Thomson House School on going cashless. Cathy Tilley, School Business Manager at the school explains why they made the move to cashless: “To save time! We wanted to reduce the need to take cash and cheques to the bank and avoid having money and cheques laying around on desks. We also knew enabling online payments would make it easier for the teachers, as they would no longer have to collect cheques and envelopes full of change, when they could be using that time more effectively in the classroom.”
Why Billesley Primary went cashless. Finance Assistant, Shazia Begum at Billesley Primary School in Birmingham, explains: “We are part of The Elliot Foundations Academies Trust (TEFAT) which wanted all of its schools to become cashless, making collections more efficient with less risk.”
Going cashless with online payments. School Business Manager, Monica Morley and Senior Finance Officer, Sara Smithdale at St. John Payne Catholic School in Essex explain why their school went fully cashless and the lessons learned in the process.
The Cottesloe School went cashless. We asked Sonya Amor Marshall, School Business Manager from The Cottesloe School, in Bedfordshire (Buckinghamshire LA) why they made the move to cashless, and how they’ve made such a success of the conversion. Sonya explains: “ParentPay was already in place when I joined the school, which was originally implemented by our caterers to collect the school meal income.”
Why Chelsea Academy went cashless. Lucian Boyd Harte, Director of Finance and Operations at Chelsea Academy in London, provides an insight into his experience of becoming cashless: “Having introduced ParentPay at my previous school, I was aware of how we could use the system to our full advantage. When I joined Chelsea Academy, ParentPay was already in place, but the Academy was not using it to its full potential to maximise efficiency, not only for the school, but for our students and parents too.”
Powys school on going cashless. More and more schools across the country are making the decision to collect payments online from parents, taking the headache out of collecting and counting all that loose change. We hear what one Powys school thinks of collecting payments online. Llangynidr Community Primary School made the move to become a cashless school, and have achieved an impressive 97% activation rate. Akemi Cuthbertson-Smith, School Secretary at Llangynidr outlines how their school has benefitted from having an online payment system.