24 January 2024 – ParentPay Group will be on stand SC50 at Bett, showcasing its family of leading edtech and cloud products. The solutions are designed to support educators, leaders, administrators, caterers and librarians to make running schools of all types and stages, MATs and groups easier.
Lewis Alcraft, CEO at ParentPay Group, says: “We want to give schools the best tools to simplify everyday tasks and the data they need to make faster, better decisions. To give back vital time and resources from running their schools to invest back into learning. Coming to Bett is a great opportunity for us to show how our wide range of solutions support schools to achieve better outcomes for their pupils. We’ll also be showing the significant progress we have made with SIMS Next Gen, our new features and look for SIMS.”
ParentPay Group will showcase the following at Bett:
Developments at SIMS, its Management Information System (MIS) for education
SIMS is the leading cloud and on-premises MIS used by all school types and phases. Trusted by over 15,000 schools and over one million teachers and MAT leaders internationally for over 30 years.
SIMS makes admin and reporting easier and faster, freeing up critical time and resources for learning. It gives leaders the data and insights they need to make decisions that will improve performance, student experience and results. But that’s not all. SIMS gives educators the data and tools they need to support student monitoring, attendance and attainment, pastoral care, wellbeing, and safeguarding.
SIMS Next Gen is SIMS with powerful new features and a brand new look.
At Bett the company will show the innovative new modules available today and coming in 2024 for schools, school groups and MATs. These include new cloud modules for easy attendance registration and monitoring; seating plans; markbooks and marksheets; staff and pupil profiles; group management; seating plans; school performance monitoring and reporting; staff timetabling; exclusions and suspension reporting plus school group and MAT-wide data and analytics tools.
Customers can use SIMS Next Gen today alongside their existing version of SIMS. They get seamless data sharing and benefit from these new cloud features without any retraining, disruption or change to how they work. This means schools can adopt cloud at a pace that works for them. Better still, access to Next Gen is included in their current contract.
A continuous development approach means new Next Gen modules are added every term for teachers, leaders and administrators.
Schools looking for a safe and easy move to the cloud can also take a look at SIMS Connected. Already trusted by thousands of schools, SIMS Connected enables access to the SIMS they use today on-premises, but in the cloud. No disruption. No compromise on features or functionality. No need to learn how to use it. Plus, the benefits of a move to the cloud including cost, management, security and anywhere, anytime access.
Main stage customer panel on strategies for improving attendance
On Thursday 25th January at 13:45, ParentPay Group will host a panel of school leaders on the Teaching and Learning stage to share their practical tips for success in attendance and student attainment. They’ll discuss how data supports effective monitoring, early intervention and planning, and the role of timely parental engagement. They’ll also look at the critical role technology has in supporting this work and making it easier to take successful action. If you would like to attend sign up on the BETT website.
Payments and parental engagement tools
ParentPay is an online cashless payment platform for schools, which enables parents to pay securely for school meals, trips, clubs and more. The system simplifies the process of collecting, managing, and reporting payments for the school office, making financial transactions more efficient and straightforward.
Schoolcomms is an all-in-one online solution designed for effective communication between schools and parents. With an easy-to-use app, parents can stay connected with their child’s school life. The parent communication feature, including free app messaging, helps reduce texting and printing costs. Parents can also submit absence explanations easily through the platform.
For school staff, Schoolcomms offers a web-based management dashboard which is accessible from any location. It allows staff members to set up templates for awards or newsletters to make creating these easy. The system also simplifies the process of sending digital reports from SIMS, giving staff the flexibility to choose which achievement notifications parents receive through the app.
Library management and literacy support
Reading Cloud is an advanced library management system that supports literacy, encourages independent learning, and helps build parental engagement to promote reading for pleasure in students. The system is a catalyst for creating a thriving reading culture within schools.
Students can create their own reading lists and engage with friends to share the books they are enjoying. They can also write book reviews and blogs to help improve creative writing skills.
Catering management
Cypad is a digital kitchen management and meal ordering platform for caterers, local authorities, and schools that also supports allergy management and student safeguarding.
Bluerunner is a cashless, digital point-of-sale meal ordering, and payment system, which helps to improve school meal uptake. It supports planning, ultimately reducing waste and costs for caterers across various school types.
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About ParentPay Group
ParentPay Group’s mission is to make it easier to run great schools, catering businesses, and libraries with the help of innovative technology because when it’s easier to run these organisations, there’s more time and resources for learning.
ParentPay Group is a long-term leader and innovator in the edtech sector. Across the UK and internationally, many thousands of schools and millions of parents trust us to provide them with the technology they need for cashless payments, parental engagement, catering, libraries, and information management systems.