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School payments and parent communication: how can schools save money by investing in one platform?
Your school can be more efficient when you combine your systems. Our subscribers report that they save on average 20% or more when they combine their parent communications and online school payments into one multi-purpose platform.
This quick guide to effective school management discusses why investing in one multi-purpose platform for parent communications software, cashless payments, online bookings, form/data collection and more pays off.
How much can schools save when combining parent communications software and cashless payments into one school management platform?
The case study below demonstrates these costs for the average secondary school with 1,400 pupils on roll. We have included the key costs a school incurs for parent communications software including sending 2 text messages per pupil per week, cashless payments including average transaction fees of £100 per pupil, along with online bookings software. The savings are huge, and your school could save too.
Why investing in one multi-purpose platform for parent communications and school payments can save money in your school
For parents, keeping on top of their child’s school life can feel like an impossible task. Delivering a consistently positive and seamless experience, whether it’s topping up dinner money, completing consent forms or staying up to date with announcements, can make the process much more efficient for parents, and the school.
Clunky payment systems, inputting the same information again and again or missing out on opportunities due to unclear communication can all create a disjointed experience for parents – and they’re usually caused by disjointed systems too.
You might already be using digital tools to help with payments, parental communication or filling out consent forms. But are they providing the best experience for their users – including your staff who are always picking up the pieces left over from the back-end inefficiencies they cause?
Get this right and not only will you have happier parents -- you will speed up response times and reduce workload for your administrative staff, whilst increasing your school takings.
There are integrated systems on the market that can help, including our own My School Portal which combines everything into one intuitive and easy-to-use platform, freeing up both time and money.
If you’re already using various different tools but your contract is due for renewal, it’s a good time to use the opportunity to search for something that can work harder for you and your school. And if you’re still relying on manual processes, investing in a digital system like this could be transformative.
The problems schools face with multiple platforms for parent communications and online school payments
You already know that it will be far easier to manage the various demands of your school with connected systems in place, especially if you’ve been struggling with older tools for some time. Inefficiencies such as paying large processing fees or staff wasting time on corroborating information can be brushed off as being part and parcel of managing a school’s operations - but they don’t need to be.
A single portal to cover everything from payments to daily administration can help to fix numerous frustrations for parents, students and staff.
Parental engagement problems with multiple platforms for parent communications and online school payments
Does communication often get missed? Are parents finding it difficult to keep up with all of your school's messaging? Do students miss out on school trips or clubs because of lack of communication – or missing payment deadlines?
What causes the most friction? Is there a common theme within all of your problems that arise, for both parents and teachers?
What would add the most value for the parents and guardians in your school? Looking back over your feedback, what is important to them? Do they want to keep track of their children’s homework, or need a central view to stay on top of school trips and activities to plan their home commitments too?
Payment issues with multiple platforms for parent communications and online school payments
Are you on a minimum card processing fee? Out of date payment systems may be causing additional costs.
How do students currently order their dinners, and how do their parents keep track of costs? Could you find a system that integrates with other areas within your school where payments need to be managed? Does your system integrate with your finance software for truly seamless finance management and reporting?
Do parents have trust in your current system? In today’s tech-focussed society, people are increasingly savvy to fraud – how do they feel about your existing payment platform? It is difficult to use that they put off making the payment, or often forget altogether
Data collection issues with multiple platforms for parent communications and online school payments
How long does it take for parents to complete each form? Are there lots of unnecessary or repetitive steps in your current process?
How simple is it for admin staff to generate new forms? And are they always accurate?
What happens when data is collected? How is it stored, and how do staff and teachers then use that information?
Streamline the resources you need by investing in parental engagement software
How you can save money and areas you can improve with a multi-purpose platform for parent communications and online school payments
After identifying the main challenges for your school, build on this by focussing on a few common problem areas to dig deeper into where your biggest needs are.
Improving efficiency and saving your school money with a multi-purpose platform for parent communications and online school payments
A school’s operations are constantly changing. New legislation can cause processes to transform overnight while becoming an academy or welcoming new schools into a trust can double workloads very quickly. To prepare your school for the future, efficiencies are key -- and failing to address where time or resources could be regained will make it more difficult to make positive changes further down the line.
Consider how these processes could be streamlined:
- Collating consent data and payments when organising trips
- Calculating school dinner stock demand
- Reconciliation of canteen payments within wider school budgets
- Creating timetables for parents’ evening
- Logging illnesses
- Monitoring homework
How is this affecting:
The school? Could unnecessary administration be reduced, putting less pressure on teams?
The parents? Do parents want more insight into their children’s education, but struggle to keep up with the additional demands?
The students? How would they benefit from using a transparent system, shared with both parents and staff?
Improving financial management and saving money with a multi-purpose platform for parent communications and online school payments
An integrated cashless payment system for relatively small transactions like school clubs, uniforms or dinners might not seem relevant when considering the wider challenges of planning a school’s finances.
But when you consider shared priorities such as cash flow management, budgeting and reporting -- as well as the combined value these daily payments accumulate over time -- it’s easy to see how a system to streamline monetary takings could bring benefits to your school. Or even better, if the data can feed into school finance software or finance software for MATs, or combine with your regular parental communications, it can become easier to pay and manage students’ money
“Online payments have really helped us reduce our costs and the amount of time we spend counting cash; we’ve seen our takings increase by over 20%. The reporting features also mean that we can easily view any accounts and make alterations, such as placing a daily spend limit on accounts. This offers additional peace of mind for parents as students are unable to get into debt – and they’re safe in the knowledge that their money is being spent responsibly on healthy meals.”
How is this affecting:
The school? How do you currently manage busy periods such as lunchtimes? Is reconciliation taking too long?
The parents? Does your system give parents the control that they also seek over their children’s spending?
The students? How often do students enter the canteen with not enough funds?
Improving parental engagement and saving your school money with a multi-purpose platform for parent communications and online school payments
Every school strives to create a strong, happy community that extends beyond the classroom. Teachers want to know that students are sharing their progress with their parents and leaders want reassurance that key messages aren’t missed. Events that happen at school could impact a child’s wellbeing -- so it’s important to find a simple, intuitive way to communicate this back home.
Equally, communication shouldn’t feel overwhelming or complex. When parents are informed of a trip, for example, they should be able to pay for it instantly, helping to manage their own time and finances more effectively.
“We had a huge amount of fragmented information, so our parents were trying to access a number of different routes into payment information, parents evening, absence reporting using a whole host of communication platforms. The real value of our new integrated system is that it has saved a huge amount of time – it’s a one-stop-shop for our parents. Navigating between emailed newsletters, school website downloads, different payment systems for trips and school meals, while also keeping up with homework assignments could be creating hours of unnecessary administrative time for your parents and staff."
How is this affecting:
The school? Are you constantly needing to re-send messages or reminders?
The parents? Does your current system mean parents have to remember different login details (and do they regularly forget?)
Improving security and saving your school money with a multi-purpose platform for parent communications and online school payments
How secure are your current communication, data collection and payment processes? How is information stored, and does it follow regulatory guidelines such as General Data Collection Regulation (GDPR)?
Having an open and transparent communications system is essential for the user experience -- but it’s important that it’s backed up with sound security credentials that can mitigate the risk of both malicious attacks and non-malicious negligence.
Can you set specific access permissions for different users?
How are you keeping up with the latest GDPR guidelines?
What would happen if data was accidently lost or destroyed?
How quickly could you respond to a malicious threat?
How is this affecting:
The school? Data breaches can cause severe disruption to school operations and seriously damage its reputation and confidence among parents.
The parents? Whether they’re entering their bank details or inputting their children’s personal information, they need reassurance that it will be properly managed.
The students? How can you minimise their digital footprint and not put their data at risk?
If you’re speaking to a cloud-based software provider, ask about their security measures. Ideally, they’ll have the ISO/IEC 27001:2005 certificate for security and will back up your data every day.
What to consider when saving your school money with a multi-purpose platform for parent communications and online school payments
As you put together your case for investment in a combined parent engagement and payment system, be prepared for questions and scrutiny.
How can schools save money with a multi-purpose platform for parent communications and online school payments
Before making any new investment, decision makers need to understand why the cost to purchase will pay off for the school. Budgets are under increasing scrutiny and funding is limited -- any new system that’s implemented needs to offer sound financial returns while also addressing broader operational challenges that will provide added value over time.
Consider:
If you stay with your current system(s), how much will this continue to cost per week, month or year?
What are the upfront cost savings that can be made?
What is the full cost of the initial outlay -- and is there flexibility in how it is priced?
Are upgrades included in the price, or will they require an extra fee?
How long does it typically take for other schools to see ROI?
Think about cost in terms of time saved too, as well as more tangible costs such as SMS fees, potential increase of takings and more.
Ask your provider to share case studies from previous customers, or contact details so you can get in touch and learn more about the savings the system offered them.
Integration implication to consider with a multi-purpose platform for parent communications and online school payments
You’ve already identified that integrating three core elements of parental engagement -- payments, data collection and communication -- can offer various benefits.
Elsewhere across your school and trust you’ll also be using lots of other tools to help with everything from your HR processes to timetabling and exam revision, alongside a Management Information System (MIS) too.
If you can find scalable software with the ability to integrate with various different tools it will prove to be far more valuable in the long run, especially for growing Multi Academy Trusts (MAT).
This will also help to answer any questions that your stakeholders may have about how practical it will be to implement new technology, and how much disruption it could cause.
What to do:
- Make a list of all of the existing software packages and platforms you use across the whole school or trust
- If yours is a maintained school, also include information on any tools or formats that are specific to your LEA
- Identify which systems could provide added insight if they could be integrated within your payments, communication or data collection platforms
- Refer back to this list and ask software providers about their ability to integrate
“During the implementation phase the team worked closely with us to ensure the system was fully integrated with our management information system (MIS) and that the right data was pulling through.”
Stakeholder reactions to consider with a multi-purpose platform for parent communications and online school payments
Every school leader knows just how difficult it is to manage periods of change even if the goal is to make improvements.
How will parents respond to another new system?
What if the implementation creates unmanageable workloads for staff and teachers?
When would be the best time to introduce the system to minimise disruption for students?
Identifying where your biggest service gaps and challenges are as a school before introducing any new system can help to mitigate the risk of opposition. Gather as much information such as case studies, product demos, webinars and peer-to-peer feedback to showcase how the tool can improve your current situation.
"Having seen processes adapt significantly during my time at Crompton House, I’d definitely recommend the software to another school. It’s made a massive difference to us and I know the rest of my team speak highly of it.”
Set up and training considerations with a multi-purpose platform for parent communications and online school payments
If your school has historically had a negative experience with other software providers, they will be cautious before entering into a new contract.
Even with the most relevant features, a solution that’s over complicated or has poor access to support won’t be able to deliver on its promises. And if the initial implementation process is haphazard or disorganised, it will be difficult to get all of your stakeholders on board.
Gather information to answer questions such as:
- What are the common concerns of your main users?
- How confident is your team with learning new systems?
- Does the proposed system come with support?
- If so, what is the format? (phone, chatbot, remote support)
- Is there access to on-demand webinars or other content hubs?
- How have previous customers found the level of support?
- Is implementation remote, or does it involve an engineer visit?
- What is the average length of time for implementation?
Integrated solutions to parents engagement, online school payments and more, that can save schools money
Bringing everything needed for staff, students and parents together in one portal.
Our integrated parental engagement, payments and data collection system, My School Portal, combines numerous features into one, connected piece of software that is flexible enough to save your school time and money on day-to-day administrative tasks. This leaves you with the freedom to provide an outstanding education.
Always designed with the education sector in mind, we understand the key challenges faced by schools and are constantly developing our tools to meet their changing demands.
That’s why we cover the core features provided by your existing, separate systems -- but we’re always providing additional integrations to boost efficiency and visibility further.
Future-proof
Fully flexible and customisable to your needs, My School Portal is packed with plenty of helpful features to help school leaders and staff. Beyond parental communication, data collection and cashless payments, other tools include a specialist parent evening platform, systems to manage school lunches and day planning tools
These features can be switched on and off, and there are lots of options to customise every feature to suit your requirements as they change over time.
Single sign on | Calendar | Clubs and trips | Amazon Alexa | Messaging | SMS
Cost effective
We’re always working to deliver the best possible value to schools. Did you know that we can reduce SMS messaging costs by a third? By speeding up repetitive tasks, and integrating our secure payments system within our parental communication platform, it’s far easier for parents to pay for trips, dinners and clubs, boosting your school’s cash flow too.
Social media | Website | Meal management | Dinner money | Easy Finance | Simple admin | Online payments
One unified view
We know how busy parents, students and school staff can be. My School Portal brings key information together so that it’s all accessible in one click. Parents and students can keep track of their progress and upcoming events, teachers can save hours of time submitting feedback, and management teams can focus on acting on insights, rather than collating data.
This also means that audit trails and reporting is much easier. Reports can be generated in one simple click - always in DfE compliant formatting.
Parents’ evening | Homework | Remote learning | Student reports | Progress reporting | MIS data integration
Strengthen parent relationships with the all-in-one parent engagement software
