Online school payments
Our new online payment system is now live in every school in Moray, except Milnes Primary, where we've experienced some technical difficulties. We hope to have these resolved very soon and allow Milnes Primary parents to join in the full benefits that are being seen across all other schools.
This new system introduces online payments for primary school meals and changes the way primary school pupils choose their meals, with the meal selection done first thing on the class whiteboard. Parents can now see exactly what meal choices are being made by their child, and don't have to send their child to school with cash. Payments are simple, available 24/7 and can be made for all children in the family at the same time.
Other benefits include those for the school; the cooks in receive exact figures for all meal choices - reducing the amount of waste - and also guaranteeing that each child gets their meal choice even if last in the queue. It reduces the amount of cash in school and requirements to bank.
The system can be used for all school payments - not just school meals. We are seeing some of the secondary schools now using it for curriculum charges in subjects like home economics, art and technical. It's also being used for school trips and even sponsored events.
We'll be working to share best practice with other schools and see what other innovative uses there are for the system, like a school shop where items of school uniform can be purchased before collecting in school.
The uptake by parents so far has been positive with over 70% of primary school meals being paid using the system. We have also received some very positive feedback about this system with 80% of users either satisfied or very satisfied.