Pupil Asset offers a simple system for requesting and accepting payments from parents. This can be used to pay for:
How do payments work?
Parents make payments using a debit or credit card via the free Pupil Asset app or Parent Portal – they can then pay for the items they have used or want.
Users can also take payments through the system, recording them as Cash, Cheque, Online or Vouchers. You can also process card payments through the system without the need for a card machine.
Your school budget is separated into balances for: Meals, Events, Clubs and Misc. (occasionally used for shop items). Within each balance, transactions will be listed as cash, cheque, online, stripe, or voucher. This provides the flexibility you need with your schools money. You can allow top ups for school meals, and then keep that money separate from the rest of your budget, making it easier to manage your books in real time. We also provide comprehensive and customisable financial analysis to save staff time and worry.
Online and Credit Card payments.
Pupil Asset’s credit card processing is handled by Stripe. Stripe has no subscription costs, but takes a small charge with each transaction, which you may need to be take in to account when setting prices for dinners, trips, etc. Fees are outlined below.
What is Stripe?
Stripe is a payment gateway much like PayPal, but with an easier interface and lower fees. Complete card details are never saved by Pupil Asset or the school, ensuring parents’ personal data is secure. Although each school will need a Stripe account to receive payments, parents are not required to set up a Stripe account to make payments. More details on Stripe can be found on their website ( www.stripe.com ).
We are also using a product called Stripe Connect which means we can take payment on behalf of a Stripe account set up for the school. Once your school has created a Stripe account and linked it to Pupil Asset, parents will be able to pay through the app and Stripe will put the funds into the bank account you have provided.
| Amount Received | Stripe Fee | PayPal Fee |
|---|---|---|
| £10 | £0.34 | £0.54 |
| £20 | £0.48 | £0.88 |
| £30 | £0.90 | £1.90 |
Getting Started.
If you are an MIS customer it is free to start using the payment system, but you will need to turn this on for your school in Admin > Payments. We recommend speaking to one of our advisors in the support team who can help you with the initial set up once you have enabled this option.
Linking a Stripe account.
To enable Stripe payments at your school, you will need to set up and link a Stripe account. More information on how to do this can be found in ‘How to set up a Stripe account’.
Setting up payments via the Parents App.
Parents will make payments using our Parents App for Android or iOS. They can also access our Parent Portal by going to our log-in page via browser (secure.pupilasset.com). Within the PA Parents App or Portal, each pupil has a Payments screen from which payments can be made, and a Payment History screen that shows what they have already paid for.
The Payments screen shows all of the items that need to be paid for. Parents simply select which items they want to pay for and use their credit/debit card to pay for them. Parents with more than one child can access them all with a single login.
If your school is using the School Shop to allow parents to purchase shop items, balance top-ups and pay for instalment events there will be an additional screen for these options called Shop / School Shop.
To set up the Parents App for your school, follow our step by step guide: ‘How to Manage The Parents App – For Schools’.
Communicating with your parents.
Once you’ve set up the Parents App, you’ll need to notify your Parents.
Navigate to Admin > School Options > Templates. Here you’ll find an email template entitled Pupil Asset – Communicating with your parents that you can clone and then edit to suit your needs.
We also have an app guide available as a PDF, which you can print off or email as an attachment.
It is also available along with more information for parents here: ‘Parents App overview – a guide for parents ‘.
What the payment system covers.
Events and trips.
Parents can give consent, and pay for events, using the Parent App or Portal.
Events and trips can be setup directly from TimeCal (click on the calendar icon on the top-right of the red bar) or the school timetable (Admin > School Options > Timetable Setup).
For more detailed information on setting up school trips please see ‘How to manage events‘.
Breakfast and after school clubs.
To charge for breakfast and after school clubs, you must first enable TimeCal to set-up wrap-around care. See ‘How to set up wrap-around care ‘.
Children marked as ill or not present will not be charged, but all other attendees can be paid for using the Parents App or Portal, or via Pupil Asset search and manually adding payment.
School Shop.
Please see ‘How to manage your school shop‘.
Opening balances.
If you are moving your school meals on to Pupil Asset then you will more than likely have some balances already on the children’s accounts. In this case, please contact the Support Team who will help you to get this information into the system.
Outstanding charges.
Please see ‘How to find outstanding charges‘.
Refunds.
Please see ‘How to cancel meals and refund payments‘.
Reconciling cash.
To do a cash/cheque/online payment reconciliation for a period of time navigate to Office > Finance > Payments In. Open the Display Options and simply select the date period you want to reconcile (for example, one week) and the payment type you wish to view – the financial summary will automatically sum up the receipts between that period of time. You can then balance that against the money you have and print the summary or save as PDF.
There is also a simple cash reconciliation screen in Office > Finance > School Balances which provides an overview of Stripe and Cash / Cheque / Online payments for both pupils and staff members. Again the time period and transactions included in this overview can be controlled in the Display Options.