Cashless Canteen

Cashless Catering System coming with ParentPay

Dear Parent/Guardian,
After the half term break, we will be introducing a more convenient way to pay for school meals using a secure service called ParentPay. ParentPay will be going live at school on Tuesday 7th November 2023 and from this date onwards the Canteen will no longer be accepting cash payments. Your ParentPay account will be linked to each individual student. Students will be able to access money in their account in the Canteen using their thumbprint. This is a similar system to that used by many schools in our local area. On Thurs 19th, Fri 20th and Mon 23rd October we will be collecting your child’s thumbprint – it is important that all students attend on these days.

Free School Meals
Students entitled to free school meals will have their account credited on a daily basis. Extra money can be added to the pupil’s account to purchase additional items over the value of the free school meal allowance, or to buy items at breaktime.

Making secure payments online using your credit or debit card
ParentPay offers you the freedom to make top-up payments to your child’s account whenever and wherever you like, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – safe in the knowledge that the technology used is of the highest internet security available. You will have a secure online account, activated using a unique username and password which we will send to you separately; you will be prompted to change these, and to keep them safe and secure. If you have more than one child at our school, or children at other ParentPay schools, you can create a single account login for all your children.

Making a top-up is straightforward and ParentPay holds a payment history for you to view at a later date; no card details are stored in any part of the system. Once you have activated your account you can make online payments straight away.

PayPoint (if you want to add cash but do not have a credit or debit card)
Parents who need to make top-up payments by cash may do so using the PayPoint network at local convenience stores. If you want to use the PayPoint system to make top-up payments to your child’s account you MUST notify us in school as soon as possible so that we can order you an individual PayPoint card. A plastic card will be issued to you to make cash payments for school meals at local PayPoint stores. Each payment card costs £3 and takes about two weeks to arrive – so please order these as soon as possible to make sure that your child has money available after the half term break.

The next step . . .
You will receive an individual letter on BLUE paper with your unique ParentPay Account activation details from Monday 16th October. This will be given to students in school to bring home. We also aim to have further support materials available to help you as you learn how to use the system. You will be encouraged to set up your account well before half term so that we can iron out any issues before Tuesday 7th November.

Finally, please note that if you have any issues with the ParentPay system you will need to contact ParentPay directly yourself. For further information and support please go to www.parentpay.com

Yours faithfully,
Mr D Donaldson
Principal

When can I log in to my account?
Once you have received your activation letter from school with your activation login details
you will be able to activate your account and start making payments. This letter will be
sent to you soon by your school.

Which cards can I use?
ParentPay accepts MasterCard, Visa and American Express credit cards, and Maestro, Switch, Delta, Electron, Solo and Visa debit cards. Some schools may limit the use of credit cards for some transactions; you will be informed by the school directly of any such restrictions.

Is it safe to make payments on the internet?
Yes. ParentPay uses leading technology to process your card transactions securely. All communication with the bank is encrypted and neither ParentPay nor the school have access to your card details.

How can I check that it’s secure?
Standard website addresses begin with http: the address for a secure site will always begin with https. You will also see a padlock at the bottom/top right of the screen on our login page and after you have logged into your account; never enter your card details or personal data on any web page whose address does not start https.

What about our personal information?

  • ParentPay Limited, and its group companies, operate in full compliance with Data Protection Law; Including the Data Protection Act 1998 and the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679. The ParentPay Terms and Conditions include a Data Processing Agreement (DPA), compliant with the GDPR, which details both parties’ obligations relating to Data Protection.
    https://www.parentpay.com/schools/school-terms-and-conditions/ 

  • The ParentPay Privacy Notice, which is available to end users, provides further information on the processing activities undertaken by ParentPay. https://www.parentpay.com/privacy-policy/

  • ParentPay will NEVER contact you by phone, email or mail and ask you to divulge confidential information like passwords or card numbers. If you are ever contacted by someone claiming to be from ParentPay, please contact us immediately on 02476 994 820.

I do not have a home PC so how can I use ParentPay?
Why not visit your local library, internet café or see if you can get access to a computer at
work. ParentPay can be accessed by any internet-enabled device including your mobile
phone and tablet.

For more information please visit www.parentpay.com

General Information about ParentPay

ParentPay – our new online payment service
We are pleased to announce that we will shortly be accepting payments online for school dinners. Using a secure website called ParentPay you will be able to pay online using your credit / debit card or continue to make cash payments at PayPoint stores. ParentPay will be our preferred method of making payments to school.

What are the benefits to parents & pupils?

  • ParentPay is easy-to-use and will offer you the freedom to make online payments whenever and wherever you like, 24/7
  • The technology used is of the highest internet security available ensuring that your money will reach school safely – offering you peace of mind
  • Payments can be made by credit/debit card or also through PayPoint
  • Full payment histories, balance alerts and statements are available to you securely online at anytime

What are the benefits to our school

  • You can help us reduce workloads for all staff as no more counting cash, chasing debt and stop cash collection services
  • Creates more time to lend to educational support and the smooth running of the school
  • Improves school security
  • Using ParentPay also ensures that all financial transactions are safe and secure – helping us to remove costs associated with us having to manage cash securely on the school premises

ParentPay Video For Parents
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All Parent Pay Videos
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Including:

How to activate your parent account
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How to add a child to an existing account
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How to set up account recovery details
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How to update your details
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How to setup One-click payments
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How to pay using ON-click payments
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How to pay by card
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How to top up the Parent Account balance
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How to pay using Parent Account balance
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How to set up Auto top up
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How to set up alerts
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Help Document Links

Adding credit to your PayPal account
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How to set up Auto Top up
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How to set up email and text alerts (note that email is free – texts you have to pay for!)
Click To View

General ParentPay Help
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Timeline

Mon 16th Oct

Activation Letters sent out.

Wed 25th Oct

3pm to 5pm – Technical Support clinic in Assembly Hall.

Mon 6th Nov

Parents should have accounts activated and money uploaded.

Tues 7th Nov

First day of the new system – Please note that cash will NOT be accepted in the Canteen from this date

For all enquiries please go to www.parentpay.com and log into your account.
Please note that once your account has been activated, you will need to contact ParentPay directly if you have any issues with their system.