Paying for items
We accept only online payments for school trips, music lessons and food from our catering service. Using a secure website called ParentMail, you can pay online using your credit or debit card.
ParentMail is easy to use and you have the freedom to make payments whenever you want, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. When you pay, an e-mail confirmation is sent to you, giving you the reassurance that the transaction has gone through.
If for any reason you would prefer not to use ParentMail, then you can use an alternative system called PayPoint. To find out more, please contact the school as soon as possible.
Further information is available on the ParentMail website at www.parentmail.co.uk.
You can use this link to go straight to the login page: https://pmx.parentmail.co.uk/#core/login
Cashless Catering System
The school has invested in a Cashless Catering System for the Dining Room to reduce queuing times and provide us with data to help improve the meal service. Students are not able to purchase any food on the school site using cash, although there are vending machines on site that dispense drinks that will accept coins. There are, of course, water points in the dining room which provide free chilled water.
Cashless catering not only speeds up the service and helps with the continued improvement and development of the catering operation, but eliminates the need for students to bring cash into school that has, on occasions in the past, caused other problems. There is no need for students to carry a card or remember a pin number, as payments are made at the tills using the same biometric system we use in our Library.
Money which is credited to students accounts is paid over to the caterer and held in a separate account. At the end of the academic year, residual balances on accounts of students who have left are paid back by the caterer to the school and again held separate to School funds. Parents who would like a refund once their daughter has left the School should contact the school office, preferably before the end of the Summer term as refunds can usually be processed by a card credit rather than by cheque. Any balances remaining unclaimed after 2 years will be used by the school to support trips and co-curricular activity for students from families facing financial difficulty.
Biometric System
We use a biometric system in both our Library and Dining Room. The system works by taking measurements of the finger, but it does not capture a complete image. This means that a fingerprint cannot be constructed from the data. Schools cannot use biometric information for any reason other than for the express purpose for which it was collected. In order to use the cashless system and the library, your daughter will need to be registered on the biometric system. For the majority of new girls joining us in September, this is achieved during the induction day in the summer term.
Parent Communications
We also use ParentMail to send emails home to parents and there is a useful phone App to download free to manage both email communications and payments.