BellTIME
BellTIME
WHY ARE SCHOOLS MOVING TO
Organising school activities can be a
nightmare, especially with all the
administrative work involved: keeping
track of who is coming along and who
has paid, not to mention storing large
amounts of money in your desk.
the best option and 56 percent of all
parents would make online payments
if that was a possibility.
The main reason schools collect
payments are
> School Trips
> School Concerts
> Fundraising
> School books
Most payments are in cash, even
though both parents and teachers do
not consider this a very secure method.
Of all schools, 80 percent felt cash
payments are unsafe. In the report one
principle said that “the stress of being
responsible for cash and ensuring that
it does not go missing and is properly
accounted for” is greater than the
stress of preparing the curriculum.
Another difficulty is the administrative
work, which is a heavy burden on the
staff, with some schools having to take
on extra help during August and
September.
According to a report by the
Department of Education and Skills,,
cash payment is the most popular way
in which parents pay schools. Three
out of five parents with children in
secondary school use cash as their
primary payment method. In primary
school context, this amounts to four
out of five parents. After cash,
cheques are the most used payment
method. It is interesting to note that
cheques are gone from 2016.
“80 percent felt cash payments
are unsafe”
“administrative work, which is a
heavy burden on the staff”
Various online platforms can provide
both schools and parents with an
easier and more reliable way of paying
for school trips. The challenge is to
find an online system that is flexible
and allows teachers to record cash
payments and online payments on the
same system. One such platform is
“cheques are gone from 2016”
GroupVite, a website that provides a
URL link to a payments page that can
However, both parents and schools
be shared with parents by text, email
would prefer a different method. Only
13 percent of schools considered cash or on the schools website.
72
ONLINE PAYMENT SYSTEMS?
This Irish start-up takes the strain out
of organising trips and events, by
offering a range of handy services.
Firstly, GroupVite makes
administrative work much easier. It will
keep track of who is coming, who
paid and how much you have
collected so far. If someone does
pays in cash, it can be recorded on
the same system as the online
payments.
Secondly, GroupVite uses Stripe as its
payment service provider, which
lodges payments into the Schools
bank account once a week. Stripe
was founded by the Collison brothers
from Limerick and is recognised
globally as the premier payments
service provider. This online payment
system removes the risk of storing
cash in the school.
Thirdly, GroupVite makes it easier for
parents to pay for activities. Money
sent in with students can get lost.
The GroupVite is sent to the parents
directly, all the parents have to do is
click and pay.
GroupVite solves some of the issues
surrounding the current method of
paying for school trips and gives you
space to focus on what is really
important: the activity itself.
For more information about GroupVite
check out
www.groupvite.io
73