School trips can be the highlight of the academic year for students, and whilst they can be a lot of fun for teachers and school staff too, the work they put in the background is tiring and time-consuming. To ensure your whole school gets an enjoyable and memorable experience, we’ve compiled a series of blogs to help you facilitate your processes so that planning is not as stressful as it normally is.   

#3 School Trips that won’t break the bank 

In the previous parts of our series, we talked about the crucial role of clear communication when planning a school trip and how an online booking platform can act as an admin assistant to make the planning process quicker and more efficient. In this last part of our School Trip Series, we are analysing the payment side of a school trip and why cash payments are outdated. 

Common payment challenges 

Collecting payment is undeniably the most stressful and time-consuming part of a school trip initiative. There are many factors to this, most of them relating to cash payments. In a digital world, cash payments are outdated, with most people preferring credit or debit card transactions or bank transfers.  

Asking parents and guardians to submit a cash payment causes delays: think about the time it takes for a parent to remember to go to an ATM to collect cash, give it to their child, and trust the child to deliver it all to school. This can also cause coins and notes going missing throughout the child’s journey to school, ripping, or being forgotten about.  

School trips also tend to be a bigger financial commitment compared to other day-to-day school payments, and some families might struggle to pay for the amount all at once, especially during the current cost of living crisis. 

The solution 

Using an online payments system to control the payments for your upcoming trip solves a lot of these issues. The most impactful benefit is definitely the amount of time it saves for both parents and school staff: parents and guardians are able to submit a payment using their card or Apple Pay and Google Pay. Their payments are securely transferred to the school, enabling your staff to save time they’d normally spend counting the cash and taking it to the bank.  

With an online payments platform like Parentapps Payments your staff is able to chase payments if parents and guardians are late or forgot to submit it. The platform also provides automated reports for you to easily check who has and hasn’t paid. Our top tip is that once you’ve finalised all payments, you export the booking report, print it off, and use it as an attendance sheet during your school trip.  

Helping parents and guardians 

When you think about investing in an online payments solution, think about the benefits it will bring to your school, but especially the ones for parents and guardians too. Instalments are available on systems like Parentapps Payments to allow families to break down bigger payments into more manageable chunks.  

Keeping your school cashless doesn’t mean that parents and guardians are no longer allowed to pay using cash. Parentapps Payments integrates with PayPoint, which has more than 28,000 locations in the UK, where parents can top up their children’s account using cash. This way, your school is still cashless, and payments are easy for everybody. 

Enjoy your school trip! 
 

Now you’ve learned how to effectively market your trip, set it up on your digital platform, and collect payments quickly and securely, it’s time to pack your bags and get ready to enjoy a memorable experience with your students. Book a free demo to find out more about Parentapps Payments, and have the best time on your trip!