On-line Payment & Texting systems

Following is a comparison of various alternatives to ParentPay for on-line payment and communication (texting and email) systems out there, namely SIMS In Touch and Agora, and SchoolComms.  The links below give basic details and costs about these different solutions to on-line payments and texting/emailing for parents which aim to make school life and parental life as straightforward as possible.  We have also included the SIMS Dinner Money system for completeness.

The information given is just functionality, costs, support and contact details.  It’s as accurate as possible but comparisons have been difficult to make as some products charge by numbers of pupils in school and some don’t.  Confirmation of prices will therefore be needed, plus there are discounts to be had if enough schools sign up.  A bit of a minefield I’m sure you’ll agree!

If you are interested in going forward with any of these products we would be grateful if you could get back in touch with us in the first instance, so that we can then liaise properly with the product account managers to negotiate any possible discounts.  However, you are obviously perfectly free to contact the companies direct to ask any questions, confirm any misunderstandings, etc.

Links relating to different school sizes are available to open at the bottom of this article.

Please also be aware of the guidance from Internal Audit:

Although ParentPay is the County Council's preferred provider, there are other providers on the market which schools may be interested in using.

Schools that are considering implementing other systems are reminded that any procurement exercise must be carried out in accordance with the LMS Procedure Rules. Paragraph 4.9 of the LMS Financial Procedure Rules states that schools may operate an online income collection system but must only use a supplier whose system has been approved by the CD-SR. Such schools are strongly advised to contact Veritau Ltd for advice regarding their preferred system.

Guidance on the issues to consider when implementing an online income management system other than ParentPay can be found here:

Guidance for using On line Payment systems                                                                                                               

Comparison Documents

Comparison of costs for schools with under 50 on roll

Comparison of costs for schools with 51-99 on roll

Comparison of costs for schools with 100-199 on roll

Comparison of costs for schools with 200-299 on roll

Comparison of costs for schools with 300-399 on roll

Comparison of costs for schools with 400-499 on roll

Comparison of costs for schools with over 500 on roll

URGENT : Secure Your Website Against Hackers Immediately

Is your website secure?

This week has seen another school website "hacked" (taken offline and replaced with religious/ political propaganda) at this moment in time we do not know how this has happened as Schools ICT do not manage this specific web site. Normally this type of attack happens when old versions of software are used, or there is a lack of security and software maintenance, where servers are not kept up to date and web design software is not updated and maintained.

Your School website is your portal to the internet community and it is vital that you or your supplier maintain the software with security and update packages.

If you require support or guidance with the following don't hesitate to contact Schools ICT Cirrus Web Team on 01609 536086 option 1

What you need to do :

Read more: URGENT : Secure Your Website Against Hackers Immediately

*** Schools ADSL Broadband Service Down 12/11/14 ***

---- PROGRESS UPDATE 12/11/2014 11:55 ----

NYnet are still experiencing issue’s with some of the Bonded aDSL attached sites.

NYnet have stabilised this to some 15 schools and 1 Yorkshire dales park site (out of a total of 54 Bonded aDSL sites on the network).

NYnet are working to bring these sites back online, this is taking longer than expected as they are trying not to affect the current connected and working sites.

We will keep this feed as up to date as possible until resolution.

*******************************************************************

12th November 2014

We are seeing an issue with NYnet Bonded aDSL connected sites.

At the moment we believe that this issue is related to a central server in the data centre at NYnet and we are working on this.

As soon as we have any more information we will update you.

We apologise for the inconvenience that this will cause.

Schools ICT Help Desk