ParentPay
The Academy is cashless and parents can book and pay securely online for a range of items using a debit/credit card or through PayPoint.
Paying online gives you the peace of mind that comes with knowing that your money reaches the school safely. Parents can pay online for:
- School meals
- School trips
- Music tuition lessons
- And other items
What does ParentPay do?
- Enables you to pay for the above items
- Offers a highly secure payment site
- Gives you a history of all the payments you have made
- Allows you to create a single account login across all your children that attend a ParentPay school
- Shows you all items available for payment relevant to each of your children
- Emails a receipt of your payment to the email address you register
- Offers you the ability to set automated email/SMS payment reminders
How does ParentPay help you?
- Gives you the freedom to make payments to school whenever and wherever you like
- Stops you having to write cheques or search for cash to send to school
- Gives you peace of mind that your payment has been made safely and securely
- Helps with budgeting; payments are immediate, there is no waiting for cheques to clear
- Payments for many of the larger trips can be made by instalments up to the due date
- You will never need miss a payment, or have insufficient credit, with automated email/SMS alerts
- ParentPay is quick and easy to use
How does ParentPay help our school?
- Reduces the administrative time spent on banking procedures
- Keeps accurate records of payments made to every service for every student
- Payments do not bounce
- Reduces paper ‘waste’
- Allows for easy and quick refunds to be made back to the payment card
- Improves communication between the school and parents concerning payments
- Offers a more efficient payment collection process, reducing the amount of money held on school premises
- Helps us improve school-home communication with its integrated email/SMS messaging centre
How to pay online….
Step 1 – Have your activation letter ready
Step 2 – Login at www.parentpay.com
Step 3 – Follow instructions to activate account
Step 4 – Select ‘Pay for items’
If you have yet to receive your activation letter or it has been mislaid, please email finance@stmatthewacademy.co.uk to have the letter reissued.
Using Paypoint
PayPoint payments are recorded by ParentPay and can be seen by logging into your ParentPay account and viewing your payment history online. The nearest PayPoint stores to school are:
Corner Shop
23, Brandram Road
London SE13 5RT
Costless Wine
14, Manor Park Parade
London SE13 5PB
Star Newsagent Group
158, Lee High Road
London SE13 5PR
Lee General Stores
45, Lee High Road
London SE13 5NS
Please notify the Finance Office at the Academy if you wish to use the PayPoint facility. A barcode will be issued to you to make cash payments for school meals at local PayPoint stores. The first card is free of charge; however, any lost or damaged cards will be charged at £5.00 each. Payment cards take about two weeks to arrive but we can issue a barcode letter as an interim measure.
Trip and activity information letters will carry a unique barcode which will allow you to make cash payments at your local PayPoint store.
To access the ParentPay website please click here.
Frequently Asked Questions
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 holds a very limited amount of information about you and your child solely for the purpose of administering your account however; ParentPay does not use your personal information other than for supporting the school. We do not share or give information to any other organisations. We operate under strict guidelines set out by the Data Protection Act 1998.
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. You can also use an Internet browser on your smart-phone. Alternatively ask if you can use your school’s computers. Many schools have computers available for parents and will be happy to show you how to use them.