10 freebies for schools that you can get right now

At School Fund Finder, we’re constantly on the lookout for grants, competitions and free stuff for schools. Here are our top ten freebies that you can apply for right now on behalf of your school.

Free eBooks from Oxford Owl.  Oxford Owl is a free website dedicated to helping parents and primary school teachers inspire children’s reading. It has over 250 free eBooks and other useful resources for home and classroom use. There is also a special selection of books designed to encourage more boys to take up reading.

Free guitar lessons from Rex Pearson.  Rex Pearson has worked in schools for a number of years developing guitar courses and teaching all age groups. He has created online guitar courses and lessons for anyone to use, in the classroom or at home. They are available online and they are completely free to use. Lessons include music theory and playing techniques.

Free school trips to English Heritage sites. English Heritage offers free admission to all of its historic sites for school and educational groups, from prehistoric sites and Roman towns, medieval castles and abbeys, to industrial mills and Victorian houses. It’s perfect for inspiring history teaching and outdoor learning in a unique setting.

Free donated items from Giving World Online. The charity Giving World Online provides a link between organisations that have unwanted or surplus goods and local groups, including schools, in need of support. Previously donated items include arts materials, educational materials, school bags, clothes and textiles, computing equipment, office furniture, stationery and toys. Simply sign up online.

Free unwanted or surplus stock from B&Q. Every B&Q store operates a waste donation scheme whereby waste materials, such as slightly damaged tins of paint, off-cuts of timber, odd rolls of wallpaper and end of range materials, are donated to community groups, charities and schools. Just fill in a Waste Donation form at your local B&Q store.

Free paint from Community RePaint. Community Repaint redistributes surplus tins of paint to charities and community projects across the country so that they don’t go to waste. Many schools have used the paint for classroom improvements or school murals – it’s a perfect way to spruce up a classroom. Use the postcode checker on the Community RePaint website to find your nearest scheme.

Free mobile web app programming tool from Weejot. Weejot is offering all schools, colleges and universities in the UK free student access to its mobile web app publishing tool. It’s perfect for budding programmers to improve their programming skills using HTML5 and JavaScript.

Free workshops from the Dogs Trust. Primary school teachers can book a workshop with a Dogs Trust Education Officer and a friendly dog! Workshops use the theme of dog ownership as a means to help pupils develop self-esteem, confidence, responsibility, communication and teamwork skills, and make curriculum links.

Free potatoes for primary schools. Grow Your Own Potatoes is a primary school based growing project which challenges pupils to grow potatoes at school.  It is designed to be a fun way to educate children about the potato’s role in a healthy diet and how things grow. Register now for your free potato growing kit.

Free newspapers for schools. The Newspaper Licensing Agency gives schools in the UK free access to an online newspaper cuttings library and a free paper copying licence. It’s a fabulous resource for the classroom. Simply register online.

Want to know more? School Fund Finder is a subscription-based service specifically designed to help schools find, apply for and secure additional funding.  So whether you’re looking to launch an extra-curricular project, buy new equipment for your sports hall, or spruce up your school’s grounds, we can help!  To contact the School Fund Finder team, please call 0845 310 1788 or email info@talktopebble.co.uk

Kick-start your fundraising success…a case study

About the School

The Clare School is a Specialist ‘Physical/Sensory’ Complex Needs School. It is a mixed, day Community School for pupils from 3 to 19 years of age. Many pupils have complex medical and learning needs.

About Raymond

Raymond Hart worked at the Clare School for 20 years as the Art and Tech Coordinator. During that time he also became Ed Visits Coordinator, Health and Safety Officer and headed up the Premises Team. Upon retirement as a teacher on 31st December 2011 (age 60), Raymond reduced his working week to 4 days as Premises Manager, continued his other non-teaching roles and took on the task of leading the school’s hydrotherapy pool fundraising project.

Up to this point, Raymond had no experience in school fundraising. He didn’t know where to look to find funding opportunities or how to write grant applications. A lot of people came to Raymond with great ideas, but putting those ideas into action was proving to be a real challenge. Once he started, he also found it difficult to coordinate the ideas and efforts of the Head, the Governors, the Senior Management Team, the Staff, the Parents and the School’s Charity, Care for Clare – who all have important parts to play in fundraising for the school. Overall, Raymond found that the school was not sufficiently organised to embark on serious fundraising straight away and therefore he had to start to do some essential groundwork.

Why School Fund Finder?

Raymond found School Fund Finder using a Google Search and he was instantly impressed by the fundraising support service offered.  In particular, it was the company’s ‘go for it’ attitude on the phone that makes it stand out, which Raymond says captures Pebble’s commitment to helping schools achieve great fundraising results.

Raymond decided to sign up to School Fund Finder because he knew he would benefit from the service in a number of ways. It includes access to a comprehensive Grants Search which brings together all the funding opportunities currently available to UK schools and it is searchable to meet Raymond’s requirements.  With no previous experience in school fundraising, he also liked the support and guidance that Pebble gives, from recommending grants to helping with grant application writing.  Many people who take up the task of fundraising have never done so before. Pebble recognises this and breaks down the fundraising process into easy-to-follow steps for you, taking you through writing your fundraising vision and strategy, appointing your fundraising team, managing your volunteers, finding funding, and writing grant applications.  Our Senior Fundraising Consultant, Rachel, who draws on her great knowledge of fundraising in the education sector, guides every customer through the process.

Raymond has now got to grips with the school’s hydrotherapy pool fundraising project, putting into action his fundraising strategy, involving his volunteers in meaningful jobs, and contacting funders for funding support.  Raymond knows that Pebble is there at every step of the way until he reaches his fundraising goal.

School Financial Value Standards – A spotlight on software

What is School Financial Value Standards (SFVS)?

Schools manage many billions of pounds of public money each year. Effective financial management is vital to ensure the safeguarding of public funds and enable schools to optimise their resources to provide high-quality teaching and learning.

In September 2011 the Department of Education replaced the Financial Management Standard in Schools (FMSiS) with the SFVS. The aim of the standard is to improve the assistance and advice given to schools regarding best practice for financial management.

SFVS is made up of 23 questions, each of which requiring an answer of Yes, In Part, or No.

All maintained schools are required to complete the SFVS once a year, but unlike FMSiS, SFVS will not be externally assessed.

How does SFVS affect the accounting of School Fund?

SFVS highlights the importance of schools utilising the financial management solutions available to them for centralising and optimising the management of their funds. In particularly, Section D of the standard – which this article will focus on  - emphasises the advantages software solutions can have on improving accountability and protecting public money.

More specifically, question 21 requires that schools:

• “Have an accounting system that is adequate and properly run and delivers accurate reports, including the annual Consistent Financial Reporting return”

School Financial Value Standard (April, 2012)

What is an ‘adequate’ accounting system?

By definition, the Department for Education characterises an adequate accountancy system as one that provides accurate records of income and expenditure. This means that the accounting system should record detailed information on income and expenditure, covering all of the school’s financial transactions. To meet the standard, an accounting system must also produce reliable and accurate management information, which includes providing decision makers with timely and accurate information relevant to their responsibilities and requirements.

Providing details of revenue income and expenditure along with capital income, expenditure and balances is vital for any adequate accountancy system, along with the ability to produce accurate and instant reports.

Why is this important?

A substantial percentage of schools in the UK still rely on Excel spreadsheets or ledgers to manage their funds. According to the standard, these antiquated methods are no longer considered adequate for the management of school funds, primarily due to their auditing and reporting limitations.  In comparison, accountancy systems enable schools to accurately monitor budgets, providing important information about spending patterns that help schools make realistic forecasts of year-end under or overspends. Producing the Continued Financial Reporting (CFR) return enables maintained schools to benchmark their spending against similar schools and consider in which areas they could achieve better value for money.

How is voluntary fund accounting specifically affected?

A school voluntary fund comprises any funding received by schools from non–public sources which exists for the purpose of a school and are established under the authority of the school governors. They are frequently referred to as ‘private’ funds.

Question 22 of the standard aims to address how voluntary funds should be accounted for:

• “Does the school have adequate arrangements for audit of voluntary funds?”

School Financial Value Standard (April, 2012)

What does this mean and why is it important?

With an aim of ensuring schools maintain the highest possible level of auditability, the Department for Education has emphasised the importance of schools accounting for their voluntary funds separately to their delegated funds. By auditing these two funds separately, schools and local authorities can avoid and safeguard against any misuse of public funds. In order to comply with these standards, schools should use a financial package that can produce end of year reports, which in turn should be independently audited by a qualified accountant.

How can your school comply with Section D of SFVS?

There are various accountancy packages that are dedicated to helping schools not only comply with the criteria set by the Department for Education, but also save time and money while accounting for school funds. See one of these solutions for yourself today by calling 0845 310 1788.

School Fund Finder Success

Here at Pebble, we love to hear about your fundraising success stories.  With the help of School Fund Finder, our schools have secured external funding to improve their school facilities, run special projects and activities, and purchase new resources for the classroom.

Each school has made a minimum of 500% return of their investment – and they have just started!  The total on the School Fund Finder Fundraising Wall so far this year is £67,000 and there is much more available.  Why don’t you get your share and start fundraising with us like the schools below?

Check our website at www.schoolfundfinder.co.uk and book a free online demonstration with one of our team of fundraising coordinators.

Call us one 0845 310 1788 or email at info@talktopebble.co.uk.

How we can help you:

School Fund Finder makes the entire process of fundraising more efficient, saving you time.

• Information is tailored specifically for school needs
• Grants are presented in summary form for quick and easy searching
• Reminders are sent directly to your inbox.

We provide schools with the necessary resources to support their fundraising campaign:

• Grants and funding search
• Email alerts and deadline reminders
• Monthly newsletters
• Document templates
• Events calendar
• Latest fundraising news.

Our experience is everything. We actively encourage our subscribers to achieve their goals by taking advantage of our knowledge and expertise.  As part of your subscription, you receive unlimited support from our fundraising coordinators, Rachel Gordon and Marcus Ridley.

• School Fund Finder is registered with the Institute of Fundraising
• We give you one-to-one support via our telephone advice line and email
• We’ll also review your grant applications to share our knowledge and maximise your success
• We have a dedicated research team focused on school fundraising to keep you up to date with the latest innovations in fundraising.

One stop solution for school finance and online payments

The success of Pebble and sQuid’s collaboration has created an innovative end-to-end solution that enables parents and schools to manage online payments for items such as dinner money, school trips and uniform. The system integrates Pebble’s School Fund Manager accounting software with sQuid’s ePayments service. Payments are fast, secure and the whole process significantly reduces the administration time required by the finance office. This is because it removes the need for cash and cheques to be taken into school and, with Fund Manager’s import feature, transactions are recorded instantly in the school finance office.

St Olave’s Grammar School, which was voted The Times State School of the Year in 2008, is renowned for its innovative approach to school finance. As a Pebble customer for the last decade, St Olave’s was one of the first schools to recognise Pebble and sQuid’s solution as an effective way of interacting with parents for the receipt and management of school voluntary funds.

For Kerry Evans, the Finance Manager at St Olave’s,

“The ePayments system from our end is phenomenal and has proved to save time and money”

More schools are looking for online payments solutions to streamline accounting practices in the school office and to save time by reducing the number of cash and cheque payments that need to be manually handled. The Pebble and sQuid solution is a fantastic service for schools that are looking to revolutionise the management of their school voluntary funds.

What does this solution have to offer?

Pebble’s School Fund Manager with sQuid’s ePayments is the perfect solution for managing voluntary funds and catering finances, administering online payments to parents, creating reports and auditing accounts. This is all provided in one solution and it is suitable for primary and secondary schools and academies. In addition:

• It creates a comprehensive audit trail
• It is up to 30% cheaper than other accountancy and online payment packages, making it the most cost effective solution for schools on the market
• It has the ability to export reports to Excel.

Support

Pebble has always valued its relationship with customers and prides itself on its customer service and support. As a new customer, you receive online training to help you get started using the new system. We’ll also make sure that you’re making the most of the system to meet your needs.  Each customer then has the continued support of Pebble’s experienced technical support team who are on hand to respond to any query. You can contact a member of the team by telephone or email – whatever best suits your way of working.

Kerry adds:

“The customer service we receive from the company, in all areas of technicality now and during the transitional period of introducing the ePayment system, cannot be faulted.  It is of great comfort and value to us when we experience problems and need to resolve them at speed in order to keep to our financial deadlines.”

In turn, the support team works in close collaboration with Pebble’s in-house development team.  Any suggestions put forward by customers are always received openly by the development team who constantly endeavour to keep the software at the highest standard to meet real customer requirements.

For parents

Pebble aims to make the process of paying online easy, enjoyable and time effective for parents.

• It enables parents to pay online for school trips, uniform and other items
• It is a convenient alternative to writing cheques or organising cash to send into school
• Quick and easy to use, it is available 24/7, making it an attractive alternative payment mechanism to traditional methods
• It sends an e-mail confirmation for each payment
• It allows parents to view a record of payments they have made to the school
• It gives parents confidence in a reliable and trustworthy solution, which directly addresses any concerns they may have, by delivering a safe, secure and efficient cashless payments system.

As Kerry tells us,

“Our parents enjoy using the system.”

For schools

The Pebble and sQuid solution offers a range of key benefits to schools:

• Fully auditable payments
• Reduced administration
• Reduced cash collections
• No more bounced cheques
• Regular settlement to your bank account
• Dedicated online portal for parents to track payments for personal account keeping
• School trips, uniform, dinner money, and other offers are created and uploaded with ease, saving you time when administrating voluntary funds. This frees staff from handling cash and cheques to focus on account management and reporting activities.

Recommendation

“We would highly recommend the system for the following reasons: -

• Ease of use for both school and parent or carer
• Saves time
• Value for money
• Best value.”

It is obvious to see why leading schools such as St Olave’s use Pebble and sQuid; the collaboration is not only innovative and future proof, it is a seamlessly integrated end to end online payments and accounting software solution.

What to look for when choosing an online payments system in school

The development of multi-channel banking has caused a huge increase in phone and Internet banking. In fact, 21.5 million customers now bank online, with half of these customers using it to make online payments.[1]

This caused a major change in the way organisations and schools receive money. Since 2010, schools have offered online payments options to parents, enabling them to pay for trips, uniform and dinners for their children. Schools have reported massive benefits to the management of their school funds with online payments. In the finance office, money can be taken instantly and securely.  This reduces the administrative burden of handing cash and cheques and enables staff to use their time more valuably on other tasks rather than having to engage in the tedious and time-consuming chore of manually inputting each and every transaction into an accounting system. For parents, it provides them with an additional payment method which is extremely convenient compared to traditional methods of cash or cheque payments.

This has led to an upsurge in schools purchasing online payments systems, which, in turn, has encouraged a rise in the number of online payments providers. It is important that schools purchase the right system to meet their needs, but with so much choice it can be a particularly daunting challenge.

There are many factors that need to be considered when looking to implement an online payments system. The questions below offer a framework to help you choose the right system.

What can parents pay for online?

Online payments systems typically enable parents to pay for trips and uniform, but there are additional modules that can be purchased to manage catering finances and feed into your cashless catering system.

Where do you want this money allocated? Is it all going into one account or separate accounts?

Many online payments providers can only allocate the money to one account. If you have multiple accounts in which you want the money to go then make sure the provider can handle this request.

How comprehensive would you like the system be?

There are functional differences between online payments systems so you need to decide what you need the system to do to meet your needs.  You will need to consider how you will produce reports, take payments from the parents who do not have access to the Internet at home, manage multiple accounts and administer your catering finances.

When does the money reach your school account?

The credit of payments into your school account ranges from every few days to once a week.  Check individual providers and make sure it suits your school’s cash flow requirements.

What are the transactions charges?

It is typical that you will have to pay an online transaction fee for each online payments made.  Some providers enable you to decide whether your school or the parent pays the fee.

Does the provider integrate with any other systems?

There is a saying that we should not put all our eggs in one basket – and this is pertinent advice when it comes to choosing an online payments system.  Some systems do not offer integration with existing accounts and systems.  This can burden your finance office with time-consuming workarounds and it significantly restricts your future options for developing the functionality of your accounts and banking practices.  Consider whether you require system integration to give you ease in use and added flexibility for future development.

Does the provider offer any other services?

It is always beneficial to find out what other products or services are offered by the provider. At present, most online payments providers only enable schools to send offers to a parent’s portal and then any payments received are imported into an Excel spreadsheet or a similar reporting tool with limited functionality. Many schools have signed on to online payments systems only to realise that there is no way of inputting manual transactions next to online transactions.  It is therefore beneficial to select an online payments provider that offers the ability to receive and record payments manually in the same account as online transactions as well as additional modules such as cashless catering. Training and ongoing support is also important to help you make the most of your online payments system.

What is the level of support like?

Make sure that your provider gives you access to training and support in a way that suits your learning style. Telephone, email and on-site support are all important so check the details of your support contract.

How secure is the online payments page? Is it Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliant?

PCI data security standard ensures that clients and service providers are protected from credit and debit card fraud. This is essential so that both your school and your school’s parents are paying online securely.

Does it allow the functionality of banking, such as the payment of receipts to the bank and reconciliation?

The new Schools Financial Value Standard (SFVS) means that schools need to implement more effective financial management tools to manage their school funds. Online payments systems that offer integration enable you to pay receipts to the bank and reconcile your accounts. This adds great value to the system over and above the ability to receive online payments from parents. As such, it is important to consider how your online payments system will offer a practical and cost-effective solution to the management school funds in response to the SFVS. It is the perfect time to consider the future of your school finances.

What is the overall cost?

At the end of the day, you must make sure that when purchasing an online payments system, you are getting value for money. Any assessment of cost should include your software license, training, ongoing support, the ability to integrate with existing systems, opportunity for purchasing additional modules for added functionality, and long-term sustainability.

If you reflect on these questions and consider the real needs of your school – now and in the future – then you should find your perfect provider.

---

[1] http://www.ukpayments.org.uk/payment_options/automated_payments/internet_and_phone/

Barley Mow Primary School – Case Study

Value the Partnership between School and Home

The School

Barley Mow Primary School is brand new.  Less than 2 years old, it is a fantastic example of a modern school with a wide range of facilities, located in Chester-Le-Street, County Durham.  There are approximately 220 students from Nursery to Year 6.  Most of them will have been sent to school with their envelope of money to pay for exciting trips out or to replace outgrown uniform over the years.   All the cash and cheques end up with one lady in the school office, who is getting fed up with the mountains of records she must keep for that fateful day an auditor visits.

The Finance Officer

I met Julie Moons in person at our Gateshead-Pebble workshop in March.  The first thing I noticed was how keen she was to improve the school’s finance system.  Using only printed class lists and written receipts to run the finances, there had been a fair amount of time wasted and a number of errors made.  The fact that money for a particular school trip would have to be combined into one total, losing the details of who handed it in and when it was paid, was disappointing – Julie was clearly here to get things in line.

The Customer

It was fantastic news for Julie that we import names and details from their SIMS system.  As an attendee of our Pebble workshop Julie – along with 12 others – was presented with the basics of our latest system and got hands-on with her own demonstration account.  By the end of the session she knew the easy-to-use Fund Manager Version 8 would provide the accurate accounting and reporting that she needed.  She took our clear and transparent price information to the Head and requested the invoice later that day.

The Future

As a new customer, Julie will be contacted several times over the next year to ensure the school is getting the maximum out of Fund Manager.  We know that switching to something completely different can be daunting in the school office so we will arrange an online training session and support for Julie until she is proficient.  She has the confidence of knowing her own support advisor will be there when she completes various processes for the first time, like year-end close down.  Fund Manager’s online payment import facility means Barley Mow can now progress with cashless initiatives at its own pace.