ParentPay

We accept payments online for trips and visits, transport, books and much more.

Using a secure website called ParentPay you are able to pay online using your debit or credit card. ParentPay is our preferred method of making payments to school.

How to get started with ParentPay

Visit www.parentpay.com

• Enter your Activation username and password in the Account Login section of the homepage. NB. These are for one-time use only, you will choose your own username and password for future access during the activation process
• Provide all the necessary information and choose your new username and password for your account – registering your email address will enable us to send you receipts and reminders
• Once activation is complete you can go to straight to Items for payment, select which item(s) you want to add to your basket and proceed to complete your payment

For more information please see Frequently Asked Questions at the following link: https://www.parentpay.com/ECP1/Parents/FAQs-for-parent-payment-system/

If you do not have a Parent Pay account, and need to make a payment to the school, please use the Payment Page via this link: https://app.parentpay.com/ParentPayShop/Foc/Default.aspx?shopid=472

Please be aware that this link should not be used to add lunch money for students (due to the catering facility being out-sourced). To add lunch funds you must be registered with ParentPay Online or alternatively cash can be sent with your child to add to the top-up machines that are located in school.

What are the benefits to parents and students?

• ParentPay is easy-to-use and will offer you the freedom to make online payments whenever and wherever you like, 24/7
• The technology used is of the highest internet security available ensuring that your money will reach school safely – offering you peace of mind
• Payments can be made by credit/debit card
• Full payment histories and statements are available to you securely online at anytime
• Your children won’t have to worry about losing money at school

What are the benefits to our school?

The more parents that use ParentPay, the greater the benefit is to William Howard School. You can help us reduce workloads for all staff, creating more time to lend to educational support and the smooth running of the school. Using ParentPay also ensures that all financial transactions are safe and secure – helping us to remove costs associated with us having to manage cash securely on the school premises.

WHS Frequently Asked Questions

Other people help to pay for my child’s trips and visits, books etc. – can they use ParentPay?

ParentPay records are organised by student. We will send activation codes for ParentPay to the person who has been identified as Primary Carer.
It is possible to add ‘payers’ to an account e.g. a spouse/partner, a grandparent, so that different people can help to contribute. However, as these additional payers will be able to see the outstanding balances for different items on the account, they will be able to tell how much has been paid by other people.
We will therefore only issue additional activation codes following authorisation from the Primary Carer.
Please contact parentpay@williamhoward.cumbria.sch.uk if you would like additional payers to be added to the account.

If other people help pay for your child’s trips and visits, but the Primary Carer does not wish to share access to the account, it is still possible to process payments via the WHS Payment Page.
Payments made via the Payment Page must include sufficient detail to allocate the payment e.g. student’s name and year group (and ideally form group), payer’s name, what the payment is for. In these incidents of one off payments, via Payment Page, the person making the payment will not be able to see how much other people have contributed.

 

When I log in to ParentPay, it looks as though I am being asked to pay for items that my son/daughter has not been signed up to (eg. Ski Trip, Transport). Why is this?

When we set payment items up on ParentPay, we have to allocate the item to an eligible group of students. If this is a small trip (e.g. an A Level Geography field trip) we can allocate it to individual students, and only parents of those students will see the trip when they log in. For larger items, which are open to large sections of the school, we have to ‘open’ the trip/item more widely so that anyone who it relates to can make payments. You should always have received correspondence for a trip, or transport, that you are paying for via ParentPay. We are not asking you to pay for items that you have not signed up for.

 

What is the difference between ParentPay and the Payment Page?

ParentPay (our preferred method of payment) is the system that you use your username and password to log-in to. When you pay online using ParentPay, your child’s account is updated immediately.

The Payment Page also enables you to pay online but goes into a holding account that we then have to manually re-allocate to your child’s account. This may be up to one week after the date of your payment. If you use the Payment Page, please include as much detail as possible about the payment (e.g. your child’s name and form, what the payment is for).