Should I set this up as a Trip, Club, School Shop, Meal or Account for payments?

Not sure what you need to set up to manage payments for a specific reason or event? See our recommendations below.

This guide is the last in a series of four. The guides in this series are:

1. Introduction to Payments in Arbor
2. Payments setup options
3. Making the most of Payments in Arbor
4. Should I set this up as a Trip, Club, School Shop, Meal or Account for payments?
    

Top Tip: Not sure where to get started with payments in Arbor, or need help with your setup? Why not try our In-App Payments Help Guide! 
 

Clubs and Care 

For repeating activities and events involving students you wish to charge for, like Breakfast clubs, After-school clubs and Swimming lessons, we recommend setting up a club. Clubs allow you to manage bookings and payments for such activities in a central place.

There are two types of clubs, Standard Clubs and Wraparound Care Clubs. While the functionalities of both overlap, there are some differences in terms of payments.

For Standard Clubs:

Standard Clubs are ideal for fixed-period activities like music or swimming lessons, where payments are made at booking. Parents can easily sign up by choosing the club, selecting a period, and paying for membership all at once.

• Payments require an existing membership or must be made at booking.
• Prices are fixed per membership period, not per student.
• Voucher payments are not supported

For Wraparound Care Clubs:

Wraparound Care Clubs suit events with variable participants and prices, such as breakfast or after-school clubs. They offer customizable charging options, but this can complicate management. Parents must also top up their payment balance as well as complete a booking. Lastly, if you set up a Wraparound Care Club, you can also make use of Voucher Payments.

• Payments come from the top-up Customer Account, allowing easier bookings without upfront parent payment.
• Prices can vary by student group and session intervals, but this requires more setup.
• Voucher payments are supported

Meals and Snacks 

Aside from your day-to-day meals and lunches, where we recommend using Arbor's Meals module, you might need to take payments for food at other times. Thinks along the lines of setting up a Christmas lunch, offering a Tuck shop, taking Milk or Snack payments and providing Staff meals.

Staff meals can be set up as part of your day-to-day meal setup. See how to do this here. 

Milk and Snack payments can be set up as separate meals in Arbor's Meal area, especially if these take place in regular sessions and you want to be able to charge based on attendance. If you prefer to keep payments separate from the Meals module, consider creating a customer account type for parents to deposit funds into, which you can invoice periodically or per use to ensure parents are charged. Alternatively, if you have the School Shop, you can offer milk and snack allowances as one-time purchases. This ensures parents pay upfront, minimising debt risk, but may limit pricing flexibility for individual needs.

Tuck shops are best set up using the School Shop, as this allows you to set up different items, with different prices and availabilities that get charged at the correct rates at the point of purchase, which minimises admin. The drawback of using the school shop is that payments need to be made at the point of purchase and that payments need to be made by card. So, if you wish to offer a tuck shop where parents can accrue debt, make payments in advance or later, a customer account type that you manually invoice may be more suitable.

For Seasonal Meals like Christmas Lunches, set these up in the Meals module or as a Trip. If you're using Rotating Meal Menus, create a seasonal menu for parents to book via the Portal or App. For standard meals, you can add a seasonal option to your meal register for accurate pricing. Choosing a trip allows advanced booking, but the meal cost won't be deducted from a student's balance. Find each setup option here: Adding a seasonal meal (e.g. Christmas lunch)

One-Off Events and Trips

For Residential trips (e.g., Year 6 Kingswood) and other one-off events exclusively featuring students (like a class museum visit), we recommend using Arbor's Trips feature, as this allows you to manage your payments, communications and scheduling for the trip in one place. You can even make use of the Trips module to start collecting payments for trips the next academic year.

For Event tickets (especially events where friends and family might need tickets too, not only students - e.g. school plays, a Pantomime or Nativity/Christmas play), we recommend using the School Shop instead of a trip, as this allows you to provide the option of booking multiple tickets per eligible student without you having to set a unique price for each student. If you do not have access to the School Shop, you can see your alternative options here.

Donations

Donations or voluntary payments you might need to collect, like Charity donations or PTA (Parent Teacher Association) payments, can be collected either via the School Shop or by using a Customer Account Type.

If you opt for the School Shop, you can choose specific groups of students to make the donation visible  for on the Parent Portal or Parent App. However, parents cannot pay any amount, only multiples of the amount you set up.

School Shop Items

For (physical) items you offer to students to purchase via the school, like Stationery, Equipment, revision guides or packs, Uniform, Book Bags or PE Bags or Leaver's hoodies, we recommend using the School Shop. The school shop allows you to centrally manage payments, track which items have been issued and which haven't and lets you set different item availabilities, limits and prices for different students and groups. If you do not have the school Shop, you can consider using a club or customer account type instead, more on how this works here.