Last September, as a new Mum in a new area and school, I was persuaded to become Poppy’s class Parent Rep. “It will be a great way to make friends” I was told and although I was reluctant, to be honest it has been.

The one thing I found difficult doing at Christmas though was collecting for the Teachers present at the end of term. Having come from a school where the children gave good old fashioned gifts of handmade cards and home cooked biscuits or chocolates lovingly wrapped in cellophane and tied with a bow, giving money was new to me.

In this school I was expected to collect contributions of around £10 per child to cover a gift for both the teacher and teaching assistant and then to buy vouchers with it. Firstly I thought this was a bit steep to be honest and secondly I don’t like asking for money. I wasn’t comfortable doing it.

I did do it though and the said teachers did very well and were extremely happy but its almost the end of year again and has been time to do it all again. Just as I started collecting I was approached to try out a new payment system.

flendr-logo

Flendr is a new social finance platform that takes the stress out of making everyday group payments in a similar way to fundraising platforms for charity.

Users simply register on the site, create their collection page and then invite friends to contribute by simply sharing a link (via email, Facebook). The site securely processes payments, tracks who’s involved and sends auto reminders to avoid any awkwardness.

To be honest only 4 of my parents out of about 28 have participated and paid online. They said it was quick and easy to do and enjoyed being able to do it in the comfort of their own home. The others still liked to hand over the cash though. Some people just don’t like change.

Personally I do like this service and would happily use it again. I think the parents would get used to it and next time I would give them plenty of notice saying this is how to pay from the start.

 

Definitely worth considering.

Karen x