The Challenge
Te Mata School, a vibrant primary school in Havelock North with a roll of approximately 600 students, faced challenges common to many Kiwi schools. While dedicated to providing excellent education and a wide range of opportunities for their students, the school found itself grappling with the increasingly complex administrative side of running a modern educational institution.
Like many schools across New Zealand, Te Mata was committed to offering a rich array of experiences - from classroom learning to EOTC activities, sports events to cultural celebrations. However, managing the financial aspects of these diverse offerings was becoming a significant burden on staff time and resources.
Te Mata School needed a solution that could streamline these processes, reduce the administrative burden on staff, and make it easier for parents to manage school payments. They wanted to focus on what really mattered - providing a nurturing, innovative learning environment where every child could "Seek the Heights" - without getting bogged down in paperwork and payment processing. Four years ago, Te Mata School decided to implement Kindo, as a comprehensive school payment system. Karlee Tipu, Enrolments and Administration, shares their experience with the platform.
Streamlining Administrative Processes
One of the most significant improvements has been in the school's administrative processes. Karlee explains, "Once you find your way around Kindo, jobs that used to take you an hour may now only take 20 minutes." This efficiency gain allows staff to focus more on supporting their diverse programmes.
Enhancing Parent Experience
Kindo has transformed the way parents interact with the school financially. "Parents don't have the stress of trying to find cash, they can easily make payments online when it is convenient for them, they can easily track what they have paid for and access end of year receipts for the accountant, again saving time for the office admin team," Karlee shares.
She adds, "Ease of access, parents are able to login whenever is convenient for them," highlighting the flexibility Kindo offers to parents.
Improving Financial Health
The implementation of Kindo has significantly contributed to the school's financial health. Karlee notes, "Everything is now paid for before the event, so easy to track payments for the school, more donations received as they can pay them off."
Karlee shares a specific success story: "Our parents have loved the feature that enables them to pay things off, for example, Camp; this can be a huge expense for some families; we can load this earlier in the year and give the family's plenty of time to pay it off, takes the pressure off them."
Looking to the Future
When asked about her favourite feature of Kindo, Karlee responds, "It's hard to pick one, to be honest; they have so many great features that benefit both your parents and the school."
As for advice to other schools considering Kindo, Karlee enthusiastically states, "Just make the move! You won't regret it."
