SchoolsBuddy FAQs

SchoolsBuddy is a web and mobile platform for staff, parents and students. It was founded in 2013 and is now part of the Faria Education Group. It covers:

• activities management
• online payments
• transport and dismissal
• event and trip sign-ups
• school bookings, including parent-teacher conferences
• wraparound care
• parent communications, online consent and safeguarding

It is used by primary schools, MATs, international schools, independent schools and IB schools.

SchoolsBuddy is modular, so your school can adopt as many of the solutions as it needs. Having several solutions in one platform saves schools money and time. SchoolsBuddy is especially strong at billing and payments for school micropayments such as activities, school trips and other events.

We aim to keep improving by listening to and learning from our customers, and we offer support and training to our schools whenever it is needed.

SchoolsBuddy is a web-based application hosted on our servers. You need:

• an internet connection
• a modern web browser with JavaScript enabled

We recommend Google Chrome for the best experience. The latest versions of Safari, Firefox and other browsers should also work on Mac and PC.

You can download the SchoolsBuddy apps for phones and tablets from the Apple App Store and Google Play. There is also a direct download link for schools in China.

SchoolsBuddy is free for parents and students. Schools pay for a modular subscription, and the cost depends on the number of modules and students.

For more information and an official quotation, book a demo and we will show you the options.

The SchoolsBuddy interface is available to students, teachers, admins and parents in:

• English
• Chinese (Simplified)
• Chinese (Traditional)
• Korean
• Spanish
• Portuguese
• Russian
• Arabic
• Thai
• German
• Japanese

All text boxes support Unicode (UTF-8), so you can enter international characters in all major languages. English is the default. Contact us if you would like to enable other languages.

SchoolsBuddy was founded by Gary Hector and David Higginson in 2013 and became part of the Faria Education Group in 2019. The team is mainly based on the south coast of the UK, supported by remote colleagues and the wider Faria group around the world.

Yes. SchoolsBuddy is GDPR compliant and ISO 27001 certified. We protect our systems with best practices, from SSL connections to continuous security review of our source code. For details, see our Security and Compliance page.

After you sign up, we discuss your requirements, bring in your data from your MIS/SIS and give you initial setup guidance before more detailed training.

We can integrate with almost all MIS/SIS systems, including PowerSchool and iSAMS. As part of the Faria Education Group, we also offer enhanced integration with ManageBac+.

First, schedule a personal demonstration with one of our sales team. They will be your main contact when you want to sign up.

Students, parents, teachers, administrators or coordinators, and external staff can all access SchoolsBuddy. Student access is optional.

For support questions, visit the SchoolsBuddy Help Centre. If you have other questions, submit a request.

We provide support by email and telephone. During setup we also offer free one-to-one online training for your key users, to help them get to know SchoolsBuddy and walk through all the key parts of the system.

No. For privacy and data security reasons, SchoolsBuddy Support works with school staff only. Parents should contact their school's administration team, who can contact SchoolsBuddy if needed.

SchoolsBuddy is hosted on Azure Web Services, with servers in Ireland, Hong Kong and the US.

Yes. Files are backed up in real time on redundant RAID storage locally, and disk images are backed up daily at the data centre. Records are also encrypted and backed up off-site at a separate facility three times a week.

Yes. SchoolsBuddy has a built-in integration with Microsoft Power BI, so you can filter and extract reports and other data.

SchoolsBuddy is ISO 27001 compliant, which shows a commitment to data security at every level of our organisation.

• All data between your computer and our systems is encrypted end to end with SSL by default.
• Uploaded assets and backups are stored and sent over encrypted connections.

While your site is publicly accessible to prospective applicants and families, a password-protected account is created for each family automatically once they submit any information via an application or enquiry form. SchoolsBuddy’s Admissions Dashboard for staff is not publicly accessible.

For more information, see SchoolsBuddy Security and Compliance.

Invoices are raised once a year, based on your renewal month.

• We email the invoice to your school’s designated Billing Contact 30 days before your renewal date. For example, if your account renews on 15 November, your Billing Contact receives a PDF invoice by 15 October.
• Our standard payment terms are net 30: invoices are due within 30 days of the date of issue.

If you need an invoice early, submit a request.

This depends on where your school is.

• Billed in GBP: please pay by bank transfer. We accept cheques where a bank transfer is not possible. We do not currently accept card payments for GBP transactions.
• Billed in USD: there are more options, including card payment and payment through your online account.

Instructions for paying by bank transfer or cheque are on the invoice.

Submit a request and attach the purchase order. When we receive it, we will generate a new invoice that includes the purchase order number.

Submit a request with your invoice number and what needs to change.

Submit a request for a quotation. Please allow 1 to 2 business days for us to process the request.

Submit a request and attach the documents you need completed.

A receipt is generated automatically within 3 to 5 business days of us receiving payment. It is emailed to your school’s Billing Contact and also appears on your Billing page.

For schools in China, we provide a Fapiao when we receive payment. Your school needs to give us its official name in Chinese, its Tax ID and a mailing address for the official tax receipt.

If your school uses ManageBac+, sign in and go to Settings > Billing. If it does not, submit a request with the new Billing Contact’s name and email address.

Each account can have one Billing Contact. This person receives the first invoice and any correspondence about it.

Invoices more than 30 days overdue incur late payment interest of 2% per month until payment is made.

In the very rare case that a school is more than 60 days overdue, SchoolsBuddy reserves the right to suspend the account. We do everything we can to avoid this. As long as your school stays in contact and gives an expected payment date within 10 business days, we will not suspend the account.