Interview with Nigel Johnson,
Bursar, Wellingborough School
Nigel Johnson, the Bursar at Wellingborough School, speaks about their relationship with School Fee Plan and our mutual interest - the education of a child. The school is an HMC co-educational day school with about 850 pupils from age 3 through to 18.
Can you explain how fees work at your school, the main elements, when each element is typically due and settled by parents?
Fees at Wellingborough work on a termly basis. Whereby fees are due at the beginning of the term for the duration of that term but can be paid a year in advance. Those are the two payment options that we require.
What is School Fee Plan (SFP) and how are fee payments handled when parents use the service?
School Fee Plan is effectively a third-party provision that allows the school, firstly as the consumer, to get its fees in advance so that it can pay for the services it is providing.
What it offers for the parent is a staged, or layered, payment that allows them to pay, as and when they wish, but as far as the school is concerned, we get the fees at the point of use.
How long have Wellingborough been working with School Fee Plan?
We joined School Fee Plan at the beginning of 2022, so we’re just about to enter our third academic year with School Fee Plan.
How many families have used the service since you started offering it?
I have 808 separate School Fee Plan accounts which makes up about 400 of the parents. About 50% of our population are now using School Fee Plan after only two years.
What would you say parents value most about School Fee Plan?
The advantage of School Fee Plan to a parent is firstly the control. They have absolute control over how much they borrow and when they repay it.
The second aspect is flexibility. It is a flexible scheme. Parents can interject and adjust as their circumstances, or indeed additional extras and trips, may dictate.
And the third element of it is the regulatory and compliance bit. It’s the bit we don’t speak about often but it gives parents confidence that they are dealing with a trusted party.
We live in a world where parents like to know where they are. They like the certainty. They like the knowledge of what will leave their account and when. School Fee Plan gives that - which the three academic terms don’t, otherwise.
What are the financial, business, or operational benefits of School Fee Plan to the School?
I think the main benefit for the school with this is it is a relationship with School Fee Plan. There is somebody I can pick the phone up to in the back office, who provides second line support, who can help us with, perhaps, parents that have cash flow difficulties or where there is a consultation between us.
I think the key thing as a bursar is you’re not on your own. There is someone else with a mutual interest, the education of a child, where we can find ways to make it work for parents. And that's something a school can't do if it's sat on its own.