Gladstone East Barnet Casestudy
E A S T B A R N E T S C H O O L
It is so much easier when students pay for their lunch without using cash. This is the welcome
experience of East Barnet School after implementing the Gladstone Education’s OnRecord
Summary
Cashless catering system. Now, thanks to a successful project managed by Gladstone, East
Barnet School has ended lengthy queuing, eliminated cash handling in the servery, and improved
East Barnet School wanted to introduce cashless
catering for its busy canteen. The school selected
management information.
Gladstone Education’s OnRecord Cashless
catering system, which included new EPoS tills
East Barnet School in North London has 1,250 students and is spread across two sites. Its
and a revaluation terminal for the school's
reception area. With the help of Gladstone
Chestnut Grove location has 800 students in years 7 to 10 with the remaining students
Education’s consultants, the system was installed
attending Westbrook Crescent.
and all staff trained in its use.
OnRecord now provides a complete cashless
catering solution for the school. Students are
able to pre-load money (cash or notes) onto
their accounts then use proximity cards to pay
for snacks or meals. Kitchen staff are freed from
cash handling duties, queues are shorter, and the
school's management team now have
management reports on the catering service.
Benefits
• Reduces queuing by eliminating cash handling
for students and staff
• Increases free school meal take up
• Web-based application on the latest Microsoft
.NET Framework
• Integrates seamlessly with school's
Management Information System (MIS).
Gladstone Education is an approved Serco
Before implementing OnRecord Cashless at Chestnut Grove, the school's canteen relied totally
Facility Partner.
on manual cash tills. Lunchtimes were always hard work for catering staff, with as many as five
• Comprehensive business reporting and data
tills open to cope with the rush. According to East Barnet’s bursar, Sue Waters, around two thirds
analysis suite
of the students use the canteen regularly - perhaps 500 children in an hour.
“The school lunch break always
"It was too slow. We needed to speed up the service quite considerably," says Mrs Waters. "The
meant long queues of students in
fact that staff were handling money was also a big security and hygiene risk."
the canteen waiting to pay.
Gladstone Education's OnRecord
Ensuring a timely lunchtime service and handling cash weren't the only issues for the school.
Cashless catering system has proved
There were outdated practices such as a paper checklist for free school meals.
the ideal solution. Queues are
shorter, catering staff are no longer
handling money, and we have
management reports too.”
Sue Waters, Bursar
East Barnet School
E d u c a t i o n
C A S E S T U D Y
Opportunity for change
When the school took control of catering management from its contractors and moved towards a
healthy meals programme, Mrs Waters wanted to eliminate cash handling and improve management
information.
The school had several key requirements. The cashless system needed to be cost-effective, and the new
Electronic Point of Sale (EPoS) tills had to be easy for staff to use. Furthermore, Mrs Waters required
the new system to be seamlessly integrated with the school's Serco Facility CMIS™ management
information system (MIS), so that data could be easily extracted for financial management purposes.
"We didn't just want a stand-alone system but needed a complete solution that would easily link with
our MIS system," says Mrs Waters. "It also had to be a one-card-fits-all solution for our future needs
such as daily registration and library access."
Some cashless systems were too expensive but Gladstone Education’s powerful OnRecord technology
seemed the right solution from the outset. The cost-effective OnRecord system is designed specifically
for the education market to improve meal time administration and operational efficiency. What’s more,
the system uses proximity smart cards, which Mrs Waters favoured over biometric (fingerprint) or swipe
card systems.
"We made the decision that Gladstone Education were going to be the best option for us. The solution
that they came up with was cost-effective and flexible."
Project managed by Gladstone Education directly, the implementation was straightforward. The
OnRecord software was installed on the school’s existing server, a revaluation terminal was placed in
the reception area, and new EPoS tills were installed in the canteen. Student data was extracted from
the CMIS system, printed MIFARE™ proximity cards were issued, and training was given to catering
and administrative staff. A comprehensive software support and on-site hardware support contract
was also provided.
Cashless payments
Improvements were felt almost immediately when the new system went live, with reduced lunchtime
queuing as students no longer paid with cash. Not having to carry money around has the added benefit
of reducing the risk of bullying. Students on free school meals use the same proximity card as all the other
students, removing any stigma.
Students regularly top up their cards with cash via a revaluation terminal in the school's main reception.
Alternatively, payments may be made by cheque to the finance office.
For information on the
On the other side of the system, Mrs Waters can now easily view management reports or extract selected
data for spreadsheet analysis. These reports now help with tasks such as VAT analysis, staff duty meals
OnRecord solution suite
recording and student spend analysis. One report even shows details of food sales to complement the
school's healthy meals initiative.
Contact Us
"I can get information out of the system for my regular month-end accounts too," says Mrs Waters. "But
the main benefit is the improved speed of service from not handling cash. It's made a big difference to the
T: +44 (0) 1491 20 10 10
kitchen as we now finish lunchtime service very quickly."
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The school has plans to extend the OnRecord Cashless system by having an automatic monthly accounts
statement for each student and allowing parents to view information online to check their children's meal
E: info@gladstone-education.com
preferences. Mrs Waters views Gladstone’s OnRecord as an adaptable system that delivers precisely what
is required to meet the changing needs of the school.
www.gladstone-education.com
"I find the OnRecord Cashless catering system easy to use. It's also flexible in terms of the management
information I can extract from it," says Mrs Waters. "There's good support from Gladstone Education when
required and they respond pretty quickly too."
Gladstone Education Ltd Gladstone House Hithercroft Road Wallingford Oxfordshire OX10 9BT United Kingdom
E d u c a t i o n
