Payments

St Mary's is a cashless School.

Please make all payments via Arbor (our School online payment system) and speak to the school office if you have any queries.

Link to the Arbor payment system

School Fund (Diocesan Contribution)

As a Voluntary Aided Church of England school, we ask parents and carers to make an annual voluntary contribution of £30 to the Diocesan Fund, usually paid before your child starts school and then each September thereafter. Alternatively, contributions can be made at £10 per term.

All payments should be made via Arbor.

This contribution is important because, as a Voluntary Aided school, we do not receive Local Authority funding for repairs and maintenance to the fabric of the school building. Instead, the Diocese of Southwark operates an External Maintenance Scheme, which is funded through voluntary contributions. This scheme enables the governing body to meet its statutory 10% contribution towards building and maintenance projects, with other costs covered by the Diocese.

Any additional funds raised through the School Fund are used to support our pupils directly, including helping to part-fund educational visits and enrichment opportunities, ensuring that all children can take part regardless of personal circumstances.

Choosing a Church of England school involves a shared commitment to its values and community. We are very grateful for the ongoing support which helps us to care for our school buildings and to enhance the experiences we provide for every child.

Passports

Staff are often asked to sign applications for passports on behalf of children. This has become increasingly time consuming and may later involve resolving queries with the passport office. Parents are asked to bear in mind that this is not an entitlement or part of a teacher’s job; it is something teachers do in their own time if they feel it is appropriate.
 
At St Mary’s School it will be the Headteacher who will countersign any application or will give authority to any other teacher in the school to countersign an application. The application form can be found below or a hard copy can be requested from the school office.

Passport Countersigning request form 
 
When countersigning a passport application, we are confirming that:

1. we have known the parent who signed the form (not the child) for at least 2 years
2. the parent is who you say you are
3. everything in the form is true as far as we know

 
For hard copy applications, we will write the following on the back of one photo:
 
‘I certify that this is a true likeness of [title and full name of adult or child who is getting the passport].’
 
We will add a signature and the date under the statement.
 
Please be aware it is a criminal offence to make a false declaration on a passport application and the school reserve the right to not countersign a passport application if we are either too busy or not sure about any information supplied on the form.
 
We will request a £20 contribution to the school for each passport application.