School case study

The school

Overnewton Anglican Community College was founded by a group of parents and local residents passionate about quality education and who wanted to create a diverse, close-knit community.

The College centres its focus on a holistic education that develops the character of young people and provides them with a vast range of experiences outside of the classroom, combined with quality learning outcomes to help prepare them for their future.

Overnewton prides itself on its thriving and diverse community that continues to grow due to unique offerings such as parent involvement in the school, exceptional staff and programs on offer nurturing connection and supporting the wellbeing and development of students.

The partnership

With families at the school ranging from double income professional families to single parents, recent migrants to Australia and everything in between, the College understands members of their community are facing different circumstances with household budgeting. Particularly in recent years the financial landscape has shifted for families. The COVID-19 pandemic and increased cost of living have hit some families hard, especially many of the proud, hard-working small and medium business owners that the school counts as part of their community.

Demand for tailored payment arrangements was increasing, and they wanted to find a way to help families smooth their payments. However continuing to offer these arrangements themselves was stretching resources - it was manual and resource intensive, and created complexity in the finance team's processes.

The College knew they needed a system that would reduce the heavy admin workload, remove complexity and optimise their operations. Equally as important they wanted to work with an organisation they could trust, and one that their families could pick up the phone and talk to about financial circumstances.

The partnership between Overnewton Anglican Community College and Edstart was built on the shared passion for personalised care, and expert solutions based on trust for families when paying their school fees. Edstart understood the priorities for the college and how streamlining their operations would help deliver better efficiencies so they could focus on their core business of education and the wellbeing and development of young people.

The Edstart team worked closely with Overnewton during implementation, assisting with change management and ensuring key goals were delivered. Edstart continues to work in partnership with Overnewton to ensure their finance team is being supported and their community is being cared for.

The results

Overnewton quickly saw the benefits of partnering with Edstart. Streamlining their operations has relieved the finance team of a heavy workload, giving them capacity to focus on key areas of their business they previously lacked the time for.

Having easy access and visibility into the status of their families' accounts via the Edstart Plus Portal has enabled them to take a proactive approach to communicating with families who need help to stay up to date or are struggling with payments.

Overnewton's key priority was to maintain and elevate the care their school community receives. The Edstart Family Support Team has provided peace of mind to both Overnewton and their families when discussing and managing payments. Families have been thrilled with the options they are offered through Edstart Plus, and find it simple to use with the added bonus of being able to add extra charges, like music or extra curricular.

From a planning perspective, the college has been able to utilise the guaranteed upfront payments, which has aided in budgeting and allocation finances for future projects.

Edstart Plus has strengthened Overnewton's finance function by making fee management simple, while retaining visibility for the finance team to ensure they are enhancing their relationships proactively with families. The Edstart Family Support Team continues to deliver each family with personalised care while managing individual payment plans, allowing Overnewton to focus on their core business of education.