When Virginia Saunders joined Alfred Sutton Primary School in Reading, she was new to EVOLVE and still finding her feet with trip management, payments and consent processes. What began as a steep learning curve quickly turned into a positive transformation thanks to EVOLVE’s intuitive design and exceptional support team.
The Challenge
Before adopting EVOLVE for visits and payments, the school relied on Tucasi. While functional, it didn’t offer the unified experience the school needed. Managing trips, payments and communication across separate systems created unnecessary complexity for both staff and parents.
As a new user, Virginia initially struggled with setting up trips, managing consent forms and even accidentally creating duplicate bookings. It was clear that a more streamlined, user‑friendly solution was needed.
Why EVOLVE?
The school chose EVOLVE with a clear goal: to bring trips, payments and communication together in one place.
The hope was to create a smoother experience for staff and parents, reduce administrative errors and modernise the school’s approach to managing activities.
Advantages of EVOLVE
From the outset, several benefits stood out:
Paperless Processes
- No more paper consent forms
- Parents can access everything digitally, quickly and securely
Ease of Use
- Simple, intuitive workflows
- Clear setup for trips, payments, and communication
- A system that grows more familiar and efficient with daily use
Support That Makes a Difference
Virginia highlighted the support team as a major strength:
“Fantastic, wonderful and amazing! I could not praise your support team enough.”
The team guided her through early challenges, helped resolve issues calmly and professionally, and ensured she felt confident using the system.
Implementation and Roll‑Out
Because staff were already using EVOLVE to register trips, the transition was smooth. The main change was expanding usage to include payments and consent forms.
Parents initially hesitated due to the provider change, and some emails landed in junk folders because they were sent via Reading Borough Council. Once this was resolved, parent engagement improved significantly.
A Cash‑Free System
EVOLVEpay has allowed the school to eliminate cash handling entirely, removing the risk of misplaced payments and reducing administrative burden.
Positive Staff and Parent Feedback
- Staff report successful experiences across the board
- Parents appreciate the convenience once they adjusted to the new system
Growing Confidence
As Virginia continues to use EVOLVE, she discovers new benefits daily:
“I am still new to everything and enjoying learning its benefits every day.”
Support That Stands Out
The EVOLVE support team played a crucial role in the school’s successful adoption. Virginia emphasised their professionalism, patience and ability to explain solutions clearly, always ensuring she felt supported, never judged.
Recommendation
Virginia’s message to other schools considering EVOLVE is simple and enthusiastic: “Do it!”