Digital cards for school communities, minus the paper.

What is a digital card for a school?

A digital card for a school is a pass in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet that a parent, volunteer or community member adds to their phone. It is not a student ID. Typical uses are a P&C or parents' association membership, a volunteer pass, an open-day or fete ticket, and a canteen or uniform shop loyalty card. The school or association updates the pass after it is issued.

How it works at a primary or secondary school

• Issue: send the signup link in the school newsletter or on the P&C page, or print the QR code on the permission note or the uniform shop counter. Parents add the pass in two taps, and no app is needed.
• Check-in: at the fete gate, the open-day desk or the uniform shop, volunteers scan the pass using the dashboard's Scan page on a phone, or search by name or phone. Use an event ticket pass for a one-off day and a membership card for a year-long group.
• Update: renew the P&C membership by moving the expiry date, or set the status to expired when a family leaves the school. A stamp card can run a canteen or uniform shop reward.
• Push: remind installed passes of a working bee, a changed event time or the AGM. You write and send each message, and it reaches only the people who added the pass.

Children's information and privacy

Keep the signup form short and collect from adults, not from children. Do not put student names, class lists or health information on a pass. Read the data protection page, and take your own advice on the Australian Privacy Principles and your education department's rules before you collect any personal information.

Wallet pass, app or paper?

Schools already have a communication app and a paper permission note for every event. A wallet pass is not a replacement for either. It is a card for the groups and events that sit around the school day, and it fits the phone parents are already holding at the gate. For universities and training providers, see education.

A year in the life of a school pass

• Term one: open the P&C membership and send the link in the first newsletter.
• Term two: issue event passes for the fete or the trivia night and scan them at the gate.
• Term three: remind members of the AGM and update the pass with the new date if it moves.
• Term four: run a volunteer pass for the end-of-year events, and let memberships expire at the end of the year.

The same pass can be reused from year to year by moving the expiry date, so parents of continuing students do not need to add a new one.