Back to General information

Making payments using School Gateway

Schoolgateway is the preferred method of payment for school lunches, trips, activities and other items for children at The Commonweal School. All parents must have an e-mail address and mobile phone number registered with the school to use this system.

To activate your School Gateway account, go to www.schoolgateway.com and register as a New User with the e-mail address and mobile phone registered with the school. A smart phone app (Android & Apple iOS) is also available that can be downloaded and installed.

Schoolgateway is not just limited to making payments, it’s an online parent portal that currently enables parents to:

View and update contact information
View attendance and explain any unauthorised absences
View student timetables
Show school details
Send messages to the school
Receive messages directly from the school
Make payments for school lunches and view purchases
Make payments for school trips, items and other activities

Parents can access Schoolgateway online (www.schoolgateway.com) or via the app 24/7 which is available for both Apple and Android devices.

Using the Schoolgateway App can save the school money as urgent messages are sent via the App instead of SMS Text Messages. The more parents using the App the more money the school can save.

Other features are due to be added very soon including the ability to view achievements (house points) and assessment data (school reports) .

Frequently Asked Questions

I’ve added money to School Lunches but the balance has not updated yet, how long does it take?
Schoolgateway will not reflect the school lunch balance until it has been acknowledged on the canteen till system. This usually happens within minutes, but can take up to 20 minutes.
What is the minimum amount I can pay on the school lunch balance?
The canteen company have set the minimum amount that can be added online to £5, this is due to the charges made by banks for card transaction fees.
How much does the App cost?
It’s free! No charge!
I’ve sent a message to the school via the App, how long until I expect a reply?
The messages received via Schoolgateway to the school are monitored by a number of staff from different departments who will act upon messages relating to their area of authority. These messages may then be passed onto a tutor or Head of House if necessary. Time taken will depend on workloads and what action is needed, but rest assured all messages received will be acted upon.
Schoolgateway is informing me that my child has unexplained absences but they were either in school or the school was informed of this absence. Why is this information showing?
Sometimes a register may have been missed because a child was out of the lesson for a legitimate reason and this information has not yet been fed back to the Attendance Manager. All unauthorised absences are investigated which can take time, but please feel free to use the App to explain the absence if appropriate or raise a concern where it will be looked into and updated if necessary.
How often is this information updated?
During term time, an import is usually run first thing before morning registration and sometimes again in the afternoon if we need to update or correct any data. School lunch information (balances and items purchased) usually update within minutes of the transaction occurring.
My contact information is not correct, who do I contact?
If the information shown within the App is not correct (ie. Contact Details) please use the message function to send the school a message. A member of staff will contact you once the changes have been made. If you can’t use the App or website, contact the school either via phone (01793 612727) or via e-mail (admin@commonweal.co.uk). This has been one of the greatest benefits of Schoolgateway as it allows the information we hold to be visible to parents directly so any errors, changes, etc can be made.
The Schoolgateway app has not updated any balances recently and I made an online payment sometime ago.
We have noticed on some occasions the App does need to be re-installed if it doesn’t appear to be updating correctly. Check to see if balances on the Schoolgateway Website (login.schoolgateway.com) differ to those shown in the App. If they do not tally (the website will be the most up to date version), try removing and reinstalling the App on your phone.
I can’t get registered; the Website / App gives a Registration Error stating my e-mail address and phone number combination does not match any of our schools.
Contact the school to check that we have the most up to date e-mail address and mobile phone number for you registered. Once corrected we will need to do an import before you can register; you will be advised when that will occur (usually within 24 hours).
I’ve registered correctly but I am only seeing very limited information about my children at the school and I can’t make any payments.
We import the data for the two main contacts (Priority 1 & 2) from our database into Schoolgateway and only these two contacts can register. However, in some cases Contact No. 2 may not be listed as ‘having parental responsibility’ which then limits the data that can be viewed. If you feel this is incorrect or feel you need to see this information then please contact the school.
I don’t want to use Schoolgateway, will I still receive important messages and how can I pay for items?
Any e-mail addresses registered with the school will still receive e-mails from the school regardless of being registered with Schoolgateway or not. Parents that don’t have an e-mail address registered will still receive letters home via their children as before but e-mail is the preferred method as it saves the school money and time.
I’m not receiving e-mails from the school
Check your Spam/Junk folder as we find that sometimes our messages may be directed here by your e-mail provider. To ensure this doesn’t happen, please add the e-mail address: SC8665410a@schoolcomms.com as a contact/safe sender.
I can see the payment items within SchoolGateway but I can’t make a payment.
This happens when your e-mail address may be invalid or e-mails to your address have bounced several times. The system won’t accept payments if it can’t send a receipt to a valid e-mail address. This also occurs when messages sent from the school have been flagged as spam by yourself or your e-mail provider inadvertently. We will then have to manually re-enable your e-mail address but only after the appropriate actions have been done to rectify the initial problem. Contact the school to help resolve this issue.