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Customer Stories
How MagicBooking Helped Chestnuts Primary School Simplify Clubs & Track Debt (North London)
I think we would really struggle to manage our numbers — we’ve massively grown in the last couple of years. So having MagicBooking has allowed that to happen. – Katie, Headteacher, Chestnuts Primary School
3 min readMeet Chestnuts Primary School
Katie has been headteacher at Chestnuts Primary School for nine years. Like many busy primary schools, Chestnuts runs an extensive range of enrichment clubs, breakfast and after-school clubs, holiday play schemes, and school trips – all on top of the day-to-day running of the school.
Before MagicBooking, keeping on top of all of it meant juggling a mismatch of separate systems that weren’t built to work together.
Challenges
Chestnuts Primary School was relying on a combination of paper registers, an outdated finance system, and a booking process that couldn’t keep up with the school’s growing range of clubs.
“We had a mismatch of lots of different systems – teachers keeping registers that we had to hold ourselves, and on the finance side, we had ParentPay, which felt outdated. We have a really extensive range of enrichment clubs, and trying to collate that was really difficult before. Plus our system kept crashing at sign-on time.” – Katie, Headteacher, Chestnuts Primary School
Key Issues
- A mismatch of disconnected systems for registers, finance, and bookings
- Teachers manually keeping and holding their own paper registers
- An outdated finance system (ParentPay) that no longer met the school’s needs
- Difficulty collating bookings across an extensive range of enrichment clubs
- A booking system that regularly crashed at sign-on time
- Holiday play scheme bookings for families outside the school handled by phone call and manual form
Solution: MagicBooking’s School Booking System
Chestnuts moved to MagicBooking to bring registers, finance, and bookings for every club and activity into a single school booking system.
The switch was straightforward from day one, with minimal training required.
“The transition to MagicBooking was so easy because it’s quite easy to use. It’s simple to work out on your own. I don’t have to have too much training, which saves me time.” – Katie, Headteacher, Chestnuts Primary School
Key Features of MagicBooking’s School Booking System
- Centralised finance tracking, giving leadership clear visibility over debt
- Clear tracking of which children are and aren’t accessing clubs
- Breakfast clubs, after-school clubs, holiday play schemes, and school trips all managed through one booking system
- Online booking for holiday play schemes, open to families outside the school
- Simple setup for new clubs and activities
Impact
Since implementing MagicBooking, Chestnuts Primary School has gained financial oversight, simplified club bookings, and been able to grow its provision with confidence.
Clear Financial Oversight & Debt Tracking
As headteacher, Katie now has direct visibility over the school’s finances – and can act early where families need support.
“For me, as a headteacher, to look at the finance side of things, [I can] see where debt is [building], and then approach those families where we might need some kind of debt recovery plan, or [where they] might be financially struggling. That’s been nice for me as a head.” – Katie, Headteacher, Chestnuts Primary School
Clearer Visibility Over Club Access
MagicBooking has also given Chestnuts a clear picture of which children are engaging with clubs – and where more support might be needed.
“It’s very easy for me to see, and I’m able to clearly see which children are accessing clubs and track who is and who’s not, and how we can make it more available for children that aren’t.” – Katie, Headteacher, Chestnuts Primary School
One Clear System for Every Club and Trip
From day-to-day clubs to one-off trips, everything now runs through a single, easy-to-use system.
“Clearer systems for booking everything – so trips are in there. It’s a good system, it works well, the functionality is good, it’s easy to use. Breakfast and after-school clubs are in there, holiday play schemes are in there, which means that people from outside of Chestnuts can also book onto the holiday play scheme, which previously they had to go through a phone call and then a manual form. And also being able to set things up really simply on there.” – Katie, Headteacher, Chestnuts Primary School
Supporting Growth in Provision
As demand for Chestnuts’ provision has grown, MagicBooking has scaled alongside it – something Katie is confident wouldn’t have been possible with the school’s old systems.
“I think we would really struggle to manage our numbers – it’s massively grown in the last couple of years. So having MagicBooking has allowed that to happen. I think on some days we have nearly a hundred children in our provision, and I think we wouldn’t manage that if we didn’t have a system like MagicBooking.” – Katie, Headteacher, Chestnuts Primary School
The Final Word
Katie’s advice to other schools considering MagicBooking is short and direct.
“I would probably say just go for it – it’s a system that works seamlessly.” – Katie, Headteacher, Chestnuts Primary School
Ready to Bring Your School’s Clubs, Trips & Finances Into One System?
If you’re managing clubs, trips, and finances across a mismatch of systems, chasing paper registers, or turning families away from your holiday play scheme because booking is too manual, it doesn’t have to stay that way.
Book a free MagicBooking demo and see how our school booking system could give your leadership team clear financial oversight, simplify every club and trip, and help your school’s provision grow with confidence.
No pressure. No obligation. Just see how much simpler your school’s admin could be.
