‘Cashless 2023’: Gold Coast High School’s concerning move

A public school is going cashless at the canteen - forcing students to have eftpos and debit cards. Read why parents say they are not fans.

A Gold Coast school has cut cash – forcing students to use EFTPOS or pre-loaded ID cards to purchase food or uniform items on campus.

Helensvale State High School is no longer accepting cash at their canteen, uniform shop or finance office.

Helensvale High State School's new building. Picture: Jerad Williams

While the school’s “Cashless 2023” initiative was announced to the school community late last year, some parents say it has so far been a source of frustration.

Parent Kimbra Telfer said she was “annoyed” by the school’s decision to go card only.

“My child is only in Year 8 and has no access to an EFTPOS card,” she said.

“He loses everything – he’s lost his wallet, his keys – there is no way he could be trusted with an EFTPOS card.”

Ms Kimbra said the canteen changes has seen a worrying trend emerging within the student body as kids increasingly opted to leave school grounds – with or without permission – to buy food.

“The children from the school now go across to the 7/11 to get lunch instead of the canteen purely for the fact the canteen won’t accept cash,” she said.

Helensvale State High School was contacted for comment but declined to respond.

According to school policy, students are expressly forbidden to leave school grounds without parental supervision or prior school approval.

“Students must never leave school grounds without a parent present and without signing out formally through Student Hub,” the policy states.

The Queensland Department of Education said while it is “responsive to emerging local community issues”, concerned parents should talk directly to kids about their spending habits.

“If parents are concerned about the type of food and drinks their children are purchasing externally and bringing to school, they are encouraged to talk with their children directly,” they said.

“And where appropriate raise this with the school principal.”

The Department said it supports schools and P&Cs who choose to use online ordering, adding a number of school canteens offer multiple payment options including online ordering, cash, EFT and pre-loaded student cards.

Helensvale High’s “Cashless 2023” move was announced November last year in a newsletter to parents.

“Our school is moving towards becoming cashless in 2023,” the school announced.

The school has partnered with FlexiSchools – a cashless canteen app. It services 400 schools and 70,000 students nationwide.

Using the app, parents can place lunch orders until 9.30am. However, a system crash earlier this year left users unable to place orders.

Cashless canteens became a popular alternative during the Covid-19 pandemic in a bid to maintain social distancing.

But more schools are taking up the cashless system post-pandemic.

The school also has online parent-teacher interviews, it announced in an email to parents on April 24: “Due to the Covid-19 situation, we have made the decision to conduct online parent-teacher interviews in place of our face-to-face parent teacher interviews.”

The World Health Organisation announced Covid was no longer a health emergency on May 5.

Ms Telfer said many parents didn’t have computers for online interviews.

“That’s why families hire computers through school for their children,” she said.

“It seems Covid is their reasoning for the school going cashless and the online interviews.”