Arbor Education

What Arbor Education does

Arbor Education Partners Limited is a UK-based cloud software company that provides a School Management Information System (MIS) and adjacent administrative software to schools, Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs), and Local Authorities. Founded in 2012 by James Weatherill, the company is now a portfolio company of The Key Group following a December 2020 combination that also included the ScholarPack primary MIS brand, making the combined group the UK's largest cloud-based MIS provider serving over 12,000 schools and 850 trusts. The platform is built as an integrated suite anchored on the Arbor MIS as the central hub, with modules covering attendance, behaviour, progress tracking, statutory reporting (including DfE census), communications, parent and student portals, and SMS. Acquired and developed adjunct products extend coverage into HR and payroll (SAMpeople, acquired 2021), timetabling (TimeTabler, acquired 2021), accounting for LA-maintained schools (Arbor Finance), school payments and cashless catering integration (Arbor Payments), workflow automation (Arbor Workflows, launched 2026), and AI-driven admin features (Arbor AI, launched 2025) including the Auto Absence voicemail transcription feature, Ask Arbor natural language Q&A, student summaries, email/letter drafting, formula suggestions, and the Ofsted Inspection Companion.

The business operates a SaaS subscription revenue model with tiered packaging (Core, Comms, Perform for schools; Essentials, Plus, Advanced, Enterprise for MATs) sold through a direct enterprise field-sales motion supported by a 'Book a demo' / 'Request a brochure' funnel. The GTM is complemented by major industry events (notably BETT Stand SJ31), the ArborFest community event, partner channels (60 support partners and 100+ app/integration partners including Microsoft, Google, Power BI, CRB Cunninghams, Civica, Pebble, and Live Register), and distribution leverage from The Key Group's network of 16,000+ UK school leaders and governors. Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed; the company markets a £5,000-per-year cost-savings claim relative to legacy on-premise systems and bundled separate applications. Arbor holds ISO 27001 certification, is GDPR compliant, and is DfE-accredited to hold sensitive information from ASP, with annual penetration testing.

The company's competitive position rests on deep switching costs created by operational embedding of the MIS, a UK education-specific feature set (Ofsted readiness, DfE census, Scottish and Welsh regional variants), an aggregated data asset across 12,000+ schools, and a bundled suite that displaces multiple standalone point solutions. Growth has been driven by aggressive product launches (Arbor AI in 2025 and Arbor Workflows in 2026), two acquisitions (SAMpeople and TimeTabler in 2021), and the structural combination with The Key Group, with the company self-identifying as the fastest-growing cloud MIS in the UK and most-loved MIS for three consecutive years. Revenue is not publicly disclosed, and Arbor remains a privately held UK private limited company headquartered in London.

Name

Arbor Education

Legal name

Arbor Education Partners Limited

Website

https://arbor-education.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Arbor Education provides a cloud-based School Management Information System and integrated administrative suite (HR, finance, payments, timetabling, workflow automation, and AI features) to over 12,000 UK schools, 850+ Multi-Academy Trusts, and Local Authorities, operating as part of The Key Group.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Education Management Software

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), Educational Support Services (6117)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

K–12 SIS & District Administration Platforms (EDAFAEAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Student Information Systems (SIS) & School Administration Platforms (EDAJAMAB)

Keywords

• School management software
• Cloud MIS platform
• Education HR systems
• School finance software
• Timetabling software

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. School MIS Subscription: Arbor operates as a SaaS provider offering cloud-based MIS subscriptions to UK schools, MATs, and Local Authorities. Pricing is tiered based on package levels (Core, Comms, Perform for schools; Essentials, Plus, Advanced, Enterprise for MATs). Schools save up to £5,000 annually compared to legacy systems.
2. Payments Module: Additional payments module (Payments Core and Payments Plus tiers) bundled or added to the core subscription for handling school payments, meals, and shop functionality.
3. SAMpeople HR System: Separate HR management system subscription for schools, used by over 2,300 schools and trusts. Seamlessly integrates with Arbor MIS.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Arbor Education provides a cloud-based School Management Information System (MIS) and integrated School Management Suite for UK schools, Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs), and Local Authorities. The offering covers attendance, behaviour, progress tracking, communications, payments, HR, finance, and timetabling, with AI-powered features such as Auto Absence and Ask Arbor that automate administrative tasks. Arbor monetizes primarily through tiered annual SaaS subscriptions (Core, Comms, Perform for schools; Essentials, Plus, Advanced, Enterprise for MATs) sold via direct enterprise sales and a partner channel.

Product overview

Arbor Education offers the Arbor School Management Suite, a cloud-based platform built around the Arbor MIS as the central hub. The suite integrates specialized modules including Arbor Finance (accounting), SAMpeople (HR), TimeTabler (timetabling), Arbor AI (artificial intelligence features), Arbor Workflows (automation), and Arbor Payments (payments/financial transactions). The core Arbor MIS serves schools of all types: primary, secondary, special schools, APs, PRUs, MATs, and Local Authorities. Products are offered in tiered packages (Core, Comms, Perform for schools; Essentials, Plus, Advanced, Enterprise for MATs). The platform emphasizes integration between modules, cloud-based accessibility, and workload reduction through automation. Arbor serves over 12,000 schools and 850 trusts in the UK, making it the country's most popular cloud MIS.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SAMpeople: The UK's fastest-growing education HR system, transforming HR, recruitment and payroll for schools and trusts.
• Arbor Finance
• Arbor Workflows
• Arbor AI
• Arbor Payments

Products and services

• Arbor School MIS Central cloud-based Management Information System for UK schools of all sizes and phases covering attendance, behaviour, progress tracking, census, statutory reporting, clubs, trips, staff cover, report cards, custom reports, emails and SMS.
• Arbor MAT MIS Multi-Academy Trust MIS providing centralized dashboards and trust-level management tools including custom report writer, live feeds, MAT staff records, single central record, BI Connector, and workflow pushdown for managing multiple academies as one organization.
• Arbor Local Authority MIS MIS designed for Local Authority management of maintained schools within their jurisdiction, providing coordinated data and reporting across the LA school network.
• Arbor Finance Simple accounting software for LA maintained schools with automated reconciliation, cash flow tracking, smart invoices, purchase orders, statutory reports (CFR), custom reports, and eSignature approvals.
• SAMpeople Education HR system transforming HR, recruitment, and payroll for schools and trusts. Features case management, absence management, employee portal (MySAM), performance management, contract builder, policy compliance, training/CPD, payroll export, and org charts.
• TimeTabler UK's leading timetabling software for schools, integrated with the Arbor ecosystem for seamless scheduling and resource management.
• Arbor AI AI-powered suite of features including Ask Arbor (natural language Q&A on school data), Auto Absence (voicemail transcription and logging), instant student summaries, email/letter drafting with translation, formula suggestions, and Ofsted Inspection Companion.
• Arbor Workflows Workflow automation tool with drag-and-drop builder and pre-built templates that converts manual school processes (student admissions, staff onboarding, exclusions, EHCP reviews, health & safety audits, policy sign-off) into automatic actions.
• Arbor Payments School payments system with trips and clubs payments, meal management, cashless catering integration, school shop, Apple Pay/Google Pay, and parent portal integration for school payments.

Quantifiable outcome

• Schools save 117+ minutes per staff member per week
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration9 records

AI capability8 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• ScholarPackcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2020ScholarPack is a specialist Primary school MIS owned by The Key Group. Combined with Arbor, this makes The Key Group the UK's largest cloud-based MIS provider serving over 12,000 schools. Both platforms continue to be run separately with increased investment in both.
• The Key GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerArbor is part of The Key Group, a major education services company. The Key provides sector intelligence and resources to school leaders. This partnership gives Arbor access to over 16,000 school leaders and governors and additional investment for growth.
• ScholarPack, Integris, GovernorHub, The KeycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerArbor is part of the same group of companies as ScholarPack and Integris (both offering management information systems to schools), GovernorHub (online resources to school governors), and The Key (sector intelligence and resources). These sister companies serve the education sector together.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• PowerSchool: PowerSchool is the largest global K-12 SIS and edtech provider, serving North American districts and increasingly international markets. Comparable on product category and target customer (K-12 schools/MATs) but at far greater global scale.
• Veracross: Veracross is a cloud SIS for independent schools with modules spanning admissions, academics, and development. Comparable in K-12 SIS product category and SaaS delivery, focused on a different sub-segment (independent schools).

Direct peers

• Bromcom: Bromcom is a UK-based cloud MIS competing directly with Arbor for school and MAT contracts, offering similar modules for attendance, behaviour, assessment, and reporting across primary, secondary, and MAT segments.
• Integris: Integris is another UK school MIS within The Key Group portfolio, with strong presence in Welsh schools. It competes in the same product category with overlapping school administration, reporting, and statutory functionality.
• SIMS (Capita): SIMS is the historically dominant UK K-12 school MIS provider operated by Capita, serving a large share of maintained schools and academies. It is Arbor's principal direct competitor in the same product category serving the same UK schools, with overlapping attendance, behaviour, reporting, and statutory functionality.
• iSAMS: iSAMS is a UK-based cloud MIS focused primarily on independent schools, providing admissions, academic reporting, and pastoral management. It is directly comparable on product category, serving UK schools with similar MIS functionality but a different sub-segment.
• ScholarPack: ScholarPack is a specialist UK primary school MIS owned by The Key Group alongside Arbor, serving 1,500+ primary schools. It is a sister brand but a direct peer in product category, serving the same primary-segment customers with overlapping MIS functionality.
• RM Education (RM plc): RM Education is a long-standing UK education technology provider offering MIS-adjacent and infrastructure solutions to schools and MATs. It overlaps with Arbor on the IT/management side of UK schools though with a broader portfolio focus.

Emerging players

• Groupcall: Groupcall provides UK school data management, MIS integration, and safeguarding tools with deep integrations into existing MIS platforms including Arbor and SIMS. It is comparable as an adjacent UK K-12 data/operations player in the same buyer ecosystem.
• ParentPay: ParentPay is the UK's leading school payments and communication platform, increasingly overlapping with Arbor's Payments and communications modules. It is comparable in product surface area though narrower in scope.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/arboredu
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/2649296
• Facebookfacebook.com/ArborEducation

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds6 records

Investors5 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Arbor Education