Pebble powers up efficiency for Primary Education

Since 2013, Primary Education has been delivering quality PE sessions in schools across Essex and Hertfordshire. “We work with primary and secondary schools, running after-school and extracurricular sessions for them,” says Michael Richardson, the company’s Managing Director. 

“We believe in the power of sport to teach kids much more than physical skills — it’s about time management, organisation, discipline, teamwork. Our coaches help them develop the soft skills that will help them when they step into the world as adults, too.”

Creating positive PE experiences

“I founded Primary Education because of my own experiences as a kid, and later as an athlete and teacher,” Michael explains. “I’m one of four siblings and was fortunate to have a good family support network growing up, so my parents would take us to classes as kids. But when I worked in inner-London schools it was clear not every child has that luxury, where their parents have the money, time or knowledge to do that.”

For Michael, getting kids into sports — and feeling everything it can do for their physical and mental wellness — comes down to early experiences. “For lots of kids, that’s PE at school,” he says. “But we don’t just teach the younger years. We work with their teachers for training and CPD, and support senior PE staff with curriculum planning. We also mentor disengaged students in secondary schools, using sport as a vehicle to get them back into the school timetable.”

No more clunky platforms

Primary Education started using Pebble in September 2024 — and it’s made a welcome change. “We had other platforms before and they’re just rubbish! The user experience was really difficult; it was hard for parents to find what they needed, book it and pay for it. And they’re pressed for time, so that’s the worst,” Michael recalls. 

But things are different with Pebble: “We haven’t had a single issue with parents booking on Pebble. It’s saving us time as a business and that means it’s saving us money, too, because we can spend that time working on other things.”

Easier bookings get more kids into sport

Great booking experience for parents

With Pebble, all the hassle parents had with the other platforms Primary Education tried has disappeared. 

Custom discount codes

“We can create 100% discount codes so parents can register their kids with Pupil Premium. With previous platforms, that’s been the worst process, but it’s seamless with Pebble,” Michael says. 

Colour-coded overviews for spots filled

Michael’s team can see green, yellow and red colour-coding across their activities, which tells them where to focus their efforts. If sign-ups are low for a session or school, they can figure out the fix: nudging staff to promote the club or perhaps changing the activity for that school.

Easy duplication

“We run multiple clubs at several schools, so cloning the sessions saves our team time,” Michael explains. They just have to create one, duplicate it and make any tweaks needed. Sorted. 

“For our type of business, Pebble is the easiest platform we’ve found. I’d definitely recommend it to others out there,” Michael shares. 

To learn more about Pebble’s award-winning management software for children's activity providers, click here.