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Arbor MIS

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What is Arbor MIS

Arbor MIS is a cloud-based management information system used by schools to manage student records and day-to-day administration. It supports core SIS functions such as admissions/enrolment, attendance, behavior, assessment/grades, timetabling, and statutory reporting, with portals for staff, students, and parents. The product is primarily used by K–12 schools and multi-academy trusts, with a focus on UK school workflows and reporting requirements.

pros

UK school workflow alignment

Arbor MIS is designed around common UK school processes such as census/returns, attendance codes, and safeguarding-related record keeping. This reduces the amount of configuration typically required compared with more globally oriented SIS platforms. It also supports trust-level oversight for organizations managing multiple schools.

Integrated MIS and reporting

The platform combines student data management with reporting and analytics in the same system. This can reduce reliance on separate reporting tools and manual spreadsheet consolidation for routine operational reporting. Centralized data also helps standardize definitions and metrics across schools within a trust.

Role-based portals and access

Arbor MIS provides role-based access for administrators, teachers, students, and parents. This supports self-service workflows such as viewing attendance, behavior, and assessment information without exporting data. Role-based permissions help schools control access to sensitive student information.

cons

Region-specific fit

Arbor MIS is strongly oriented to UK regulatory and operational requirements. Schools outside the UK may find gaps in local compliance reporting, grading schemes, and integrations expected in their region. Organizations with mixed-region operations may need additional systems or custom processes.

Integration ecosystem variability

SIS deployments often depend on integrations with learning platforms, identity providers, payments, communications, and assessment tools. Compared with some large SIS vendors, the breadth of prebuilt integrations and third-party marketplace options may be more limited or more UK-centric. This can increase implementation effort where a district requires many specialized integrations.

Change management and data migration

Moving from an incumbent MIS to Arbor MIS typically requires data cleansing, mapping, and validation across attendance, assessment, behavior, and historical records. Schools may need time to retrain staff and adjust established processes to Arbor’s data model and workflows. These factors can extend rollout timelines, especially for multi-school trusts.

Plan & Pricing

Plan Price Key features & notes
Core Not publicly listed — contact Arbor Partnership/Customersales Attendance, Behaviour, Progress Tracking, Census & statutory reporting, Student & Staff Profiles, Emails, Clubs & Trips, Staff Cover, Custom Report Writer, Student Report Cards, Send SMS. (Arbor product pages indicate packages but do not publish list prices.)
Comms Not publicly listed — contact Arbor Partnership/Customersales Everything in Core, plus Parent Portal, Arbor Parent App, Payments for clubs/meals/trips, Meal Management, Parents Evening Booking, Student Portal, Custom Report Cards, Custom Behaviour Workflows.
Perform Not publicly listed — contact Arbor Partnership/Customersales Everything in Core and Comms, plus Payments Plus, Staff Performance, My Classroom, Intervention Tracking, Formative Assessments.

Add-ons / usage-based (official site shows published prices for some add-ons):

Arbor AI (add-on subscription if you exceed free monthly AI allowance): Pricing model: Tiered annual subscription (buyable when free monthly allowance is exhausted). Published prices (Arbor Help Centre): Small School Subscription – £150 (annual); Standard School Subscription – £500 (annual); Large School Subscription – £1,000 (annual). (Arbor also provides a built-in Monthly Free Allowance for standard Arbor AI features.)

SMS top-ups / SMS Subscription (usage-based): Pricing model: Prepaid SMS bundles / top-ups (annual subscription / bundle pricing shown). Example costs (published on Arbor Help Centre): 1,000 credits – £59; 10,000 – £590 (example top-up); 50,000 – £2,590 (example top-up). The Help Centre also lists a full table of SMS credit limits and annual prices (e.g., 5,000 – £250; 10,000 – £490; 20,000 – £940; … up to 240,000 – £7,740). Note: some SMS bundle pricing may vary by contract and appears in the MIS when purchasing.

Auto Absence (AI feature / add-on): Pricing model: Annual subscription, charged per school. Arbor Help Centre describes Auto Absence as an additional-cost add-on and states it is an annual subscription per school; no specific public price is published on the Auto Absence FAQ page (the page states you should contact customersales@arbor-education.com and register interest). The page also states a trial is not available for Auto Absence due to setup requirements.

Notes & sourcing: Core Arbor MIS licence is described in the vendor Guide to Billing as being composed of a per-school base fee (by phase) plus a per-pupil fee that varies by package and pupil numbers; the Guide to Billing and product pages do not publish a public per-pupil or per-school numeric price — customers are asked to contact Arbor Partnership/Customer Sales and book a demo.

Seller details

Arbor Education Partners Limited
London, United Kingdom
2011
Private
https://www.arbor-education.com/
https://x.com/arbor_edu
https://www.linkedin.com/company/arbor-education/

Tools by Arbor Education Partners Limited

Arbor MIS

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