For school heads, owners and boards
Fees, learners, records and parents: one clear picture for the people who run the school.
Milestonecraft helps independent, trust, church and group owned schools in Zimbabwe get fees, admissions, learner records and compliance working as one system, with the school keeping ownership of its own information. Start with a free fifteen minute health check and receive a written report within five working days.
Start the free health check Book a conversation
We take no commission from any software vendor. Our advice is paid for by schools, which is why it stays independent.
What heads and bursars tell us
Six things that cost a school money and sleep
Every one of these is a workflow and information problem. That is the kind of problem we fix.
Fee arrears nobody can see in time
Receipt books, a spreadsheet and the bank statement each tell a slightly different story, so the true arrears figure appears weeks after the term starts.
Enquiries that go cold
Parents message on WhatsApp, phone the office and walk in. Some are answered the same day, some are forgotten, and nobody knows how many became enrolments.
Registers that will not survive an inspection
Statutory Instrument 13 of 2025 expects proper admission, attendance and staff registers. Many schools hold them in three places, each slightly out of date.
ZIMSEC windows that arrive all at once
Examination registration, timetable changes and staff gaps land in the same weeks, and each one is rebuilt by hand from the same learner list.
Welfare files anyone can open
The Cyber and Data Protection Act expects named access to sensitive records. A shared office password or a cupboard of paper files is the usual reality.
Software that owns the school
The vendor holds the data, the price rises each year, and switching would mean starting again. The school stops being able to choose.
Three ways to work with us
Start free. Go further only when it earns its place.
Each step stands on its own. Most schools begin with the health check and decide from there.
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School Operations Health Check
Twelve plain questions across fees, admissions, records, parents, examinations and data protection. You see your score at once. We then write you a short report that names the two or three things worth fixing first, in order, with no obligation.
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Independent Systems Review
We look at how fees, admissions, registers, examinations and parent communication actually run in your school, interview the people who do the work, and return a plain language report, a twelve month roadmap, and a shortlist of systems that fit your size and budget. The shortlist is yours to use with any vendor. We earn nothing from the choice you make.
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Founding Schools Programme
For heads and owners who want a system shaped around how their school runs. Founding schools co-design two purpose built workspaces with us, an admissions front door and a casework and compliance workspace, and use them at a founding rate in return for candid feedback.
Step 1 · Free
School Operations Health Check
Twelve questions, about fifteen minutes. Pick the answer closest to how things are today, honestly, since the score is for you. You will see your result as soon as you submit, and a short written report follows within five working days.
Step 3
Founding Schools Programme
Most school software is built once and sold to everyone. We are building two workspaces the other way round, with a small first cohort of schools shaping them around how a school in Zimbabwe actually runs.
An admissions front door
Every enquiry, from WhatsApp, phone, email or the gate, is logged in one place, answered quickly, followed up until there is a decision, and turned into an enrolment with the first receipt issued on the spot. The head sees how many enquiries became learners, and what each one cost to win.
A casework and compliance workspace
Safeguarding concerns, discipline, bursary and BEAM eligibility, inspections and the registers Statutory Instrument 13 of 2025 expects, each handled as a case with named access, a clear next step and a record of who did what. Sensitive files stay closed to everyone who has no reason to open them.
What founding schools get
- A founding rate, held for three years, in writing
- A seat at the design table, so the workspaces fit your school and your terms
- Your data stays yours, with a tested export you can take to any other system
- First call on new features, and a named person to speak to
What we ask in return
- One named contact at the school, usually the bursar or deputy head
- About two hours a month to review what we have built and tell us plainly what is wrong with it
- Permission to describe the work, with the school name only where you agree
Both workspaces are in build today. Founding schools join before launch, which is exactly why the founding rate exists. If you would rather wait for a finished product, the Independent Systems Review will still give you a shortlist of systems you can buy now.
Why a school can trust the advice
Independent, specific, and built for the size of one school
Independent of every vendor
We sell advice and we build for founding schools. We take no commission or referral fee from any software company, so a shortlist from us has nothing hidden in it.
We know the system your school sits in
We have published six independent perspectives on how national programmes, EMIS, BEAM, ZIMSEC and the ICT in Education Strategy reach the classroom. That is the environment your returns, inspections and registrations come from.
Enterprise architecture, applied to a school office
The same discipline used on national health and regulated data platforms, applied to the fees desk, the admissions book and the welfare file. Big system thinking, sized for one school.
On site when it matters
The health check and most of the review run over calls, documents and screen sharing. On site days are reserved for the milestones where being in the room changes the outcome.
Working at ministry, province or partner level? Read the six policy perspectives.
Steps 2 and 3
Book a conversation
Thirty minutes, no obligation, over a call or WhatsApp. We reply within one working day to agree a time.
Take it with you
Three short briefs for the board, the bursar or a WhatsApp group
Two pages each, written to be forwarded. One per offer, so the person who holds the budget can read what is on the table in five minutes.
Step 1
School Operations Health Check: what it covers and what you get back
Two pages. The six areas, how the score reads, what the written report contains, and what we do with your answers.
Step 2
Independent Systems Review: five days to a plain answer
Two pages. Why a school needs an independent view, what you receive on day five, how the fee is set, and the five days in order.
Step 3
Founding Schools Programme
Two pages. The two workspaces, what founding schools get and give, how the first year runs, and who it suits.
Prefer to just talk?
A WhatsApp message or an email is enough. Tell us the name of the school and the one thing that is costing you the most time this term, and we will reply within one working day.
Milestonecraft Investments Pvt Ltd
61 Central Avenue, Harare · 0789355510 (WhatsApp) · info@milestonecraft.co.zw
Perspectives for policy and partners