Term-start checklist for principals: ten things to set before the first bell

Nobody remembers a term that started well. They remember the one where report cards went out with last year's term dates, or the first fee reminder went to a family who had already left. Both are a setting someone meant to change in August.

The problem in a Belize school day

August at a small school is admissions, uniforms and a leaking roof. The software is the last thing on the list, which is why the settings that drive the whole term tend to be checked in the first week of September, by the teacher who notices something is wrong. The fix is to do the settings in the right order, once, in the quiet week before.

Here is the order, with the screens.

The ten settings

1. The school year and its terms. Under Settings → Academic, confirm the current year exists with its start and end dates, and that the three terms have the right dates. Term dates drive attendance totals and which term a report card belongs to. If the year is new, add it and mark it current.

2. Levels. Same tab. Pre School, Infant 1, Infant 2, Standard 1 to 6 are seeded; rename or reorder only if your school is different. Every class points at a level, and every fee does too.

3. Subjects. Still under Academic. The standard seven are there; add anything your school teaches that is not.

4. Grading weights. Under Settings → Grading, set what each kind of work is worth: Test, Exam, Quiz, Homework and so on. The weights must total 100%, and the line under the list turns green when they do. Press Save types & weights. Any subject that should differ, say PE at Homework 80, gets its own split under Weights per subject. Decide this before a single mark is entered, not when report cards are due.

5. Fees. Under Settings → Fees, one row per level and payment schedule: pick the level (or all levels), the Payment schedule and the Amount per invoice, then press Add fee. If you offer quarterly or annual payment, each needs its own price; Scholar does not multiply the monthly one.

6. Classes. Under Classes → Add class, one per level or section, with a homeroom teacher. Then on each class page, add its subjects and the teacher for each. The teacher you pick is the one who can enter that subject's grades.

7. Enrolments. Every active child in a class for this year. For returning children it is Enrollments → Enroll student, one at a time, or let the class page's Enroll a student do it from the roster. New children arrive under Students → Add student or in bulk via Students → Import.

8. Teacher logins. Under Users → Add user, a login for each teacher. The temporary password is already filled in; press Copy before you press Create user, because nothing is emailed and it is not shown again. Hand it over in person.

9. Parent logins. Under Parents → Register parent, create the parent, copy their temporary password the same way, and under Link children tick their children. A parent sees only the children linked here. New families need this before they can see a balance; returning families keep last year's login.

10. The first billing run. On the first school day, Billing → Generate: the month and the due date are already filled in; press Generate invoices and read the result bar. It tells you how many families were billed, how many are not due this month because they pay quarterly or annually, and, in bold, if any child has no price for their family's schedule. Fix the price and run it again; it never double-bills.

What to expect

Steps 1 to 5 take an hour and should be done once a year. Steps 6 to 9 take an afternoon and are mostly typing you would do anyway. Step 10 takes a minute.

The most common thing to go wrong is step 4 done late: marks entered under a weighting that is then changed, and a report card average that moves after a parent has seen it. Scholar protects published report cards by taking a snapshot when they go out, but it cannot protect a conversation that has already happened.

The second most common is step 9 done too early, before opening balances are entered. Register the parents, by all means; hand out the logins after the first billing run, so the first thing a family sees is true.

See it with your own school

If September is three weeks away and the list above looks long, we will do steps 1 to 5 with you in the demo, on your own school. Book a free demo.

Related: Weighted grades for primary schools: tests, exams, quizzes and homework, Switching school software mid-year: carrying arrears across cleanly, and how it works on the site.