School Admin Manual
For Head teachers, the school office, bursars, HR and administrators
Set up the school, then run it: students, classes, attendance, exams and report cards, fees, staff and payroll, stock, assets and messages to parents.
Getting started
Sign in and find your way around
Sign in to the admin portal, read your dashboard, use the menu and the bell, and change your password.
5 min read
Your first week: setting up the school in the right order
The order to set up a new school in ShuleOS, so each step has what it needs from the one before.
6 min read
Setup
School settings
Your school's name, logo, colours, report card layout, and what parents, teachers and visitors can see. Seven tabs on one page.
12 min read
Academic years and terms
Create the school year and its terms, and keep exactly one year active. Marks, attendance, fees and report cards all work "for a year".
7 min read
Students and parents
Add a student
Register a new student, place them in a class, and link their parents, so they show up in attendance, exams, fees and the parent portal.
6 min read
Import students and parents from a file
Add or update many students, with their classes and parents, from one Excel or CSV file. You see a preview before anything is saved.
8 min read
Find, change and print students
Search and filter the student list, open a student's page, change their details, export the list, and print class lists.
8 min read
Add and link parents
Register a parent or guardian, link them to their children, and change or remove the link.
5 min read
Student portal logins
Switch on the pupil portal, choose what pupils see, and give pupils their logins.
5 min read
Parent logins and contact lists
Give parents their portal logins, reset a forgotten password, import parents from a file, and print a contact list.
8 min read
Promote students at the end of the year
Move every class up to the next class for the new academic year, keep back the students who repeat, and mark those who leave. The old year stays as history.
9 min read
Student ID cards
Choose a card design in Settings, preview and print cards, add photos in bulk, and print for the whole school, a class, or chosen students.
7 min read
Academic management
Classes and streams
Create the school's classes, choose how each is assessed, add streams (sections), and choose the subjects each class takes.
8 min read
Subjects
Create the subjects your school teaches, give each a code, and switch old ones off without losing their history.
4 min read
Class teachers and subject teachers
Choose the class teacher of each class and stream, and the teacher of each subject in each class, for the current academic year.
7 min read
Periods and timetable
Set the school day's lessons and breaks, then build each class's weekly timetable by hand, from a file, or generated automatically.
10 min read
Attendance
Take class attendance
Mark each student in a class present, absent, late or excused for today, and save. Parents of newly absent students can be told automatically.
5 min read
Attendance records and reports
Look up, correct and import individual attendance records, and read the attendance report by day, by student, as a class register, and by weekday.
8 min read
Scan attendance with a QR card
Mark students or staff present by scanning their ID card instead of a roll call, with a USB scanner, a Bluetooth scanner, or the device's camera.
5 min read
Exams and report cards
Create an exam and choose its classes
Set up an exam for the year and term, choose which classes sit it, and keep it moving from draft to published.
6 min read
Exam timetable, rooms and invigilators
Give each exam paper a date, time, room and invigilators, check clashes, publish the timetable to parents and teachers, and print it.
10 min read
Enter marks and follow marks progress
Enter each student's marks for one subject in one exam, import them from a file, and see which classes and teachers still have marks to enter.
8 min read
Results and exam reports
See the ranked results of a class, print the result sheet, and read the exam reports: class tabulation, subject performance, class comparison, grade distribution, and top and needs-support lists.
7 min read
Combined reports
Join several exams into one term report, with each exam counting for a percentage. A single exam needs no setup.
5 min read
Generate and release report cards
Make report cards from an exam or a combined report, add comments, check them, mark them ready, release them to parents, and print or download them.
10 min read
Assessment
Grading schemes
Define how marks are added up (the components) and turned into grades (the bands), and choose which scheme each class uses.
8 min read
Behaviour criteria and assessing behaviour
Choose what behaviour is rated (punctuality, respect and so on), then rate each student for an exam so it appears on the report card.
6 min read
Learning areas and competency assessment
For classes assessed by competency (usually nursery), set up learning areas and their skills, then rate each child instead of giving marks.
8 min read
Lessons and homework
Curriculum: units and chapters
Record what each subject teaches in each class as units and chapters, import it from a file, or copy it from another class, so teachers can plan lessons against it.
8 min read
Lesson plans, homework and the lesson report
Read what teachers plan and set, review their lesson plans, and see how far each subject and teacher has got.
8 min read
Calendar
Fees
Generate invoices, and correct them
Bill a whole school or chosen classes for an installment or the year's one-off fees, look at invoices, void a wrong one, post adjustments and opening balances.
10 min read
Collect fees, record payments and print receipts
Find a student, take a payment, see how it is shared across their invoices, print the receipt, and void a payment made by mistake.
10 min read
Control numbers
Keep the payment number each student's bank gives them, import it from a file, and see who is missing one.
4 min read
Send fee reminders
See every student with an outstanding balance, and remind their parents by the channels your school has switched on.
4 min read
Fee setup
Fee setup: the order to do it in
Get the school's fees ready for a year: settings, fee types, installments and amounts, with a checklist that shows what is still missing.
5 min read
Fee settings
Choose the currency, how receipt numbers look, how parents are told to pay, whether your bank gives control numbers, and how payments and late joiners are handled.
6 min read
Fee types and installments
Create the things you charge for (tuition, meals, transport…) and the installments they are paid in (Term 1, 2 and 3), with their due dates.
7 min read
Fee amounts
Set how much each fee type costs for each class and installment, copy last year's amounts, and import them from a file.
6 min read
Discounts and scholarships
Create discounts (sibling, staff child, scholarship), give them to whole classes or single students, and see who has one.
7 min read
Fee overrides: exemptions and special amounts
Change what one student is charged for one fee: exempt them, give a different amount, or set the dates they owe from and until.
5 min read
Expenses
Record expenses, approve and cancel them
Record what the school spends, choose the account it is paid from, approve or reject it if approval is on, and cancel a mistake.
8 min read
Accounts, categories and expense settings
Set up the cash box and bank accounts, the categories spending is grouped under, and whether expenses need approval.
8 min read
Transport
Transport routes, vehicles and drivers
Set up the school bus service: routes with their pickup points and price, the vehicles and their seats, and the drivers, who are staff.
10 min read
Transport assignments and reports
Put students on a bus route and stop, see who owes for transport, and print route lists.
7 min read
Uniforms
HR and staff
HR setup: departments, job titles and leave types
The three short lists you set up before adding staff, so each employee can be placed in a department, given a job title, and asked for the right kinds of leave.
6 min read
Add and manage employees
Add a member of staff, fill in their job, pay and check-in details, keep their documents, print ID cards, and record when they leave.
10 min read
Teachers and their portal login
Add a teacher with their teaching details, give them a login for the teacher portal, reset their password, and see who can sign in.
6 min read
Leave requests and leave balances
Record and decide staff leave, see who is away, and check how many leave days each person has taken and has left.
8 min read
Staff attendance and the check-in desk
Record who came to work each day, either by marking the list or with a PIN at the check-in desk, and see the monthly report.
9 min read
HR overview and HR reports
The HR home page that shows what needs attention today, and nine reports on staff, contracts, documents, birthdays, service, leavers and payroll cost.
6 min read
Staff ID cards
Preview and print ID cards for teachers and other staff, add photos in bulk, and print QR stickers on their own.
6 min read
Payroll
Payroll settings: NSSF, HESLB, PAYE and the school's other costs
Set the pension, student loan, income tax and employer levy rates payroll uses, and the day staff are paid. Do this once before the first payroll.
6 min read
Set salaries and pay items
Give every employee a basic salary, create the allowances and deductions the school uses, attach them to people, and preview what each person will be paid.
10 min read
Run the monthly payroll
Prepare a month's payroll, check it, add one-off amounts, send it for review, approve it, print payslips and the bank file, and record that it was paid.
12 min read
Stock
Stock setup: stores, suppliers, categories and items
Set up the places stock is kept, the shops you buy from, the groups of items, and the items themselves, with their reorder level and opening quantity.
9 min read
Buy and receive stock
Record what you bought, receive it into stock, and optionally record the payment as an expense in one step.
6 min read
Issue stock and take it back
Hand supplies to staff, a class or a department, mark what must come back, and record returns.
6 min read
Stock reports
See what the stock is worth, what is running low, everything that moved in a month, and what has been lent out and not returned.
4 min read
Assets and facilities
Assets and facilities setup: buildings, rooms and asset categories
List the school's buildings and rooms and the groups of assets, so every asset, meter and repair can say where it is.
6 min read
The asset register
List what the school owns with a code, category, room, condition and cost; move assets between rooms and people; and retire or write off what is no longer in use.
9 min read
Maintenance requests
Report a problem with a room, an asset or a vehicle, follow it until it is fixed, and record what it cost.
5 min read
Utility meters, vehicle papers and fuel
Record electricity and water meter readings and bills, keep track of when vehicle insurance and licences run out, and log fuel to see how each bus performs.
8 min read
Assets and facilities reports
What the school owns and its condition, what repairs cost each month, how much each meter used, and what is about to run out.
4 min read
Messaging
Send a message to parents or teachers
Write a message once and send it by SMS, email and the portal bell to all parents, the parents of one class, one parent, all teachers or one teacher, now or later.
8 min read
The message log and message templates
See everything the school has sent, by hand and automatically, who got it and whether it arrived; cancel scheduled messages; and keep ready-made messages.
6 min read
Messaging settings: SMS, WhatsApp, email, automatic notifications and quiet hours
Connect the school's SMS, WhatsApp and email, choose which automatic notifications go out and how each one is worded, set quiet hours, and decide what class teachers may send.
12 min read
Reports
Account and security
Users: logins for the school office
Give each person in the office their own login and role, reset a forgotten password, and switch a login off when someone leaves.
6 min read
Roles and permissions
Decide exactly what each kind of user can see, add, change, delete and import, screen by screen, using ready-made roles or your own.
9 min read
Two-factor login: a second step after your password
Turn on two-factor login so a stolen or guessed password is not enough to open your account. Choose a code sent by SMS, a code sent to your email, or a code from an authenticator app, and learn what to do if you lose your phone.
5 min read
Your plan and the audit log
See what your package includes and how much of it you have used, ask for an upgrade, and look back at who did what and when.
5 min read
Contact ShuleOS support
Raise a support ticket when something is broken or you need help, and follow the conversation until it is answered.
3 min read