Running the school day to day

Once your website is set up, running it takes a few minutes a day. This chapter gives you a routine, explains the Today screen and the red numbers in the menu, and ends with a quick reference of where everything lives.

Features marked (Pro) need a Pro or Agency licence.

Signing in

Go to your website's address followed by /wp-admin (for example yourschool.com/wp-admin), or click Staff sign-in at the very bottom of any page. After signing in you go straight to Music school → Today. See Staff and sign-in.

The Today screen

Music school → Today shows everything that needs attention, with today's date and opening hours at the top.

• Lessons today, in time order, each marked To confirm or Confirmed. Click This week's calendar → for the calendar.
• Lesson requests to confirm: click Confirm or Decline right here. See Lessons and the calendar.
• New enquiries: the latest contact form messages. Click All messages → for the rest. See Messages.
• Coming up: the next events.

When students are due for review, Today tells you how many (see Students).

The red numbers in the menu

The numbers in circles in the left-hand menu show how many things are waiting:

• next to Music school: everything waiting, added together;
• next to Lessons: lesson requests to confirm;
• next to Messages: new contact form messages.

The numbers go down as you deal with things.

A routine for the office

Every morning

1. Open Music school → Today.
2. Confirm or decline every lesson request. Aim to do this the same day: the time is held for the student meanwhile, and they're waiting for your email.
3. Answer new enquiries.
4. Glance at Lessons today in case anyone has cancelled.

When the phone rings

• To book a lesson: Music school → Add a lesson.
• To move or cancel one: find it in Music school → Lessons or on the Calendar, open it and use Move or change or Cancel lesson.
• To check who's free: Music school → Calendar → Day shows a column for each tutor.

Every week

1. Look at next week in Music school → Calendar → Week.
2. Check tutors' days off and holidays are entered (on their profiles, under Teaching hours).
3. Add any new events, photos or practice resources.

Every term

1. Add the school's closed days and holidays in Music school → Settings → Opening days.
2. Check lesson types and prices in Music school → Lesson types.
3. Review old student records under Music school → Students → Due for review, and old messages under Messages → Due for review.
4. Check updates are installed. See Backups and updates.

A routine for tutors

If tutors sign in:

• Check Music school → Today or Calendar for your own lessons.
• Keep My teaching hours and days off up to date, so nobody books a time you can't do.
• If a lesson needs to change, ask the office: tutors can't confirm, move or cancel lessons.
• (Pro) Add your private calendar address to your phone, from the bottom of Music school → Calendar.

Site stats (Pro)

Dashboard → Site stats shows how many people visit your website, your top pages, where visitors came from, which devices they use, and Lessons booked, by instrument. Choose 7 days, 30 days, 90 days or 12 months. It's counted without cookies and nothing identifies anyone.

Good habits

• Confirm lesson requests the same day.
• Don't share sign-ins. Each person has their own, so the website records who did what, and everyone only sees what their job needs. Students may be children, so this matters.
• Never type passwords or card numbers into the website, for example in office notes.
• If an email doesn't seem to arrive, look at Music school → Settings → Email → Email log (Pro). It shows whether each email was sent and, if not, why.
• If something looks wrong, take a screenshot and send it to whoever looks after your website. See Troubleshooting and support.

Quick reference: where everything is