Creating a Class
This article explains how to create a Class record in Schoolworks.
The Class record holds the name, level, availability of the Class, together with other settings.
Students are then ‘placed' in a class based on the ‘service’ they ‘booked’
Each Class will have Lessons scheduled
Lessons determine the date, day, time, teacher and room for the delivery of the tuition. These can vary week by week within the Class.
Typically the Class should be seen as a long-term grouping of a particular level
for example, a school may always run an Intermediate level class, but the times, frequency, teacher and of course students may change.
Students are then typically moved in/out of a class as they change level
Prerequisites to this process are:
Teacher records - see this article
Room records - see this article
Timetable times - contact your System Administrator
Creating a Class Record
Navigate to the Classes tab, and click New
Complete the fields as follows:
Class Code - a short code to identify the Class, used on screen and in reports
This should be unique to save confusion
Name - a fuller name of the Class that can be used on documents or emails for the student.
This should also be unique to save confusion
School - a link to the School the Class is delivering tuition under
Level From - optional, to provide a bottom level range, typically left blank
Level To - compulsory, the level here can update the Student Level when the student is placed in the Class
Colour - a hex code can be entered here to colour code the Class to make it easier to identify on the Classing screen.
Typically, classes are coloured by their timing, e.g. all morning classes are blue, lunchtime classes green and so on.
Hex codes can be found using a simple Google search - each colour has a six digit hex code preceded by a hashtag
Sort - used for sorting in lists
Class Start Date - the first date the Class is available from (this should always be a Monday)
Class End Date - the last date the Class is available to (this should always be a Sunday)
Typically relatively long date ranges are used here (not to be confused with Lessons) - for example, you may wish to have a Class open for a three month termly period, or even a full year.
Class Lessons Per Week - a crucial field, explained below
Level Assign to Student - to determine whether the Student Level will be automatically updated when they are placed in this Class.
Exclude Attendance From Course - it may be desirable to set up Classes for Monday placement, or social activities, where attendance tracking is not critical
Allow Multi-Room - to allow multiple rooms to be used concurrently to deliver a Class, rare, but can be used when two physical rooms are merged together
Auto Placement - explained further in this article.
Active - must be ticked on for the Class to appear in the Classing screen
Note: when creating new Classes, it can be quicker to use the Clone button to copy the details from a similar Class. Be sure to give each Class a unique code and name to save confusion.
Class Lessons Per Week
This is an important field as it controls when the student is considered “fully” placed.
The figure in the field is arbitrary, but must match with the Service the student is booking.
On the Course Service, there is a field called “Maximum Class Lessons per Week”
The student will be considered “fully” placed when the student has been placed in Classes where the sum of the value of the Class Lessons Per Week field equals the Maximum Class Lessons per Week field on the Service they have booked.
For example:
Service Booked |
Max Class Lessons Per Week |
Class |
Class Lessons Per Week |
Status |
---|---|---|---|---|
GE20 |
1 |
AM1 - Intermediate |
1 |
Fully Placed |
GE25 |
2 |
AM1 - Intermediate |
1 |
Not fully placed |
GE25 |
2 |
AM1 - Intermediate PM1 - Intermediate |
1 1 |
Fully Placed |
GE30 |
3 |
AM1 - Intermediate PM1 - Intermediate |
1 1 |
Not fully placed |
GE30 |
3 |
AM1 - Intermediate PM1 - Intermediate EVE1 - Intermediate |
1 1 1 |
Fully placed |
The values used in the two fields can be anything, as long as the principle is maintained that the addition of the values of each class equal the value of the Max Lessons on the Service to be considered Fully Placed.
Some schools prefer to use hours for these fields, as follows:
Service Booked |
Max Class Lessons Per Week |
Class |
Class Lessons Per Week |
Status |
---|---|---|---|---|
GE20 |
20 |
AM1 - Intermediate |
20 |
Fully Placed |
GE25 |
25 |
AM1 - Intermediate |
20 |
Not fully placed |
GE25 |
25 |
AM1 - Intermediate PM1 - Intermediate |
20 5 |
Fully Placed |
GE30 |
30 |
AM1 - Intermediate PM1 - Intermediate |
20 5 |
Not fully placed |
GE30 |
30 |
AM1 - Intermediate PM1 - Intermediate EVE1 - Intermediate |
20 5 5 |
Fully placed |
Related Courses
Navigate to the Related Courses tab
Select which Services this Class is able to deliver tuition for by moving them to the right-hand panel.
Remember to Save when finished