Assign staff to a session or cancel a session

Written for: Alternative provision staff who manage the rota.

A session on the Weekly Rota that has pupils needs at least one member of staff. Use the rota to staff sessions that come from a pupil’s placement plan, change who runs a session, or cancel a session that isn’t going ahead. A cancelled session stays in the rota’s history.

Before you start

In the sidebar, open Today and choose Weekly Rota. Go to the right week with the arrows either side of the week’s date, and choose the day in Day view.

Only staff who manage the rota see Assign staff, Edit session and the button for adding a session. If you don’t see them, ask your Provision Lead.

Assign staff to a planned session

When a placement is agreed, the pupil’s planned sessions appear on the rota as Staff not assigned · agreed placement plan. They need staff before anyone can take a register for them.

1. On the planned session, click Assign staff. Assign planned session opens. The session’s details come from the placement plan, so you can’t change them here.
2. Under Staff, search for and tick the staff who will run the session. Each name shows how the session fits their working hours, such as Within working hours, Outside working hours or Working hours not set.
3. Read the Scheduling checks. They compare the pupil’s planned hours this week with their agreed hours, and the adults on the session with the pupil’s staffing ratio.
4. Click Save session.

The session moves onto the rota with its staff, and its register appears in the Daily Register. You can edit its details after this.

You can also start from the Daily Register, under Attendance. Planned sessions for the day are listed under Planned sessions that need staff, each with an Assign staff button that opens the same form.

Change the staff on a session

1. Click Edit session on the session.
2. Under Staff, add or remove staff. Under Pupils, add or remove pupils.
3. Change the Title, Date, Kind, Start, End, Location or Notes if needed.
4. Read the Scheduling checks, then click Save session.

You’ll see Session updated.

To add a one-off session instead, click the plus button beside a day’s name, fill in the same form and click Save session. You’ll see Session added.

When a check stops you saving

• Outside working hours: if a member of staff isn’t working at that time, only a manager who can override the rota can save the session. For them, the save button changes to Check session, which runs the full check of working hours, absence, other bookings and staffing rules. If the check blocks the session, they enter a Reason for overriding this block and click Override and save. If you can’t override, choose different staff.
• Over agreed hours: if the session would give a pupil more hours than their placement agrees, a manager who can override the rota must enter a reason before saving.
• Staffing ratios: Current staffing requirements warns when a session has fewer adults than its pupils’ ratios need. These warnings don’t stop you saving, so use them to check the plan against your staffing policy.

The override reason must be at least 5 characters, and it’s recorded.

Cancel a session

1. Click Edit session on the session.
2. Click Cancel session.
3. In Why is this session being cancelled?, enter the reason.
4. Click Confirm cancellation.

You’ll see Session cancelled. If you change your mind before confirming, click Keep session.

Cancelling doesn’t delete the session. It disappears from the rota but stays in its history, with the reason and when it was cancelled. Its register can’t take new marks, though any marks already saved can still be reviewed and corrected. Cancelled sessions don’t count towards expected attendance.

To see cancelled sessions again, use the button above the rota that shows them. Open one with Edit session to read why it was cancelled. You can’t edit a cancelled session.

Notes

• Session attendance: to take the register for a session, see Take today’s register.
• The usual week: to change the sessions that are laid down every week, see Build your usual week and lay down the rota.
• Your provision’s words: labels such as Pupils use your provision’s Setting profile. The defaults are pupil, group and commissioning school, so your labels may differ.
• The AP menu: the sidebar described here appears when your setting profile is alternative provision and AP operations are active. It only shows the pages you can open.

If something doesn’t work

What you see	What to do
“Allocate at least one eligible staff member to a pupil-facing session.”	Tick at least one member of staff under Staff.
“A selected staff member is already allocated to another session at this time.”	Choose someone else, or change the other session first.
“One or more staff members cannot be allocated on this date. Check their active and leaving dates.”	One of the staff has left, or hasn’t started yet. Choose someone else.
“Schedule Core found a staff occupancy or availability conflict. Review the allocation before saving.”	A member of staff is busy or unavailable then, for example because of an absence. Check and choose again.
“A server-checked workforce eligibility rule blocks this allocation. Review the staff evidence before saving.”	A member of staff doesn’t meet a staffing requirement for this session. Choose someone else.
“A selected pupil is not on roll for this session date.”	Remove the pupil, or check their start and leaving dates.
“This session changed after you opened it. Reload the rota before trying again.”	Someone else changed the session. Reload the page and make your change again.
“You do not have permission to override this rota block.”	Choose different staff, or ask a manager who can override the rota.
“This session is cancelled and its recorded history cannot be edited.”	Cancelled sessions can’t be changed. Add a new session if it’s going ahead after all.
Session already scheduled	Someone has already staffed this planned session. The rota refreshes to show it.