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This guide takes you through setting up your school calendar, adding events, and publishing iCal links so that staff and parents can subscribe on their personal devices. Once published, your calendar updates automatically across every device that has subscribed — no manual re-sending required.
Initial setup requires the Administrator role to enable the module and assign a Calendar Manager. Adding events and managing calendars is then handled by the Calendar Manager.

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Setup Steps

1

Enable the Calendar module

Go to Administration > Modules and enable the Calendar module.
2

Assign a Calendar Manager

Go to Administration > Users and assign the Calendar Manager role to the appropriate member of staff. The Calendar Manager is responsible for creating calendars, adding events, and managing published iCal links.
3

Navigate to Calendar

Select Calendar from the left-hand navigation menu to access your calendar management area.
4

Create Calendars

Create one or more Calendars tailored to different audiences. For example:

Staff Dates

Internal dates, meetings, INSET days, and deadlines for staff.

Parents / Carers

Term dates, school events, trips, and parent evenings.

Governors

Governor meeting dates, key reporting deadlines, and inspection-related events.
Having separate calendars means each audience only subscribes to the events that are relevant to them.
5

Create Sub-sections

Within each calendar, create Sub-sections to group related events together. For example, within the Parents/Carers calendar you might have sub-sections for Term Dates, Trips, and Parents’ Evenings. Sub-sections make it easier to manage and navigate events as the calendar grows.
6

Add events

Add events to the appropriate sub-section. For each event, provide:
  • Title — a clear, descriptive name
  • Date and time — including end time where relevant
  • Description — any additional detail parents or staff need to know
7

Publish the calendar

Once you are ready, publish the calendar to generate its unique iCal URL. This URL is what you share with staff, parents, and governors so they can subscribe.

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Sharing via iCal

Each published calendar generates a unique iCal URL. Share this URL via your school newsletter, website, or email communication. Recipients paste the URL into their calendar app to subscribe — the calendar then updates automatically on their device whenever you add or change an event. iCal subscriptions work with all major calendar applications:

Google Calendar

Use “Add calendar > From URL” in Google Calendar settings.

Apple Calendar

Use “File > New Calendar Subscription” in Apple Calendar or iPhone Settings.

Microsoft Outlook

Use “Add calendar > Subscribe from web” in Outlook or Outlook.com.
Unlike a one-off export, an iCal subscription is a live link. When you update, add, or remove an event in Clever School Systems, the change is automatically reflected in every subscribed calendar — you do not need to re-share anything.
Staff can also sign up to receive a weekly email digest of upcoming calendar events, giving them a summary of what is happening in the week ahead without needing to check the calendar directly.

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Rolling Forward to the Next Year

At the start of each new academic year, use the Roll Forward function to copy your existing events into the new year. Clever School Systems advances the dates automatically to match the new academic calendar, saving you from recreating recurring events like term dates, INSET days, and regular meetings from scratch.
Run Roll Forward after you have confirmed the new year’s term dates. Review the copied events afterwards to check for any dates that fall on different days of the week or need adjusting for the new year.