School Calendars

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Introduction

The School Calendars module delivers a structured, automated scheduling platform tailored to the cyclical rhythm of educational institutions. It eliminates administrative friction by calculating events relative to the academic calendar, enabling effortless annual rollovers, secure delegation of departmental calendars, and live feed integration into personal devices and email digests.

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Conceptual Architecture

The module organises scheduling information through a multi-tiered hierarchy designed to maximise utility and data accuracy:

• Academic Years & Term Framework: Academic years define the operational boundaries of the school calendar (starting on the first Monday of the academic year). Within each year, term dates and holiday blocks are structured in sequential half-terms with strict non-overlap validation. This framework is shared across modules, maintaining consistency between calendars, development plans, and curriculum planning.
• Cyclical Relative Scheduling: Unlike static date pickers, events are anchored both as specific calendar dates and as relative positions (the week number from the start of the school year and the day of the week). When rolling over into subsequent academic years, recurring school fixtures automatically land on the correct day of the week without manual recalculation.
• Granular Calendars vs. Composite Groups:
  • Individual Calendars: Managed by designated departmental leads (Calendar Owner) for specific operational domains (e.g., SEN Department, Premises Maintenance, Music & Drama).
  • Calendar Groups: Composite collections curated by Calendar Managers (e.g., Parent Portal Calendar, Governing Body Calendar, Whole School Calendar). Subscribers to a group receive a unified feed of all contained calendars.
• Timed vs. Multi-Day Events: Events support specific start/end timestamps (e.g., 08:30 - 09:00 for morning briefings) or multi-day spanning lengths (e.g., 5 days for Residential Trips or Arts Festival).
• Planning vs. Published States: Each calendar maintains an independent publish state for every academic year. Future years remain in draft mode during leadership planning and only become visible to external calendar subscribers once formally published.
• Live Webcal & iCal Synchronisation: The system serves cached, dynamic webcal:// and .ics feeds, allowing users to subscribe from Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, and mobile devices with automatic background updates every 15 minutes.

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Roles & Permissions Matrix

The module employs role-based access control to ensure appropriate segregation between school-wide calendar coordination, departmental ownership, and general staff subscription:

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User Interface & Screen Tour

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1. Main Calendar List Dashboard (/calendar)

The primary hub for browsing, subscribing to, and managing school schedules:

• Dual List Architecture: Displays composite Calendar Groups in the upper table and individual Calendars in the lower table.
• Active vs. Archived Views: Managers can toggle between active calendars and archived records.
• Drag-and-Drop Reordering: Managers can adjust the display order of calendars using handle icons.
• Fast Subscription Controls: One-click actions to Add (opens native Webcal link on your device), Copy Link (copies URL to clipboard for website embedding), or Subscribe (enables automated weekly email alerts).
• Owner Contact Links: Direct email links to contact the designated owner of any calendar.
• Top Navigation Bar: Direct shortcuts to Review Actions (upcoming subscribed events), Global Events Search, and Administration (for Managers).

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2. Interactive Academic Year Grid (/calendar/{calendar}/{year})

Visual representation mapping all events across the 52 weeks of the academic year:

• Working Week vs. Full Week: Toggle between 5-day school week (Mon–Fri) and 7-day full week (including weekend fixtures).
• Term & Holiday Shading: Clear background shading distinguishing term-time weeks from half-term breaks and bank holidays.
• Interactive Event Cards: Click any scheduled event to view full details or edit timings (for owners/managers).
• One-Click Event Creation: Click any day cell to add a new event directly into that week and date.
• PDF Generation: Print high-resolution visual wall planners in the selected week format.

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3. Event List & Rollover Manager (/calendar/list/{calendar}/{year})

Tabular control centre for managing an entire year’s schedule:

• Enable / Disable Toggles: Easily activate or deactivate events for the chosen academic year. Deactivating an event removes it from the current year while safely preserving its definition for future rollover.
• Bulk Enable/Disable: Select multiple events to perform bulk rollover actions for the upcoming academic year.
• CSV Import Facility: Bulk upload schedules from spreadsheets using a pre-formatted template.
• Publishing Control: Clear indicator and toggle showing whether the calendar year is live to external subscribers or in planning draft.

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4. Upcoming Subscribed Dates (/calendar/dates)

A personalised agenda for staff members and governors:

• Shows all events from calendars and groups the authenticated user has subscribed to.
• Categorised by urgency: Due Soon (next 14 days), All Future Events, or Past Events.
• Exportable to a clean PDF briefing for weekly team briefings or personal planning.

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5. Global Cross-School Event Search (/calendar/events)

Comprehensive discovery tool across the entire school:

• Live search across all calendars, descriptions, and academic years.
• Enables senior leaders and event coordinators to spot potential logistical clashes (e.g. Year 11 Mock Exams coinciding with Sports Day or Staff Inset).

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6. Unsynced Central Events Monitor (/calendar/unsynced)

For Multi-Academy Trusts and federations:

• Identifies local school events that have deviated from central trust master templates.
• Allows school managers to review date discrepancies, re-sync with trust standards, or preserve local adaptations.

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Automated Notifications & Digests

To ensure maximum operational efficiency and prevent overlooked deadlines, the Calendar module runs automated background alerts:

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Next Steps & Guides