Cover when someone is away
4 min read
Cover is arranged on the Calendar, for the lessons an absence actually takes someone out of: a teacher away for the afternoon is still teaching Period 1.
Marking someone unavailable
On the Calendar or the Dashboard, Mark unavailable: a full day, the first or second half, specific hours, or several days, with a reason. Staff can also mark themselves unavailable from their own login. In Settings you can ask for those to wait for an administrator to approve first.
Choosing who covers
Cover opens for each lesson the absence takes the teacher out of. Everyone offered is free at that time in every live schedule, is not away themselves, and is under their daily and weekly cover limits. They are ranked by whether they know the subject or the class, then by how much cover they have taken this week and over the last 30 days. One click assigns; Auto-Assign covers every lesson, spreading the work.
Asking colleagues
Ask free colleagues sends the lesson to the five best placed. Each with a sign-in is emailed, and sees the request on My Teaching with I’ll take it and I can’t. The first to accept gets it; anybody who accepts a moment later is told it has gone. Whoever asked is emailed, and the cover is in the teacher’s calendar link at its next refresh.
When nobody is free
- •Join another class: the class sits with one running at the same time and that teacher takes both. The same class level and subject come first, and the pupils together are checked against the room.
- •Study period, or class free: no lesson, decided on purpose, so it stops showing as needing cover.
- •Trade the lesson: it swaps with another of the class’s lessons later the same day, or later in the week once the teacher is back, so both still happen. Only that day changes; the weekly timetable stays as it is, and every screen and calendar link shows the day as it runs.
Long absences
When someone is away for several days, Cover suggests the people who could take most of it, counted day by day against every rule (free at each lesson, within their limits as their covers add up). One click gives them every lesson they can take, so the class keeps one face for the stretch; the rest stays to cover.