How to Add Children

The Add Children page allows you to register a new child in the nursery management system. This process is designed to capture all essential information required for managing a child’s profile, attendance, and welfare.

Overview

When adding a child, you will be guided through several sections to ensure all relevant details are collected. The form is organized for clarity and ease of use, with each section focusing on a specific aspect of the child’s profile.

Sections

Personal Details

This section collects the child’s basic information, including their name, date of birth, and profile picture. Accurate personal details are essential for identification and record-keeping.

Address

Enter the child’s home address, including postcode. This information is used for correspondence and emergency purposes.

Demographics

Capture demographic information such as gender, language, ethnicity, nationality, and country of birth. These details help with reporting and ensuring the nursery meets regulatory requirements.

Attendance

Configure the child’s attendance settings, including term time status, current room assignment, and any planned room moves. You can also assign a key person and select a funding schedule if applicable.

Health & Welfare

Record important health and welfare information, such as pupil premium status, free school meals eligibility, health notes, and allergies. This ensures staff are aware of any special considerations.

Individual Concerns

If your nursery has defined custom attributes for children (such as specific needs or concerns), these will appear in this section. Complete any relevant fields to provide additional context for the child’s care.

Once all sections are completed, click Save to add the child to the system. You will then be taken to the child edit page where you can set the child’s schedule.

Parents & Carers

On the Parents & Carers tab you can view the child’s parents and their relationships to the child.

When adding a new parent or carer, the dialog allows you to select if their responsibilities:

• Bill Payer: They will receive any invoices for the child
• Parental Responsibility: They will receive all communication about the child, and be required to fill in funding forms if applicable.

Sessions

The Sessions tab allows you to manage the child’s attendance schedule and is essential for configuring the child’s regular attendance pattern and understanding the associated costs.

The tab shows the configured sessions, the total hours and funding hours allocated and also the pricing applied.

You can add a new session or edit an existing session by clicking the edit button. This shows the edit session dialog where you can select:

The edit session dialog allows you to configure all aspects of a child’s attendance session. The following options are available:

• Frequency: Choose how often the session occurs (Regular or One Off).
• Start Date / End Date: Set the date range for when the session is active. Use the calendar picker to select dates.
• Session: Select the type of session from a dropdown list (e.g., Morning, Afternoon, Full Day). This determines the session’s structure and timing.
• Start Time / End Time: Specify the session’s start and end times if they are different to the .
• Pricing: Choose the applicable price for the session from the available options. This will affect the cost calculation.
• Days of the Week: Toggle the days (Mon–Sun) on which the session should occur. Only the selected days will be included in the schedule.
• Funded Hours: For each weekday, enter the number of funded hours (if any) that apply. Use the up/down controls to adjust hours and minutes for each day.
• Add Session Entry: Click this button to add another configured session entry to the list.

This dialog ensures you can flexibly configure sessions to match each child’s attendance pattern, pricing, and funding requirements.

Copying Sessions

Pigeonhole allows you to easily create new sessions for children. To create a new session for a child, you can click the copy button on an existing session. This will create a new session based on the old one which you can make amendments to.

Alternatively for new children, you can easily copy the schedule for an existing child. On the sessions tab you can select the child to copy. That childs session will then be copied to the current child.

Charges

The Charges tab allows you to manage additional charges that apply to a child, such as nappies, meals, or other extra services. This section is essential for tracking and billing any recurring or ad hoc charges beyond standard session fees.

The tab displays a list of all configured charges for the child, including:

• Charge: The name of the extra charge (e.g., Nappies).
• Start Date / End Date: The date range during which the charge is active.
• Quantity: The number of units for the charge (e.g., 1 per day).
• Schedule/Cost: The days the charge applies (e.g., Wed–Fri) and the calculated cost for the period.

You can add a new charge by clicking the Add New Charge button, or edit/delete an existing charge using the pencil (edit) or bin (delete) icons.

When adding or editing a charge, the edit dialog allows you to configure the following options:

• Frequency: Select how often the charge is applied (Regular or One Off).
• Start Date / End Date: Set the date range for when the charge is active.
• Extra Charge: Choose the type of extra charge from a dropdown list (e.g., Nappies, Meals). This determines the charge and pricing applied.
• Quantity: Enter the number of units for the charge. For example, if the charge is per item, specify how many items per day.
• Charge Days: Toggle the days of the week (Mon–Sun) on which the charge should be applied. Only the selected days will be included in the schedule.

This dialog ensures you can flexibly configure extra charges to match each child’s needs and attendance pattern.

Invoicing

The Invoicing tab allows you to configure invoice settings and automation for the child which override the globally configured settings. This section is used to customize invoice formatting and control how and when invoices are generated for the child.

If the child is using site-wide invoicing settings, a notice will appear at the top of the tab. You can view or change the global settings if needed.

Invoice Format Settings

• Invoice Top Up Text: Enter custom text to display in invoices for any top-up amount above funded amounts (e.g., ‘Voluntary Contribution’).
• Invoice Footer: Add text that will appear at the bottom of all invoices for this child. This can be used for notes, disclaimers, or additional information.
• Childcare Account Reference: Specify a reference for the childcare account with HMRC. This reference will be included in invoice references for easier tracking and compliance.

Invoice Automation

• Automated Billing Enabled: Toggle this switch to enable or disable automated invoice generation for the child.
• Invoice Cadence: Select how often automated invoices should be sent (e.g., Monthly). Use the dropdown to choose the cadence.
• Invoice Day: Set the day of the month (1–28) when invoices should be generated, or for termly invoices the days before a term starts to invoice.

Reverting Invoice Setting

To revert a child to use the globally configured settings click the ‘Revert to Site Defaults’ button