Student Conferences/ Bookings/ Interviews- All About Them
Conferences are a feature of SCHOOLPOINT. If you also have SchoolBridge, you can access this area via your SchoolPoint Dashboard Icon or set up an icon direct to the conferences on this dashboard. Only full admin or staff included in a conference will have access to this icon and subsequently be able to view the conferences.
There are 3 types of conferences to choose from:
Please note we are always working on the functionality to improve our conference area and value your feedback.
Timetabled Teachers- Tutor or Subject teachers sync from KAMAR with subjects/ whanau classes, and the corresponding students attached.
Mentor Conference- a Customisable conference where you add the staff you want and the students you want to those staff members (does NOT sync from KAMAR)
External Conference - good for students not yet in KAMAR, such as enrolment interviews. Caregiver access is via a code to book so no log in to SchoolPoint needed.
Setting up your conference (see below for EXTERNAL set up)
Navigate to Student Conferences down the left hand SchoolPoint Menu if you , or on your SchoolBridge Dashboard
Add the name, conference dates, select TYPE of conference (choose from the 3 above).
Choose between the 2 booking rules:
One booking per student per teacher, students and caregivers can make the booking
One booking per teacher, per residence, only Primary/Secondary caregivers can make the booking
If you chose One booking per student per teacher, students and caregivers can make the booking this will allow any of the users to see, create or edit the the booking. This will mean that both Residence A and B caregivers can see and edit the one booking for that student.
But there can only be one booking for each student/teacher - which some schools prefer.
We recommend using the One booking per teacher, per residence, only Primary/Secondary caregivers can make the booking option, which means that the Residence A booking is completely separate and hidden from the Residence B booking. It will also mean that you will have a larger number of bookings overall.
*You can choose to send email reminders to caregivers with booking confirmation. Ensure this setting is turned off for testing and turn on when live for bookings to be made.
*You can then choose your time set up.
*You can choose whether you want staff in the conference to be able to book their own breaks or not. You can customise the amount of breaks each staff member can have/ put in themselves. This is good for staff who may not be available for the whole day as they may be part time etc.
*Go to Rooms down the left menu to set the rooms up that you want to be able to assign staff to.
Note: Staff do not require any permissions to be able to see their own details within a conference. Once added to a conference, this visibility will be automatic. If they are an administrator, or have a permission to “Create / Manage Conferences” then they will have access to the whole conference. You can allow them the permission to export their own bookings and details however, or even allow select staff to book on behalf of other staff only. A new permission has been added to allow other staff to make bookings on behalf also.
You can choose to allow staff to book out their own breaks if you wish, or preset all breaks as an administrator.
Note: Staff will not get notified of a booking each time one is made- they simply need to log in and then view or export the bookings made, which will show the times booked and who they were booked by.
Please note: If you set a certain amount of breaks the staff can book themselves, it must INCLUDE the breaks you have already set as an administrator, or allow for these.
Manage Classes
In order to select which classes display for bookings, go to "Manage Classes" tab at the top and use the slider to exclude classes. You can search a class code or bulk exclude.
NOTE: You can now duplicate conferences which are already set up. This will NOT duplicate the times or breaks however as these often change on a day to day basis. This will keep the classes you have excluded and the type of conference set up initially. It is also possible to edit the times of the conference once set up.
Details/ Statistics and Reports/ Exports
There are several tabs under your conference dates. The Statistics will show once you click on this tab. Also the Reports/ Exports tab will show a variety of exports available. Along these tabs you will see "add mentor" to add a non timetabled staff member, add staff breaks, manage classes and check the email log of emails set to caregivers. You can now edit/ change the times of your conference which is a new feature October 2023.
Cancelling a Staff Member’s Bookings within a Conference
If a Staff member is unable to attend a conference or needs to cancel their booking, and bookings have already been made, you can click the "set unavailable" button beside the staff member and it will bring up a customisable email field. Customise this to explain reasons for cancelling and send email to caregivers who have booked. The staff member will then be removed from the list of bookable teachers so no other students can see to book with them.
At the student/ caregiver end, they will see a summary of their bookings, and it will show "This booking has been cancelled by the school" if this is the case. The Email Log button will show who has been sent an email and when it was opened.
Note: If you need to cancel an entire conference at any time, and not all caregivers have booked, the best option would be to update the message on the conference to advise postponed/ cancelled, and then close the booking but let it be visible to caregivers. Then when they log in to book, they will see this. You can export students with bookings and email them to advised the conference has been canceled also.
If a Booking is Cancelled or Changed- Notifications:
If a caregiver calls to cancel or change a booking for a student, the admin staff can change this within the conference. This will now trigger an email to go to the staff member to advise them of this change. Please note that this is only if changed/ cancelled in the ADMIN side of the conference.
Statuses of your Conference
In order to make your conference visible for bookings once it is all set up:
Select the "Status" drop down button found under the name of your Conference.
Change your status to PUBLISHED- Bookings Open
In order to ensure your conference is NOT visible to students or caregivers but editable and viewable for Staff/Admin:
Navigate to "Student Conferences" in the left hand navigation.
Select "Manage Conference" in the side menu.
Select "Manage" next to the Conference you would like to setup these restrictions against.
Select the "Status" drop down button found under the name of your Conference.
Change your status to PENDING (Admin only) or PROOFING (for all staff to view and edit own)
You can set the conference to "Proofing" to test what students/ caregivers will see. Then navigate to the "Search Students" > Log in as Student or caregiver (via SchoolPoint option). This must be done via the admin screen.
NOTE: in order for a completed conference to be hidden from students once over, change this to CLOSED/ENDED (no parent or teacher access). This effectively just archives the conference. If you leave it at CLOSED it will still show for students and caregivers but will display that the conference has closed.
We also have the ability to hold Google Meet Conferences.
You can choose this in the set up of your conference. Please note: you will need to get your School IT person to set this up initially, via these INSTRUCTIONS. Find out more about the Online Conferences HERE
There is now the ability within the Timetabled Conference, to limit the student's booking to one only. This is great if there is more than one tutor/ subject teacher, so the student/ caregiver can choose to book with one or the other, but not both.
Select appropriate year levels for whom the conference is set up for.
Helpful Hints
Mentor Classes: When adding staff to a Mentor conference, you can add a "Display Name" at this time, which will appear next to the Staff member. For example, if you wanted to call a staff member "TEACHER A", this would be above their actual name, in the Display Name field. When you then add a student to that staff member, you can do the same at this time, so the student will log in a see TEACHER A, but not necessarily know who they are making a booking with. See screen shots below.
Ideal for: conferences where you might have multiple teachers available but not sure who on the day, will be meeting with the student
External Conferences- All about them
Set up your conference as per the regular conference above. You will see a "Booking Code" appear. This is the code you need to give to students/ caregivers to be able to book with.
As an admin, you can also add students in manually via the admin. This "Make Booking" tab will take you to the registration screen in a new window:
Adding Staff:
Under View Conference Details => click Add Mentor. Here you can choose a name to show to the students, whilst picking an actual teacher from the staff list drop down:
Once this is set up and PUBLISHED, students or caregivers (whichever you choose) can book via your SchoolPoint URL, or the conference link as shown above in the screenshot.
schoolname@SchoolPoint.co.nz
Enter their registration code and student/ caregiver details, which will bring them to this booking screen:
The caregiver/ student will then get an email confirmation of the booked time.
There are 3 types of conferences to choose from:
Please note we are always working on the functionality to improve our conference area and value your feedback.
Timetabled Teachers- Tutor or Subject teachers sync from KAMAR with subjects/ whanau classes, and the corresponding students attached.
Mentor Conference- a Customisable conference where you add the staff you want and the students you want to those staff members (does NOT sync from KAMAR)
External Conference - good for students not yet in KAMAR, such as enrolment interviews. Caregiver access is via a code to book so no log in to SchoolPoint needed.
Setting up your conference (see below for EXTERNAL set up)
Navigate to Student Conferences down the left hand SchoolPoint Menu if you , or on your SchoolBridge Dashboard
New Conference
Add the name, conference dates, select TYPE of conference (choose from the 3 above).
Booking Rules
Choose between the 2 booking rules:
One booking per student per teacher, students and caregivers can make the booking
One booking per teacher, per residence, only Primary/Secondary caregivers can make the booking
If you chose One booking per student per teacher, students and caregivers can make the booking this will allow any of the users to see, create or edit the the booking. This will mean that both Residence A and B caregivers can see and edit the one booking for that student.
But there can only be one booking for each student/teacher - which some schools prefer.
We recommend using the One booking per teacher, per residence, only Primary/Secondary caregivers can make the booking option, which means that the Residence A booking is completely separate and hidden from the Residence B booking. It will also mean that you will have a larger number of bookings overall.
*You can choose to send email reminders to caregivers with booking confirmation. Ensure this setting is turned off for testing and turn on when live for bookings to be made.
*You can then choose your time set up.
*You can choose whether you want staff in the conference to be able to book their own breaks or not. You can customise the amount of breaks each staff member can have/ put in themselves. This is good for staff who may not be available for the whole day as they may be part time etc.
*Go to Rooms down the left menu to set the rooms up that you want to be able to assign staff to.
Note: Staff do not require any permissions to be able to see their own details within a conference. Once added to a conference, this visibility will be automatic. If they are an administrator, or have a permission to “Create / Manage Conferences” then they will have access to the whole conference. You can allow them the permission to export their own bookings and details however, or even allow select staff to book on behalf of other staff only. A new permission has been added to allow other staff to make bookings on behalf also.
You can choose to allow staff to book out their own breaks if you wish, or preset all breaks as an administrator.
Note: Staff will not get notified of a booking each time one is made- they simply need to log in and then view or export the bookings made, which will show the times booked and who they were booked by.
Please note: If you set a certain amount of breaks the staff can book themselves, it must INCLUDE the breaks you have already set as an administrator, or allow for these.
Manage Classes
In order to select which classes display for bookings, go to "Manage Classes" tab at the top and use the slider to exclude classes. You can search a class code or bulk exclude.
NOTE: You can now duplicate conferences which are already set up. This will NOT duplicate the times or breaks however as these often change on a day to day basis. This will keep the classes you have excluded and the type of conference set up initially. It is also possible to edit the times of the conference once set up.
Details/ Statistics and Reports/ Exports
There are several tabs under your conference dates. The Statistics will show once you click on this tab. Also the Reports/ Exports tab will show a variety of exports available. Along these tabs you will see "add mentor" to add a non timetabled staff member, add staff breaks, manage classes and check the email log of emails set to caregivers. You can now edit/ change the times of your conference which is a new feature October 2023.
Cancelling a Staff Member’s Bookings within a Conference
If a Staff member is unable to attend a conference or needs to cancel their booking, and bookings have already been made, you can click the "set unavailable" button beside the staff member and it will bring up a customisable email field. Customise this to explain reasons for cancelling and send email to caregivers who have booked. The staff member will then be removed from the list of bookable teachers so no other students can see to book with them.
At the student/ caregiver end, they will see a summary of their bookings, and it will show "This booking has been cancelled by the school" if this is the case. The Email Log button will show who has been sent an email and when it was opened.
Note: If you need to cancel an entire conference at any time, and not all caregivers have booked, the best option would be to update the message on the conference to advise postponed/ cancelled, and then close the booking but let it be visible to caregivers. Then when they log in to book, they will see this. You can export students with bookings and email them to advised the conference has been canceled also.
If a Booking is Cancelled or Changed- Notifications:
If a caregiver calls to cancel or change a booking for a student, the admin staff can change this within the conference. This will now trigger an email to go to the staff member to advise them of this change. Please note that this is only if changed/ cancelled in the ADMIN side of the conference.
Statuses of your Conference
In order to make your conference visible for bookings once it is all set up:
Select the "Status" drop down button found under the name of your Conference.
Change your status to PUBLISHED- Bookings Open
In order to ensure your conference is NOT visible to students or caregivers but editable and viewable for Staff/Admin:
Navigate to "Student Conferences" in the left hand navigation.
Select "Manage Conference" in the side menu.
Select "Manage" next to the Conference you would like to setup these restrictions against.
Select the "Status" drop down button found under the name of your Conference.
Change your status to PENDING (Admin only) or PROOFING (for all staff to view and edit own)
You can set the conference to "Proofing" to test what students/ caregivers will see. Then navigate to the "Search Students" > Log in as Student or caregiver (via SchoolPoint option). This must be done via the admin screen.
NOTE: in order for a completed conference to be hidden from students once over, change this to CLOSED/ENDED (no parent or teacher access). This effectively just archives the conference. If you leave it at CLOSED it will still show for students and caregivers but will display that the conference has closed.
We also have the ability to hold Google Meet Conferences.
You can choose this in the set up of your conference. Please note: you will need to get your School IT person to set this up initially, via these INSTRUCTIONS. Find out more about the Online Conferences HERE
There is now the ability within the Timetabled Conference, to limit the student's booking to one only. This is great if there is more than one tutor/ subject teacher, so the student/ caregiver can choose to book with one or the other, but not both.
Select appropriate year levels for whom the conference is set up for.
Helpful Hints
Mentor Classes: When adding staff to a Mentor conference, you can add a "Display Name" at this time, which will appear next to the Staff member. For example, if you wanted to call a staff member "TEACHER A", this would be above their actual name, in the Display Name field. When you then add a student to that staff member, you can do the same at this time, so the student will log in a see TEACHER A, but not necessarily know who they are making a booking with. See screen shots below.
Ideal for: conferences where you might have multiple teachers available but not sure who on the day, will be meeting with the student
External Conferences- All about them
Set up your conference as per the regular conference above. You will see a "Booking Code" appear. This is the code you need to give to students/ caregivers to be able to book with.
As an admin, you can also add students in manually via the admin. This "Make Booking" tab will take you to the registration screen in a new window:
Adding Staff:
Under View Conference Details => click Add Mentor. Here you can choose a name to show to the students, whilst picking an actual teacher from the staff list drop down:
Once this is set up and PUBLISHED, students or caregivers (whichever you choose) can book via your SchoolPoint URL, or the conference link as shown above in the screenshot.
schoolname@SchoolPoint.co.nz
Enter their registration code and student/ caregiver details, which will bring them to this booking screen:
The caregiver/ student will then get an email confirmation of the booked time.
Updated on: 11/04/2024
Thank you!