Appearance
Navigating the portal
Who this is for: All users
What you'll achieve: Find every area of the school portal
First days (focused setup)
New admins do not see this sidebar until a school is ready to go live or live. Until then the header is Guide, Help, and Sign out. Help & ideas still works from Help. The Assistant button is hidden so setup stays on one task. See Initial setup.
Sidebar sections
The portal groups pages into three sections for cover and admin roles. Classroom staff see a short list instead: My schedule, Missed, and Help, with no Rota / Cover / School headings. On a phone, tap Menu in the top bar to open the same list. Inbox sits at the bottom of the sidebar (and as a shortcut on a phone). Your account and Sign out are also at the bottom.
Rota
| Page | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Today | Run the day. Fill gaps, mark people off, cover lessons, and publish |
| Week | See who is booked. By person, timeline, or duty area |
| My schedule | Your own duties, lessons, and (if allowed) a calendar subscribe URL |
Cover
| Page | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Absences | Record planned or same-day absences |
| Missed | Staff only in the menu. Log duties or weekly blocks that did not happen |
School
| Page | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Staff | Directory, lunches, weekly blocks (admin) |
| Setup | First-run wizard. After the school is live, open it from Settings |
| Settings | People, school look, cover rules, billing, and school setup |
| Help | Ask a question, report a problem, or request an improvement |
Change requests, downloads, coverage, and inbox stay a click away from Today, Week, or Settings. They are not listed in the sidebar.
School branding
Your school name appears under the SchoolRota wordmark at the top of the sidebar. If you upload a logo, it appears beside the wordmark. The primary colour in Settings derives the portal palette.
Conditional pages
| Page | When it appears |
|---|---|
| Coverage | Operator enables analytics. Open from Today (Week menu) or Settings |
| Assistant (button, bottom right) | On by default for new schools (daily usage allowance). Admin can turn it off |
| Outlook calendar / Google Calendar | Opened from Settings → School → Staff calendars, not the sidebar |
| Microsoft profile photos | Opened from Settings → School → Microsoft profile photos, not the sidebar |
Tips
- After login, new admins start in guided setup. After a school is live (or you skip setup), you start on Today (or My schedule for staff).
- Day-to-day cover questions go in the Assistant button (bottom right).
- Many pages keep filters in the URL (for example date and zone on Today) so you can bookmark or share a view.
- On a phone, page actions stack under the title, week days share the row, and wide tables scroll inside their card instead of stretching the screen.
- Permissions hide or disable actions you cannot perform: see Roles and permissions.