Enrolling students: single and bulk methods

What student enrolment does

Enrolling a student creates their permanent record in School Vault. From that record, teachers can take attendance, write daily reports, log observations, record health entries, and generate Learning Journals. Bursars can raise fee bills. Parents can access their child's portal. Everything in School Vault traces back to the student record.

Method A, Single student enrolment

Use this method when admitting one new student mid-term or when you want to enter detailed information immediately.

1. Go to Students from the sidebar and click Add Student.
2. Fill in the Personal Details section: first name, last name, date of birth, gender, and nationality.
3. Upload a student photo. This appears on the authorised pickup screen, fire register, and Daily Journey PDF. It is optional but strongly recommended for safeguarding.
4. Select the class section you are enrolling the student into (e.g. Nursery 2A).
5. Set the enrolment date, this defaults to today but can be backdated.
6. Fill in the Medical & Health section: known allergies, medical conditions, dietary requirements, and emergency medication notes. This information is visible to teachers and the school nurse.
7. Add the Primary Parent/Guardian: their full name, relationship to the child, phone number, email, and WhatsApp number (if different from phone). This creates their parent portal account.
8. Optionally add a Secondary Parent/Guardian and Authorised Pickups.
9. Click Save & Enrol. The student is now live in their class section.

Method B, Bulk student import

Use this method at the start of a school year when you have a full class list ready.

1. Go to Students from the sidebar and click Bulk Upload. Download the import template and open it in Excel or Google Sheets.
2. Fill in one row per student. Required columns: first_name, last_name, date_of_birth (DD/MM/YYYY format), gender (Male/Female/Other), class_section_code.
3. Optional columns: photo_url, allergies, medical_notes, parent_name, parent_email, parent_phone.
4. Save the file as CSV (not .xlsx) and return to School Vault.
5. Click Upload CSV and select your file.
6. School Vault validates each row and shows a preview. Rows with errors are highlighted in red with a description of the issue.
7. Fix any errors in your file, re-upload, and repeat until the preview shows no red rows.
8. Click Confirm Import. All students are enrolled simultaneously.

Adding a parent to an existing student

If you enrolled a student without parent details, or a parent changes their contact information:

1. Go to Students, search for the student by name, and open their record.
2. Go to the student's Profile tab and locate the parent/guardian section.
3. Click Add Parent/Guardian and fill in their details.
4. Set their relationship (Mother, Father, Guardian, etc.) and whether they should receive notifications.
5. Click Save. If you add an email address, an invitation to the parent portal is sent automatically.

Student record fields at a glance

• Personal Details, name, DOB, gender, nationality, photo, student ID (auto-generated)
• Enrolment, class section, enrolment date, admission number
• Medical Info, allergies, conditions, dietary notes, emergency medication
• Parents & Guardians, unlimited contacts, relationship type, notification preferences
• Authorised Pickups, people allowed to collect the child (name, photo, relationship)
• Documents, birth certificate, immunisation record, any uploaded file

Common mistakes

• Using the .xlsx format for the bulk import template instead of saving as CSV, the importer only accepts CSV files.
• Entering a date of birth in the wrong format (e.g. 2020-05-12 instead of 12/05/2020), the importer expects DD/MM/YYYY.
• Enrolling the same student twice because a search did not find the existing record, always search first before enrolling.
• Skipping the medical information section, teachers and nurses rely on this data. An allergy not recorded in School Vault is an allergy that could be missed.
• Not adding a parent email address, without it, the parent cannot access the portal and will not receive daily reports digitally.