Have you ever found yourself scrambling to count how many kids are in your 4:00 PM session or wondering if you accidentally booked too many students on a Tuesday Schedule Blocks give you a cleaner picture of it all – which slots are full, which ones still have room, and who’s showing up when. For a busy center, that kind of clarity can save you a real headache at the front desk.
Schedule Blocks simplifies your day-to-day:
- Schedule time block capacity at a glance. You’ll see a color-coded view of your whole week showing exactly how full each time slot is.
- Faster scheduling. You set up each time slot once. After that, adding a student to “Tuesdays at 3:00 PM” is just a quick assignment – no re-typing the same time over and over.
- Make-ups and trials, handled cleanly. Drop a make-up or a trial student into any slot right from your weekly board, and it’s recorded automatically.
- Less confusion for your staff. Everyone sees the same clean list of times with names and student limits, so the front desk always knows what’s going on.
If you’ve already started scheduling students at specific times, jump down to Migrating to Schedule Blocks below!
Starting Schedule Blocks #
This section is for you if you’re brand new to Foundation Roster, or if you’ve decided to build your Schedule Blocks from scratch rather than converting what you already have.
Step 1 – Create New Schedule Blocks in the Capacity menu #
From the main menu, navigate to Scheduling → Capacity. This is where you’ll manage all of your weekly time slots.
Step 2 – Create your first block #
Click the Add Block button. You’ll see a short form asking for:
- Day – which day of the week this slot runs (for example, Monday).
- Start time – when the session begins (for example, 3:00 PM).
- Duration – how long the session runs (for example, 60 minutes).
- Capacity – how many students this slot can hold (for example, 6). This is your guide – the system will warn you if you go over, but it won’t stop you.
- Name (optional) – useful when you run more than one thing at the same time. For example, if you have a group and a one-on-one both starting at 3:00 PM on Monday, you could name them “Group A” and “Independent” so they’re easy to tell apart.
Click Save when you’re done.
Step 3 – Repeat for the rest of your week #
Go through your weekly schedule and add a block for every regular time slot you run. Take your time here – getting a clean list of blocks makes everything else easier.
Tip: If you run the same sessions on multiple days – for example, a group session every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at the same time – create a separate block for each day. Blocks are per-day.
Step 4 – Assign students to blocks #
Once your blocks are set up, head to each student’s profile and assign them to the blocks they attend. You can also do this from the block itself – open any block and use the Assign Students option to add multiple students at once.
When a student is assigned to a block, they’ll show up on your weekly roster grouped under that time slot.
Step 5 – Check your Capacity Utilization view #
Go to Scheduling → Capacity Utilization. You’ll see your whole week laid out with color-coded bars showing how full each block is. Green means you have room, and a fuller or over-capacity block will stand out right away. This is your new best friend for planning.
That’s it – you’re up and running! #
From here, when you enroll a new student, you’ll assign them to one or more blocks instead of typing times onto their profile. Adding a make-up session or scheduling a trial for a new lead is done right from the weekly board.
Migrating to Schedule Blocks #
This section is for you if you’ve been using Foundation Roster already and have existing student schedules that were set up using flexible scheduling. Instead of starting from scratch, Foundation Roster can do the heavy lifting and convert your current schedules into blocks automatically.
Your existing records are completely safe. The migration doesn’t delete anything – your student schedules, attendance history, and past records stay exactly as they are.
Before you start #
Take a few minutes to look over your current student schedules. The migration works by grouping students who are already scheduled at the same day and time into a single block. If your times are consistent – most students at your center are on clean, regular hours – the result will be very tidy. If some student times are a little off (for example, one student has 3:00 PM and another has 3:05 PM when they really attend the same session), you may want to tidy those up in flexible scheduling first so they group together correctly.
You’ll also want to decide on a default session length before you run the migration. The tool will ask you for one and apply it to all the new blocks it creates. You can adjust individual blocks afterward, but picking a number close to your typical session length – say, 60 minutes – saves you cleanup time.
Step 1 – Go to the Schedule Blocks page #
From the main menu, go to Scheduling → Schedule Blocks. If you haven’t created any blocks yet, you’ll see the option to run the one-time transition.
Step 2 – Start the transition #
Click Set Up Schedule Blocks (or the equivalent transition button on the page). Foundation Roster will tell you how many students and how many unique times it found in your current schedules.
Step 3 – Enter your default session length #
When prompted, enter the default duration for your sessions (for example, 60 minutes). This gets applied to every block the system creates. You can always go back and change individual blocks after the fact.
Step 4 – Confirm and run #
Review the summary and click Confirm. The system will:
- Look at all of your students’ current recurring times.
- Group every student who shares the same day and time into one block.
- Assign each student to their matching block automatically.
- Leave your original schedules and attendance history completely untouched.
The migration usually completes in just a few seconds.
Step 5 – Review and fine-tune your new blocks #
Go back to Scheduling → Schedule Blocks and look through what was created. This is a great time to:
- Set capacities. The migration creates blocks but doesn’t assume a seat limit. Open each block and add a capacity that matches how many students you actually want in that slot.
- Add names. If any blocks share the same day and time (because you run parallel groups), give them clear names so your staff can tell them apart.
- Spot any surprises. If a student had a slightly different time than their classmates, they may have ended up in their own block. Reassign them to the right block if needed.
Step 6 – Check your Capacity Utilization view #
Once you’re happy with your blocks, head to Scheduling → Capacity Utilization for the full picture of your week. With capacities set, you’ll see color-coded bars showing which slots are comfortably booked and which are getting full.
You’re all set! #
Going forward, new students get assigned to blocks instead of having individual times typed onto their profiles. Make-up sessions and lead trials are handled right from the weekly board. And any time you want a quick read on how your week is looking, Capacity Utilization has you covered.
Changed your mind? No problem. If you remove all your Schedule Blocks, your site goes back to flexible scheduling and the transition option becomes available again. It’s not a one-way door.
