Using Instant Book to manage Lunch Bookings

If your school has a pre-prepared menu for snacks and lunches, SchoolsBuddy can be utilised to create a Canteen Style menu to accommodate this, both with or without payments.

Step 1 - We set up an Instant Book & Pay Container.

1. Click on Activities & Clubs (This may be labelled differently for your school).
2. Click on Instant Book & Pay (Please contact SchoolsBuddy if you would like other bespoke label, such as 'Lunches').
3. Click on +Add.
   
   
4. Create the Container.
   • Sign Up Title : give the container a title, e.g. 'Lunch term 1 2024'
   • Description : add in description
   • Allow booking cancellation and Block clashes
   • Maximum Bookable events per group : set to 0
   • Start date / end date : set as the dates you wish for parents to be able to select school lunches
   • Start time / end time : set as your school's lunchtimes
   • Responsibility for Confirmation : must select one of the options from 'Parent Only' or 'Students or Parents' or 'Students Only'
   • Sign up opens date and time : set as before the first event
   • Sign up closes dates and time : set as before the last date of the 'Activities End Date'. This is just a default time as we are able to set up on the event 'Sign up opens' a week ahead of the date and 'Sign up closes' on the day on the event.
   • Tick Select All and Use Organisation Block Dates checkbox and it will be the decision of your school to whether Accept Voucher Payments. 
   • Terms & Conditions : add as you require
   • If required, you can add a Booking Data Form so that when a parent/student books for lunch, you can acquire further information, e.g. food allergies etc. If you wish for an additional form please contact SchoolsBuddy. 
   • Click on Save
     

Step 2 - We create the Groups.

1. If you are not assigning year groups but individual groups of children, we will need to create a custom group, such as one for children who qualify for free school meals. Please refer to Creating a Group help guide for creating custom group.
2. Once necessary custom groups are created. Click on Manage of the lunch container, and you will land in Groups to click +Add.
   
3. Create the Groups.
   • Title : give the group a title, e.g. 'Free School Meals'
   • Description : add in description if required
   • Available to / Prerequisite/ Unavailable to : select who the group will be available to
   • Gender : select the gender of the students who are eligible for the group
   • Choose the Lead Staff member.
   • Select the Activity type (please contact SchoolsBuddy if you need new activity type).
   • Select the Default location. If you don't have a suitable location available, you can Creating Event Locations. 
   • Click Save.

Step 3 -  We create the events for the groups. 

1. You will need to make two sets of events if you have lunches that are free of charge and other lunches that carry a charge. Go to Create Events and click on + Add New.
2. Create the Events.
   • Title: This will be the name of the snack or lunch option, e.g. Hot meal - Meat
   • Vital and Additional Information: Add anything that you think may be useful to the parent/student or leave blank.
   • Booking Options: Choose Individual
   • Number of places: Leave as 0 unless you have a limit on lunch places
   • Create for groups: Depending upon the event we are creating will determine which group to select. In this case, the Hot Meal- Meat is free of charge. So I have selected the free school meals group. 
   • Location: Check the 'Use group default location'
   • Event Type: Choose Wrap around care - This will allow you to see the dates when booking. If you do not require dates then you can choose fee-only event type. Please contact SchoolsBuddy if you need new event type.
   • Cost Type: If there is no fee involved, select 'Free'. If there is a fee involved, change this to 'Chargeable' and set the Price per session accordingly.
   • Percentage to pay at time of booking/Deposit (%): If you wish for parents/students to pay in full at time of booking, set this to 100. If you want them to pay later, set this to 0.
   • Includes Tax: Check this box if you wish to include tax.
   • Payment method: Select 'Default - Create fees (and allow online payments if applicable)'. If you wish to hide or ignore the fees, select 'Hide/Ignore fees'
   • Frequency: Set to 'Multiple days' and check the start and end dates are correct
   • Sign Up Opens and Closes Dates: Here, you have the option of giving each individual event it's own sign-up opens and closes date. Leave blank to use the container defaulted dates. In this example, it opens up 7 days before the date and closes 4 hours before lunchtime, allowing parents to book on the morning if required. You can have these to suit your school protocol. 
   • Click Create Rule
   • You may receive a warning message after pressing Create Rule; this is due to creating numerous events at the same time with the different options. This is fine and you should click the green Yes, create rule anyway button.
   • The events can be Copy if you have a chargeable group that will need to pay for school lunches you will need to create a duplicate your free event with a charge associated. 
     
     

Step 3 - We publish the events.

1. Click on Publish Events
2. Select the events (the toggle boxes will turn green)
3. Toggle the 'I confirm' checkbox
4. Click Publish
   
5. Once published, under View Events/Bookings you will see all the events published. Additionally, you can manually book for students as required via Preview/ Manual Booking. The events will produce a register that you can export to know numbers to cater to for each preference. 
   

Parent View of the lunch bookings