What an after-school program needs from its software

Part-week spots, who may pick a child up, allergies on a phone, PA days and monthly billing: what to check before an after-school program picks its software.

Jul 14, 2026 · 5 min read

At 3:15 the bell goes and forty children come through your door. Twelve of them only come Mondays and Wednesdays. One has a peanut allergy and an EpiPen in their backpack. A grandmother picks up on Thursdays, and one dad isn't allowed to pick up at all. Next Friday is a PA day, and half the parents still need full-day care.

That's an ordinary afternoon, and it's why an after-school program needs more from its software than a Saturday dance class does. Here's what to check, in the order it tends to go wrong.

Part-week registration

Most families don't need all five days. Some want three, some two, some change in January when a sport starts. If you let every family pick any combination, you'll end up with a full Monday, a half-empty Friday, and no way to sell the gap.

Sell a few fixed patterns instead: all five days, Monday-Wednesday-Friday, and Tuesday-Thursday. Each day then has its own count, and you know exactly which afternoon has a spot to offer.

Price the patterns so part-week pays its way. Say:

A month has about 4.3 weeks, so five days is roughly 21 afternoons. Part-week costs a little more per afternoon on purpose: the empty Friday next to a Tuesday-Thursday child is a spot you'll struggle to sell.

What to ask of any software:

• Can each pattern have its own spots, so Monday fills on its own?
• Can a family switch patterns mid-year, and what happens to the bill?
• Can you take one extra afternoon as a drop-in, and is there a cut-off (noon the day before is common)?

Pick-up and who may collect a child

This is the most serious information you hold, and it has to be in front of the person at the door, not in a binder in the office.

For every child, you need the adults who may pick them up, how to reach each one, and anyone who may not, with the paperwork behind it. Ask families to send you a copy of any court order that limits who may collect their child. Without one on file, staff are in a very hard spot when that parent arrives, so ask your licensing office or a lawyer what your policy should say.

At 5:55, when someone your staff haven't seen says they're Leo's uncle, the staff member should be able to check Leo's list on their phone in five seconds. The script for when the uncle isn't on it:

"I'm sorry, I can only let Leo go with the people Leo's family has listed. Let's call them together and sort it out."

Record who each child left with, and when. It's the record you'll want the one time something goes wrong.

Then decide the late pick-up rule before September, not after the third time it happens. A common shape: a grace period of five minutes, then $1 a minute, billed that week. Put it on the registration form and on a sign at the door. The fee isn't really about the money; it's about staff who have their own children to collect.

Allergies and medical notes, on a phone

Staff in the gym need to know, without looking anything up, which children have allergies, where the EpiPen is, and who has asthma or a seizure plan. A list taped inside a cupboard in the office doesn't do that. A note beside the child's name on the attendance screen does.

Ask at registration, every year, and keep the questions short and specific: "Does your child have any allergies? What happens, and what should we do?" Long forms get skipped (more on that in registration forms).

Decide who sees medical notes. The staff in the room need them; a renter using your gym on Saturday doesn't. Ask the same question about photo consent, and make sure the "no photos" children are marked where the person holding a phone can see it.

PA days, holidays and the school calendar

Your program lives on the school calendar. Every school board publishes its PA days (professional development days, or teacher workdays in much of the US), and each one is a day when working parents need care from 8 to 6.

Load the board's calendar in August, and treat each PA day as its own one-day camp: registered ahead, priced on its own (say $55 for the day), with its own spots. It's some of the easiest revenue you'll have all year, because the demand is already there.

Close for the days you won't run (the winter break, statutory holidays) so nobody can register for them, and decide in advance what a snow day means. If the schools close for weather, do you? Write it down and tell families in September.

Monthly billing

Families think about after-school in months, and so does their bank account. Bill on the 1st, from the card on file, without anyone sending an invoice. Prorate a family starting mid-month, take a sibling discount off automatically, and put the late pick-up fees on the same bill.

Two things to plan for:

• Year-end receipts. Families in both Canada and the US may be able to claim after-school care on their taxes, and they'll ask you for a receipt. What it has to show differs between the two countries, so check with an accountant before January.
• Subsidies. Some families pay through a municipal subsidy or an employer program, so one child's fee comes from two places. Ask any software how it handles that, and how you'll see what each payer still owes.

Also check whether your program needs a child care licence. It depends on the children's ages, your hours and your province or state, and a licence brings its own rules on ratios and records.

When a spreadsheet is enough

A program running three afternoons a week for twenty regular children, all paying the same, can live on a spreadsheet and e-transfers. The moment families start switching patterns, the first PA day sells out, or a pick-up question can't wait for you to find the right tab, the spreadsheet is costing you more than it saves.

Caletan runs after-school programs on classes and camps: each pattern of days is a class with monthly tuition billed on the 1st, the register shows each child's allergies and who picks them up, and a PA day is a one-day camp where staff tap who each child went home with.