Documentation

Getting started

SkoolBase runs in the web browser on a computer, tablet or phone. There is nothing to install, but on a phone you can choose Add to Home screen to open it like an app.

1. Register your school

Go to Sign up and enter your school's details and the administrator's details. Your school gets a 3-character school code, which appears in every Student ID and in your online application link. New schools start on a free trial; its length is shown when you register.

2. Secure your account

On first sign-in you link an authenticator app (such as Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator) and save your recovery codes. Two-factor authentication is required for every staff account. See Accounts and sign-in.

3. Set up the school year

1. Create the academic year and its terms, and mark the current ones. Attendance, fees and exams belong to a term, and the dashboard warns you if no current term is set.
2. Create your classes (for example Creche, Nursery 1, Pre-school, KG 1, Basic 4, JHS 2) and choose each one's level: Creche / Day care, Nursery, Pre-school, Kindergarten, Primary, JHS or SHS.
3. Check the grading scales for each level and confirm the bands your school uses.
4. Add fee items for the term and bill them to classes.
5. Add your staff. Each one receives an email invitation to set up their own account.

4. Bring in students

Admit students one by one, import a spreadsheet, or open online applications. Then issue parent portal PINs so families can follow their child's progress.

Accounts and sign-in

Everyone signs in at /login. What you see after signing in depends on your role, and roles are stored by the school, not chosen at sign-in.

• Two-factor authentication is required for all staff accounts. If a phone is lost, sign in with a recovery code, or ask an administrator to help you recover the account.
• Automatic sign-out happens after 30 minutes without activity, so a shared office computer isn't left open.
• Administrators can suspend or deactivate a staff account straight away when someone leaves.
• Update your name, phone number and security settings under Profile & security.

Admissions and Student IDs

Use Admit student to enrol a child directly, or review applications on the Admissions page and admit or reject each one. An admission records the child's name, date of birth, gender, place of stay, class, admission date and the guardian's name, relationship, phone and emergency phone. A photo is optional.

How Student IDs are made

Every admitted student gets a permanent Student ID, generated automatically so it can never be duplicated. Most are 8 characters long:

So Kwame Mensah, admitted to school K7Q in 2026, could be KMK7Q622. Codes avoid look-alike characters (0/O and 1/I) so they're easy to read out over the phone. A Student ID isn't a password: parents also need their PIN to sign in.

Welcome SMS

If the admission greeting is switched on in Settings > Notification SMS, the guardian receives an SMS with the Student ID as soon as the child is admitted. The admission is saved even if the SMS fails, and failed notifications can be retried from Messages.

Online applications

Parents can apply without an account using your school's link:

/apply/<your school code> on your SkoolBase address, for example /apply/K7Q.

1. Go to Settings > Portal & attendance, tick Accept applications online and save. The link is shown there with a Copy link button.
2. Share the link on your website, WhatsApp groups or posters.
3. Parents choose a class from your list and fill in the child's and guardian's details. They receive a reference number when they submit.
4. Applications appear on the Admissions page marked Online. Admit or reject each one. Admitting creates the student and the Student ID.

Importing students

Moving from a spreadsheet? On the Students page choose Import and upload a CSV file (in Excel: File > Save As > CSV; in Google Sheets: File > Download > CSV).

SkoolBase checks the whole file first and lists any problems by row: an unknown class, an invalid phone number or date, a duplicate in the file, or a student who already exists with the same name and date of birth. Nothing is saved until you confirm. Then every valid row is admitted together, with Student IDs. Welcome SMS are sent only if you choose to send them.

Students, classes and promotion

• Each student profile brings together personal details, guardians, class history, attendance, results, conduct, fees and the parent portal PIN.
• A student's status can be active, transferred out, graduated, withdrawn or archived. Records are kept when a student leaves.
• Classes are assigned a class teacher and subject teachers. Teachers only see the classes they're assigned to.
• Use the search bar at the top of every admin page to find a student by name or Student ID.

Year-end promotion

At the end of the year, promote each class to its next class in the new academic year, or mark final-year students as graduated. The whole promotion is saved as one step, so a class is never left half-moved, and each student's class history is kept.

Attendance

Teachers open Take attendance, pick their class and mark each student present, late or absent, with an optional remark. Administrators can take any class's register.

Correcting a register

Teachers can correct past registers for a set number of days (2 by default; change it in Settings > Portal & attendance). After that, corrections must be made by an administrator.

Offline registers

If the connection drops, teachers can still take a register for the classes they teach. SkoolBase keeps the class list on that device and saves the register there. It is sent automatically when the device is back online, and the usual permission and time-window checks still apply. If a register is refused, the reason is shown. Everything stored for offline use is deleted from the device when the user signs out.

Timetable and calendar

• Weekly timetable: add lessons per class with a subject, teacher and time. SkoolBase refuses a lesson that clashes with another lesson for the same class or the same teacher.
• Teachers see their own lessons on the Today page. Parents see their child's class timetable.
• Exam timetable: schedule papers per class and subject. Two papers for the same class can't overlap.
• School calendar: add events for everyone (shown to parents too) or staff only.

Homework and lesson notes

Homework

Administrators and a class's teachers can set homework with a subject and due date. Teachers mark each student's work with a status, a score and feedback, and parents see all of it in the portal.

Lesson notes

Teachers write one lesson note per class and subject per week, then submit it. Administrators approve it or return it with a comment. Returned notes can be edited and submitted again. Teachers see only their own notes.

Conduct and students to watch

Record commendations and incidents for a student. Administrators and the student's teachers can record them. The term's counts and the class teacher's conduct remark are printed on the report card.

Students to watch

The dashboard lists active students who may need support, so you can step in early. A student is listed when any of these is true:

• attendance below 80% this term (with at least 5 registers taken);
• a latest exam average below 40%, or 10 or more points below the previous exam;
• 2 or more incidents in the last 30 days.

Administrators see the whole school; teachers see their own classes.

Exams and grading

Grading scales

Each school has grading scales per level, made of score bands (for example 80–100 = 1). Starter templates are included for every level: early-years proficiency levels for Creche / Day care, Nursery, Pre-school and KG, standards-based levels for Primary, the JHS nine-point scale and SHS A1–F9. They are marked unverified until you check the bands your school actually uses, record where they come from and choose Mark as verified. You'll find them under Exams & results > Grading scales.

Grades are always calculated by SkoolBase from the scale, never typed in. Once a scale has been used, it is locked; to change the bands you create a new version, so results already given are never silently changed.

From marks to results

1. An administrator creates an examination for the term and adds its assessments. Each one is for a class and subject, with a type (such as class work or the end-of-term exam) and a maximum mark.
2. Teachers enter marks for their subjects and publish each assessment when it's done. After that, the teacher can't change those marks. An administrator can correct them or reopen the assessment for the teacher (a reason is required and logged).
3. Results are weighted: class work counts 30% and the end-of-term exam 70% by default (the GES split). You can change the class-score weight in Settings. If only one part has marks, the total is that part.
4. SkoolBase works out each student's grade, subject position, overall average and class position.

Broadsheet

The broadsheet shows every student in a class against every subject, with weighted totals, average and position. You can print it or export it to CSV.

Report cards

1. Class teachers and administrators add comments and a conduct remark for each student.
2. An administrator publishes the examination. This locks all its marks and creates each student's report card.
3. Parents see the report card in the portal straight away. Use Download PDF to print it or save it as a PDF.

Each report card shows the school's name, logo and contact details, the head teacher's name and signature (if uploaded in Settings), the class teacher, subject results with grades and positions, the average and class position, attendance and conduct.

Correcting published results

Published report cards are never edited. If something is wrong, an administrator unlocks the examination and gives a reason, which is logged. Its report cards are withdrawn from parents until it's published again, and publishing again creates fresh report cards.

School fees and payments

Billing

On School fees, set the amount of each fee category (tuition, PTA levy, feeding and so on) for each class this term, then choose Bill students to charge every active student in the class in one step. Fees already billed are skipped, so you can run it again to bill students admitted later. To charge one student something extra, use Add fee on their fee statement.

Recording payments

Choose Record payment, find the student, and enter the amount and method. A numbered receipt is created straight away, and if payment confirmation is switched on, the guardian gets an SMS with the amount paid, the balance and the receipt number. Double-clicking or retrying never records the same payment twice.

Balances you can trust

A student's balance is always calculated from their records, never typed in:

balance = fees billed + debit adjustments − payments − credit adjustments

Payments, adjustments and receipts can't be edited. To fix a mistake, reverse the payment (once per payment) or add an adjustment with a reason. Both stay in the history, so it always explains every number.

Deleting a payment

If a payment was recorded in error (twice, or against the wrong student), an administrator can choose Delete on the Payments page or on the student's fee statement and give a reason. The payment, its receipt and any reversal of it are removed permanently, and the balance is recalculated. If the payment confirmation SMS hasn't gone out yet, it is cancelled.

Fee reminders

Use Send fee reminders to message guardians who still owe. The {balance_due} placeholder fills in each family's own balance, so one message works for everyone.

Expenses

Under Finance > Expenses, choose Record expense and enter the amount, date, category, what it was for, how it was paid and, if you like, who was paid and a reference (invoice, MoMo or cheque number). Each expense gets a voucher number such as EXPK7Q-000001. Retrying never records the same expense twice.

The page shows the period you choose (this month, a term, the year or your own dates): expenses, payroll from finalised pay runs, fees collected, and the surplus or shortfall, with spending by category and a month-by-month chart. Salaries belong in Payroll, not in expenses, so they are never counted twice.

Every school starts with common categories (utilities, stationery, repairs, transport and fuel, feeding and others). Add, rename or archive them on the Categories tab.

To fix a mistake, choose Edit; the audit log keeps the previous values. To cancel an expense, choose Void and give a reason: it stays on the list, marked void, and no longer counts in totals. Expenses can't be deleted by hand, and are removed automatically 3 years after their date, so export them first if you need them longer.

SMS messaging

Before you can send

• Your school needs an approved Sender ID (the name parents see, such as your school's short name) and its own Hubtel account. These are set up with SkoolBase support, and you can see their status on the SMS screen.
• Your SMS wallet needs credits. Top up through Paystack under Messages > SMS wallet.

Sending

Choose the recipients (the whole school, a class, or selected students' guardians), write the message and insert placeholders. For fee reminders, choose the minimum balance owed and, optionally, a class. SkoolBase shows the exact number of SMS parts and the credit cost for every recipient before you confirm. Each phone number receives the message once, even if it belongs to guardians of several children.

How messages are counted

A standard SMS holds 160 characters, or 153 per part when a message is split. Some characters (such as € [ ] { }) count as two. If the message contains characters outside the standard set, including Twi letters like Ɛ and Ɔ or emoji, each part holds 70 characters (67 when split). The live counter shows this as you type.

Message status

You can cancel recipients that haven't been sent yet, and their credits are refunded. SkoolBase never shows "accepted" as "delivered".

Templates and automatic notifications

Save messages you send often under Messages > Templates. The admission greeting and payment confirmation are set in Settings > Notification SMS. If an automatic SMS fails, the admission or payment is still saved, and the failure is listed under Communication > Automatic notifications so you can retry it.

Subscription and billing

• SkoolBase is billed monthly: a base fee for the school plus a fee for each student (see Pricing). Staff logins, employees and payroll are included.
• Pay one month at a time in cedis through Paystack under School > Subscription, which shows your bill: the number of students it counts and the total. The next month can be paid in the last 7 days of the current one, and is added to the end of it. Paying several months ahead isn't possible.
• The bill counts your active students on the day you pay, plus any student in an attendance register in the last 30 days. A payment counts only after Paystack confirms it.
• If the subscription expires, nothing is deleted. Dashboards, reports, records and exports keep working, but changes (admissions, attendance, marks, payments, SMS and settings) are paused until you renew.

Staff and employees

• Staff are people who sign in: administrators, teachers and other staff. Add them under People > Staff; each receives an email invitation and sets up two-factor authentication.
• Employees are people who don't sign in, such as drivers, cooks or security staff. Keep their job title, contact details and employment dates, and include them in staff attendance, leave and payroll.
• Staff accounts can be suspended or deactivated at any time, which ends their access immediately.

Staff attendance and leave

Record each person's daily status as present, late, absent, on leave or off duty, with check-in and check-out times. Approved leave fills in "On leave" automatically.

Staff request leave from My leave, and administrators approve or decline it. Administrators can also record leave for anyone, including employees.

Payroll

1. Give each person a salary profile: basic pay plus allowance and deduction lines. You can also set up pay items that are added to everyone automatically.
2. Create a pay run for the month. A draft payslip is created for every active staff member and employee from their profile.
3. Adjust individual payslips while the run is a draft. Totals recalculate as you edit.
4. Finalise the run. It is then locked, and staff can see their own payslips under My payslips.

Parent portal

Giving a parent access

1. Open the student's profile and choose Issue PIN. A 6-digit PIN is shown once. Give it to the guardian in person or write it down for them; it is never sent by SMS.
2. The parent signs in at /login on the Parent tab with the Student ID and PIN.
3. Parents with more than one child at the school can choose Add another child to switch between them.

What parents see

An overview, the class timetable, homework with scores and teacher feedback, the exam timetable, school calendar events, attendance this term, published report cards and, if you allow it in Settings, fee balances and payments. The portal is read-only.

Keeping it safe

• Too many wrong PINs lock the PIN for a while, and the lock gets longer with each repeat. An administrator can Unlock it from the student's profile.
• Lost PIN? Choose Issue new PIN. The old one stops working immediately.
• A parent session lasts 30 minutes and ends when the browser tab is closed.

Dashboards and reports

The administrator dashboard shows the number of students, who is in school today, fees collected this term and your SMS balance, followed by anything that needs attention (such as registers not yet taken or failed notifications) and the students to watch. Under Finance > Reports you'll find:

• Daily attendance per class: present, late, absent and not yet marked.
• Attendance summary per student for a period, with percentages.
• Fee collections by date and payment method.
• Arrears: every student who owes, with the guardian's phone number.
• Report cards by examination and class.

Teachers get Class reports for the classes they teach.

School settings

Archive, export and retention

Under School > Archive & export you can download:

• report cards per examination and class (printed to PDF, one card per page) and broadsheets;
• CSV files of students and guardians, fee balances, payments, expenses, attendance, the conduct log and the audit log.

Some records are removed automatically after a set time. Download anything you want to keep before then:

Security and privacy

• All traffic is encrypted (HTTPS), and every staff account uses two-factor authentication.
• Each school's records are separated at the database level, so one school can never see another's. SkoolBase's own platform staff can't see student, guardian or fee records.
• Photos, logos and signatures are kept in private storage and shown through links that expire after a few minutes.
• The audit log records important actions (who, what, when and the outcome). Passwords, PINs and SMS text are never written to it.
• SkoolBase has no advertising and doesn't sell personal information. See the Privacy Policy for details.

Frequently asked questions 🙋🏾