Setting Up Your Care Schedule

Setting Up Your Care Schedule

The care schedule is the foundation of every contract. It tells KinderStart which days a child attends, how many hours to invoice for, and how to handle weeks that break the pattern — school holidays, alternating rotas, and before-and-after-school sessions included.

Getting the schedule type right at the start means your contracts, invoices, and attendance records all line up automatically.

The Four Schedule Types

All four schedule types go through the same contract workflow: create → generate → send → parent approves.

Fixed Schedule

The same days every week, every week.

Fixed is the most common schedule type. The child comes on agreed days — for example, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday — and the pattern repeats every week until the contract ends or is renegotiated.

How to set up a Fixed schedule

1. Go to the child's profile and swipe across to the Contracts tab.
2. Tap the + button to add a new contract and select the parent's name from the list.
3. Fixed is selected by default — leave it as is.
4. Tick the days the child attends each week.
5. Set the start and end times for each day if they differ.
6. Scroll to Rates & Funding and enter your hourly rate. If the child receives funded hours, select the appropriate funding entitlement.
7. Scroll to the bottom and tap Generate Contract, then confirm.
8. Tap Send. The parent receives a notification and taps Approve to confirm. The contract is then live.

Alternating Schedule (Week A / Week B)

Different days on alternate weeks — for example, Mondays and Tuesdays one week, Thursdays and Fridays the next.

Alternating schedules are common in shared care arrangements (where a child splits time between two parents) or for families where one parent works a fortnightly shift rota.

KinderStart tracks which week you're in automatically, so attendance and invoicing always line up with the correct week's pattern.

How to set up an Alternating schedule

1. In the child's Contracts tab, tap + and select the parent.
2. Tap Alternating as the schedule type. Two tabs appear at the top: Week A and Week B.
3. On the Week A tab, tick the days for the first week (for example, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday).
4. Tap the Week B tab and tick the days for the second week (for example, Thursday, Friday).
5. Set the daily hours for each day if they differ between weeks.
6. Scroll to Rates & Funding, select any funded hours, and enter your hourly rate.
7. Tap Generate Contract → confirm → Send.
8. The parent taps Approve to confirm.

Term-Time Schedule

Care during school term weeks only — with the option to add different arrangements for school holidays.

Term-time schedules are used when a child only attends during term time. KinderStart uses your term dates to calculate the invoiced weeks, so you're never invoicing for weeks you don't work.

If you also provide holiday care for the same child at different hours or a different rate, you can add a Holiday Schedule within the same contract.

How to set up a Term-time schedule

1. In the child's Contracts tab, tap + and select the parent.
2. Tap Term-time as the schedule type.
3. Tick the days the child attends during term weeks and set the daily hours.
4. Optional — holiday care: If you also provide care during school holidays, tap Holiday Schedule. Set the days and hours for holiday weeks separately. These can differ from term-time days.
5. Scroll to Rates & Funding, add your rate and any funded hours, then tap Generate Contract → Send.
6. The parent taps Approve.

Invoicing for term-time care

When you generate a Termly invoice for a child on this schedule, KinderStart uses the term dates to calculate the total automatically. For monthly invoicing, it prorates based on the term weeks within that calendar month.

Wrap-Around Schedule

Before-school sessions, after-school sessions, or both — tracked separately within one contract.

Wrap-around care covers the sessions either side of the school day. You might do the morning drop-off, the afternoon pick-up, or both. KinderStart tracks each session type separately so your attendance records and invoices are clear.

How to set up a Wrap-around schedule

1. In the child's Contracts tab, tap + and select the parent.
2. Tap Wrap-around as the schedule type.
3. Tick the days the child attends and select which sessions apply: Before school, After school, or both.
4. Set the start and end times for each session type.
5. Enter your hourly rate and any funded hours, then tap Generate Contract → Send.
6. The parent taps Approve.

Sending and Approving the Contract

All four schedule types go through the same approval process once generated:

1. Tap Send — the parent receives a notification in their KinderStart app.
2. The parent taps Documents & Contracts, opens the contract, taps View PDF to read it, then taps Sign Document.
3. They draw their signature and tap Confirm & Sign.
4. The contract status changes to Approved and invoicing becomes active for the child.

Changing a Schedule Mid-Contract

If a family's needs change — for example, they want to add a day, switch from fixed to term-time, or change their times — you'll need to generate a new contract. The original signed contract remains on file alongside the new one.

To generate a new contract:

1. Go to the child's Contracts tab.
2. Tap the existing contract to view it, then tap Amend.
3. Adjust the schedule, generate, and send for the parent to re-sign.

This keeps your audit trail complete — both the original terms and the updated terms are recorded.

Next Steps

• Set up billing: Once the contract is live, the billing method determines how invoices are calculated. See Choosing Your Billing Method.
• Understand funding: If the child receives funded hours, see Finance Dashboard: Complete Overview.
• Set term dates: Required for term-time and termly billing — go to Settings → Term Dates in the app.