Adding a child

Adding a child takes two steps: the child's basic details, then their contacts. Open Children and choose Add Child to begin. Staff with the children.manage permission can add children.

Step 1 — the child's details

• First Name and Last Name (required).
• Gender — Boy or Girl.
• Home Room — the room the child is based in.
• Date of Birth — can't be a future date.
• Start Date — when the child starts. A start date in the future puts the child on the Waitlist; once the start date arrives they become Active.
• Connect to sibling (optional) — link an existing child as a sibling. This lets you copy the sibling's contacts in the next step, saving you re-typing shared family details.

Choose Continue to move on.

Step 2 — contacts

Add the people connected to the child — parents, family, and anyone who can collect them. For each contact:

• First Name and Last Name (required).
• Relation label (optional) — a friendly label such as "Mum" or "Grandad".
• Invite as — choose Don't invite, Parent, or Family. This controls whether they're emailed an invitation to follow the child (you can always invite later).
• Email and Phone — at least one is required; email is needed if you're inviting them.
• Emergency contact — tick if this person should be called in an emergency.

You can add up to ten contacts, and copy contacts across from a linked sibling. Then choose Save — or Save and Invite if any contact is being invited.

For more on contact types and what each can do, see Contacts and relationships.

Child status

Every child has a status that Meadow keeps in step with their dates:

• Waitlist — a start date set in the future.
• Active — currently attending.
• Departed — has left (recorded with a leave date and reason).