Smart Parents events and sign-ups

4 steps 5 min Updated 4 November 2026

Events you create here appear on the calendar in the parent app. Unlike a Google Calendar, which parents can only read, an event created here can be signed up to — so you get a list of who is coming without chasing replies by email. You need to be an admin who holds Manage Smart Parents.

Before you start

Smart Parents must be enabled for your school — see Smart Parents settings.

Your school also has to be using events created here as its calendar source. On the Settings tab, set Calendar source to Events created here and select Update settings. Until you do, the Events tab says "Parents don't see these events yet: the school's calendar still comes from Google Calendar."

A school uses one source or the other, never both. Switching from Google Calendar to Events created here means parents stop seeing the Google calendar and start seeing this list — which will be empty until you add events. Nothing is copied across, so add your events before you switch, not after.

Parents on an older version of the Smart Parents app keep seeing the Google Calendar until they update the app, so keep the Google Calendar up to date as well for a while after you switch.

Open Smart Parents in the sidebar and choose the Events tab (it has no sidebar shortcut of its own).

Step 1: Create the event

On the Events tab, select New event and fill in:

Event name and, if it helps, a Description (up to 5,000 characters) and Location.
All-day event if it covers the whole day — times are then ignored.
Starts and, if there is one, Ends. Leave Ends empty if there is no finish time. An event can start up to a year ahead.

Select Save draft ("Event saved as a draft. Publish it when you are ready for parents to see it."). Nothing is visible to parents yet.

To change an event later, select Edit on its row, then Save changes. Changes to a published event show to parents straight away.

Step 2: Let parents sign up

Tick Parents can sign up and choose:

Sign up — For each child (a trip or a parents' evening, where each child needs a place) or Once per family (a fair or a concert, where the family comes as one). Once any parent has replied you can't change this ("Parents have already replied, so who replies can't change now.").
Places — the total number of places. A reply that's going takes one place, and each guest the parent adds takes one more (a parent can add up to 20 guests). Leave it empty for no limit. When the places are used up parents see Full.
Sign-up closes — defaults to when the event starts, and can't be later than that.

Step 3: Publish it, and tell parents

On the event's row:

Publish puts it on parents' calendars in the app straight away, without telling anyone.
Publish and tell parents does the same, then opens a notice about the event, ready to send: its name, when and where it is, your description, and — if parents can sign up — a line asking them to reply and a Reply button that takes them to the sign-up. It starts addressed to every parent. Change who it's for, check the preview, and select Send notice. Nothing goes to parents until you do. See Add a parent notice.

To tell parents about an event that's already published, select Tell parents on its row.

An event you have published can be put back to a draft with Unpublish (you're asked to confirm: "Take … off parents' calendars? It goes back to being a draft. Any replies are kept."), which hides it again.

Admins can add events from teacher mode in the Smart Parents app too. Those are published straight away, and appear in this list. Events sent by your school website also appear here: see Send website news, events and alerts to the Smart Parents app.

Publish and tell parents and Tell parents only appear once the school's calendar source is Events created here — until then parents' app can't open the event the notice points to.

Step 4: See who is coming

Select Who is coming on any event with sign-up turned on. You get every reply — going, not going, and anyone who signed up and later withdrew (Withdrew) — with the parent's name and email, the child's name, guest numbers and any note the parent left.

Export CSV downloads the same list (Parent, Email, Child, Response, Guests, Note, Responded).

The number on the event's row, under Sign-up, is places taken, against the limit if you set one.

Finding events

The list shows Upcoming, Past and Drafts (choose with the buttons above it), and you can type in Search events. An event counts as past once it has finished, or, with no end time, once it has started. Each row shows the event, when it is, its sign-up, a status (Draft, Published or Cancelled) and its actions. The list shows up to 100 events.

Cancelling an event

Select Cancel event on a published event's row and confirm ("Cancel this event?" → Yes, cancel it). The event stays on parents' calendars marked as cancelled, and the replies are kept. A cancelled event can't be published again.

This is deliberate: a parent who signed up needs to find out it is off, and an event that simply disappears from the calendar tells them nothing. Cancelling doesn't send anything — if it's close to the day, send a notice as well.

If something doesn't work

Parents can't see the event. It must be Published (not Draft), and Calendar source must be Events created here. Parents on an old version of the app only see the Google Calendar until they update.
"Parents can't open this event yet: set Calendar source to Events created here on the Settings tab first." You chose Tell parents while the calendar still comes from Google. Change the calendar source first.
"Give the event a name." / "Say when the event starts." Both are needed to save.
"That is more than a year away. Check the date." An event can start up to a year ahead.
"The event cannot finish before it starts." Check Ends is after Starts.
"A limit has to be a whole number, at least 1. Leave it empty for no limit." Fix or clear Places.
"Sign-up has to close by the time the event starts." Move Sign-up closes earlier, or clear it.
"Keep the details under 5,000 characters." Shorten the Description.

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