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Smart WP Calendar

A shared events calendar for your school website — manage events in WordPress and display them as a table or carousel.

Overview

Smart WordPress Calendar lets you manage school events — term dates, parents' evenings, sports fixtures, open days — and display them on any page using a shortcode. It supports multiple named calendars, CSV and ICS import, and two display modes: a table or a carousel slider.

Events are stored in a shared database, which means calendars can be shared across multiple school sites in a multi-academy trust.

There is also a simpler built-in calendar shortcode in Realsmart Core ([smartCalendar]) that pulls from a Google Calendar — see the Technical Reference below.

Getting Set Up

  1. Go to Smart WP Calendar in the WordPress sidebar.
  2. Go to Calendar Options and enter your calendar names (one per line).
  3. Set a Default calendar name.
  4. Go to Add Event to create your first event.
  5. Add the shortcode to a page: [smart_wordpress_calendar]
  6. Publish and check the display.

Features

Managing events

Where to find it: Smart WP Calendar → Add Event

Create events with date, time, title, description, and calendar assignment.

Calendar options

Where to find it: Smart WP Calendar → Calendar Options

Setting What it does
Calendar names One calendar name per line (e.g. "Term Dates", "Sports", "Whole School")
Default calendar name Which calendar to use when none is specified
Import Upload CSV or ICS files to bulk-import events

Displaying events

Shortcode: [smart_wordpress_calendar]

Parameter What it does Default
calendar_id Show events from a specific calendar ID —
calendar_ids Multiple calendar IDs —
calendar_name Filter by calendar name —
calendar_names Multiple calendar names —
limit Maximum events to show 50
show_past Include past events (yes or no) no
display Display mode: table or carousel/slick table
slides_to_show Slides visible in carousel mode 3

Examples:

  • [smart_wordpress_calendar calendar_name="Term Dates"]
  • [smart_wordpress_calendar display="carousel" slides_to_show="4" limit="10"]

Common Tasks

Adding term dates

  1. Go to Smart WP Calendar → Add Event.
  2. Create an event for each term start/end date.
  3. Assign to a "Term Dates" calendar.
  4. Add [smart_wordpress_calendar calendar_name="Term Dates" show_past="no"] to your term dates page.

Importing events from a spreadsheet

  1. Prepare a CSV or ICS file with your events.
  2. Go to Calendar Options.
  3. Select the target calendar and upload your file.
  4. Import and verify events appear correctly.

Tips & Best Practice

  • Use separate calendar names for different event types — it makes filtering easier.
  • Set show_past="no" on public-facing pages to keep the list current.
  • Carousel mode works well on homepages; table mode is better for dedicated dates pages.
  • For MAT trusts, the shared database means events can be managed centrally.

Troubleshooting

No events are showing

Why it happens: The shortcode may be filtering by a calendar name that has no events, or all events may be in the past.

How to fix it:

  1. Check events exist under Smart WP Calendar.
  2. Verify the calendar_name in the shortcode matches exactly.
  3. Try adding show_past="yes" temporarily to see if events are being filtered out.

The calendar page shows a database error

Why it happens: The shared calendar database may not be configured for your site.

How to fix it:

  1. Contact Realsmart support — the multisitelinks database connection may need setup.

Technical Reference

Built-in Google Calendar shortcode (Realsmart Core)

Realsmart Core also includes a simpler calendar via Google Calendar API:

Shortcode Parameters Example
[smartCalendar] id, number [smartCalendar id="your-calendar-id" number="6"]

This pulls events directly from a Google Calendar and does not use the Smart WP Calendar admin interface.

Last updated: 9 July 2026 · Plugin version: 1.0.0

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