Setup

Subjects

What each class-section is taught, and who teaches it. The timetable and the gradebook both read this page, so it comes before either of them.

Watch

3 minutes 37 seconds.

0:07 The two halves
0:29 Choose the class-section
0:41 Assign a subject and teacher
0:56 Core or elective
1:16 Changing your mind
1:31 Teacher, taking, removing
1:55 Adding to the catalogue
2:19 Electives, properly
2:55 Opting a student in
3:20 The electives on offer

The two halves

The page does two different jobs, and mixing them up is the usual confusion.

Card	What it is	Scope
School subject catalogue	The list of subjects your school teaches at all. Just names.	The whole school
Taught in this classroom	Which of those subjects one section is taught, and by whom.	One class-section

The simple rule

Adding a subject to the catalogue teaches it to nobody. It only makes the name available. A subject is taught when it is assigned to a class-section on the left.

Assigning a subject

Choose the class-section at the top. Everything below changes with it.
In the row at the bottom, pick the subject from the catalogue.
Pick the teacher who takes it.
Tick Elective if it is optional, or leave it clear for a core subject.
Press Assign.

A section that has just been made says No subjects assigned to this classroom yet, rather than showing an empty table.

The teacher

This matters more than it looks. The teacher on this row is what:

the timetable uses to stop the same teacher being in two rooms at once
the gradebook uses to decide who may type marks for that subject
appears to students and parents as the teacher of that subject

You can change it at any time from the same row. It takes effect at once.

A subject left unassigned

Setting the teacher to — unassigned — is allowed, but it costs you two things: the timetable cannot check that teacher for clashes, so it warns you when you open the builder, and nobody can enter marks for that subject at all.

Core and elective

Every assigned subject is one or the other. It decides who studies it.

	Core	Elective
Who studies it	Every student in the section	Only the students opted in
When they get it	The moment you assign it	When someone ticks it on their profile
A student enrolled later	Gets it automatically	Has to be opted in
Where it is chosen	Nowhere — it just applies	Students → the student → Subjects

The Core / Elective badge is a switch — click it to change your mind. And theTaking column counts how many students are studying that subject right now.

Electives in depth

Electives trip people up, so it is worth being precise. Three things are true of them:

1Marking a subject elective gives it to nobody. It only offers it to that section. Straight after you assign it, Taking reads 0 — that is correct, not a fault.
2Students are opted in one at a time. Two students in the same section can study different subjects, which is the whole point of an elective.
3The Taking count is your check. An elective sitting at 0 halfway through term is one nobody was opted into — usually an oversight rather than a choice.

Switching core to elective

Clicking the badge from Core to Elective stops it applying to everyone automatically. Going the other way, from Elective to Core, gives it to every student in the section. Both take effect immediately, so check the Taking count afterwards to see what actually happened.

Opting a student in

This is the step people look for and cannot find, because it is not on this page.

Go to Students and open the student.
Find the Subjects panel on their profile.
The core subjects are listed first and cannot be changed — they come from the section.
Underneath are the electives their section offers, each one a button you switch on.
Switch on the ones this student takes, then press Save subject selection.

The save button only appears once you have changed something. From the moment you save, the subject is on that student's timetable, their register and their report card.

If the panel shows no electives

It says No electives offered to this classroom. That means the student's section has no subject marked elective — go back to Subjects, pick that section, and mark one. A student can only be opted into what their own section offers.

The catalogue

For a subject the school has never taught, add it on the right: a name and an optional short code such as CS. It is then available to every class, in every year.

Spell it carefully

A subject can be added to the catalogue, but it cannot be renamed or removed. A misspelled subject stays in the list for every class to see.

That restriction is deliberate rather than an oversight: a subject carries marks, attendance and timetable periods behind it, and deleting one would take those with it. But it does mean the name you type is the name you keep.

Do this before the timetable

A timetable period is a subject in a slot, and the subject is what brings its teacher. Until a section has subjects with teachers against them, the timetable builder has nothing to place and the gradebook has nothing to mark.

The order that works: Academic setup → Subjects → Timetable.

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