Blocking out times
If you have staff that cannot attend an event at specific times, you can block out those times to prevent parents and caregivers from booking them, which we call an "interview break".
When a time for a staff member is blocked or marked as a break, it will be shown as Unavailable to parents and caregivers.
When can I block out times?
You can start blocking out times as soon as your event is created, but we recommend blocking out any times before your event is open for bookings, to avoid any situations where a parent has booked a time that a staff member cannot attend.
Who can block out times?
By default only school administrators are allowed to block out times for staff.
If you would like to allow staff to be able to block out their own times, you can allow this from the Teacher Settings page by enabling the "Allow teachers to set their own breaks" setting. Once enabled, staff can sign into their account and set their own breaks.
Managing blocked times
For school administrators:
- Under the Teachers section in the main menu, click on Interview Breaks
- Choose the event you'd like to manage
- Choose the date to view
For staff:
- Click on Interview Breaks in the main menu
- Choose the event you'd like to manage
- Choose the date to view
You'll be presented with a grid of staff members and every time slot for that particular date. By default each square is green, representing a time that is available for parents to book.
Red squares indicate that a time has been blocked and cannot be booked by parents.
White squares indicate that the staff member already has a booking for that particular time, which cannot be blocked.
Blocking out a single time
To block a time, click on a green square for a particular staff member and time, which will mark it as red. This indicates that the staff member cannot be booked for that time.
If the time you need to block is already booked, you'll need to cancel the interview first before blocking it.
Unblocking a single time
To unblock a time for a staff member and time, click on the red square which will turn back to green, indicating that it is ready to be booked by parents.
Blocking a single time for all staff
Only applicable to school administrators
If there is a particular time you would like to block for all staff members, such as a 5-10 minute break between bookings, this can be done by clicking on the Bulk Toggle Slot button above the grid.
You'll be asked to choose the time and whether that time should be marked as available (green) or unavailable (red)
Limiting how many breaks staff can set
Only applicable to school administrators and when staff can set their own breaks
If your school allows staff to set their own breaks, but want to limit the number of breaks they can take, you can click on the Limit Teacher Breaks button and set the total number of breaks a staff member can set.
If a staff member attempts to exceed this limit, they'll be told to contact a school administrator to set the breaks on their behalf.
To remove the limit and allow unlimited breaks, set the break limit to 0.