Setting Up Meals - Step 4 - Scheduling Meal Sittings

This guide takes you through the fifth step of setting up a meal in Arbor, scheduling Meal Sittings. A sitting is the location and time a meal (like Lunch) takes place. Without a sitting, you won't have meal registers.

This guide is the fifth in a series of eight. The other guides in this series are:

• Setting Up Meals - Introduction
• Setting Up Meals - Step 1 - Adding a Meal
• Setting Up Meals - Step 2 - Adding Provisions
• Setting Up Meals - Step 3 - Adding Prices
• Setting Up Meals - Step 4 - Scheduling Meal Sittings
• Setting Up Meals - Step 5 - Managing Attendees
• Setting Up Meals - Optional - Regular Meal Choices
• Setting Up Meals - Frequently Asked Questions and Further Reading
   

Scheduling Sittings

A sitting is the location and time a meal (like lunch) takes place. You can set up more than one sitting if you split up student meal times. For example, if Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 have different meal times. 

Each meal sitting session equates to one meal register and is an event that will appear on the calendars of the sitting's attendees. If you do not have meal sittings scheduled, you will not be able to record any student meals on that date, because no register exists for that day.

Add a meal sitting:

• Go to School > Meals > [on the left-hand side] Setup
• Click on 'Meal Sittings Scheduled' in the table under the meal you want to add a sitting to.
• Click the green 'Add Sitting' button in the top-right corner to enter a name for your sitting.
• On the slide over, enter the name of your sitting in the Meal sitting name bo.x
• Then, click the green "Add Meal Sitting" button.

If you require multiple sittings, repeat the above steps for each additional sitting.

Add sessions to a sitting:

• Click on the 'Schedule Meal Sessions for [name of your sitting]' (the example in the screenshot shows KS1, but the button will reflect the name you gave your sitting).

  

• On the slide-over, enter further details about your sitting, such as:
  • Which Terms your sitting runs during in the Terms box. Leaving this blank schedules sessions for every term. Selecting one or multiple terms schedules sessions for the specified terms.
  • The Days of the week you're sitting are scheduled for. Leaving this blank schedules sessions for every day of the week. Selecting one or multiple weekdays schedules sessions for the day, or days, you specify.
  • The Start time of your sessions - this is the time that sessions start during the terms and days you specify above. This field is required.
  • The End time of your sessions - this is the time that the session ends during the terms and days you specify above. This field is required.
  • The Location where the session takes place - this field is optional. The options you can choose are dependent on the sites and rooms you have set up on the School > Timetable > Sites & Rooms page. If you need to add a site or room to choose from, please refer to our Adding a new site or room location guidance.
• Click on 'Schedule Meal Sessions' to add your sessions to your sitting

If your meal session will be at the same time every day, leave the 'Day of the week' field blank. The same applies to 'Terms'.

If you have sessions on different days of the week with varying locations or times, add your sessions in multiple batches by repeating the steps for each start time, end time, or location.

Top Tip: Ensure that lunch starts after scheduled lessons have ended. Otherwise, this will create an attendance clash for students. 

Making edits to sittings and sessions

To delete a sitting you have not started using:

• Click on Sitting name under the sitting heading you want to delete
• Click the red Delete button

You are not able to delete sittings you have started using. If you do need to delete a sitting you have begun using, please contact your Arbor support team.

To change session locations, start and end times or effective dates:

• Click on the session you want to delete in the Timetable Slots section.
• Click the orange Edit button on the slide-over
• Make your edits in the relevant boxes
• Click the green Save Changes button 

To delete sessions:

• Click on the session you want to delete in the Timetable Slots section.
• Click the orange Edit button on the slide-over.
• Click Delete Timetable Slot
• Click Delete on the pop-up.

It is not possible to delete sessions in bulk, except by deleting the entire sitting that the sessions are part of. 

Warning: Deleting sessions is irreversible, so be certain you want to delete a session before taking this action.

Once you are happy with your sittings, move on to the next step in the process and the following guide in this series: Setting Up Meals - Step 5 - Managing Attendees