An easy-to-follow checklist for setting up Guardian Consultations (Parents Evening) in Arbor - the fast path through the process, with links out to the full step-by-step guides for anyone who needs more detail on a given step.
Permissions
- The Guardian Consultations: Administer permission is needed to set up and manage guardian consultations.
If you don’t have these permissions, ask your admin team to grant them using these instructions.
Guardian Consultations setup checklist
1. Check before you start
Decide these things first, as some are more difficult to change later:
- Separate meetings: Decide if each guardian linked to a child can book their own meeting (for example, for separated parents). You choose this when you add meetings in step 3.
- One consultation, not several: If your evening runs over several days, create one consultation across all the days. Several consultations let parents book a meeting for each one.
- Staff calendars: Staff need availability set and no clashing events. Remove placeholder events from staff calendars, as these stop meetings from being bookable.
- Virtual meetings: Arbor does not create meeting links. If meetings are online, create a Google Meet or Microsoft Teams link yourself and share it with guardians.
- Next year: Parents can only book through the Parent Portal or App in the current academic year. For next year’s meetings, you will need to book slots for parents manually.
Full steps: Introduction - Setting up Parents Evenings (Guardian Consultations)
2. Create the consultation
Go to Students > Parents & Guardians > Guardian Consultations and click +Add.
Fill in the slide-over:
- Consultation Name: Parents can see this on the Portal or App, so make it clear.
- Consultation Starts / Ends: The earliest the first meeting could start and the latest the last meeting could end.
- Self-Scheduling Opens / Closes: The window when parents can book through the Portal or App. Leave these blank if you do not want parents to book themselves.
Click Save Changes. You will land on the consultation Overview page, where you can edit these details at any time.
Top Tip: A consultation can only be deleted if it has no scheduled meetings. Use the red Cancel Guardian Consultation button on the Overview page.
Full steps: Creating a Consultation - Setting up Parents Evenings (Guardian Consultations)
3. Add meetings
Planning a meeting tells Arbor which staff members parents can book with. Adding a meeting doesn't assign it a time.
On the Overview page, click +Add in the Meetings section and choose a meeting type:
- Plan meetings with registration form tutors: Meetings between parents and their child’s Registration Form Tutor. Planned for a whole form at once, with the Form Tutor added automatically.
- Plan meetings with non-registration form tutors: Meetings between parents and any staff member you choose. Planned for a whole form at once.
- Plan meetings with course leads: Meetings between parents and the teachers of a course or class. Planned for a whole course at once, with the academic lead added automatically.
- Plan custom meetings: Bespoke meetings between any student’s parents and staff. Planned per student (you can select several at once), and you choose the attending staff.
Then complete the details:
- Student group (form, course or students)
- Staff (non-form tutor and custom meetings only)
- Suggested Duration (HH:MM)
- Location (one room only, from your Sites and Rooms)
- Allow separate meetings (on by default; called Independent bookings for custom meetings)
Click the green Setup Meetings button.
The Meetings Planned item on the Overview page will show a green tick.
Top Tips:
- Parents cannot choose which staff member they meet. If a meeting is with multiple staff, all of them must be available for it to be bookable.
- When adding a custom meeting for more than one student in one go, tick Separate student meetings to avoid sharing students’ details with other parents.
- If a custom meeting duration of 1:00 gives an error, enter 55 minutes or 1 hour 5 minutes instead.
- You can change Allow separate meetings later using All meetings > Bulk action.
Full steps: Adding Meetings - Setting up Parents Evenings (Guardian Consultations)
4. Set staff availability and breaks
Meetings are only bookable when staff have an availability period. Setting staff availability determines the times and dates meetings can be booked for.
- From the Overview page, go to Staff Availability click +Add.
- Choose Register Staff Availability (one staff member) or Bulk Set Staff Availability (several staff at once)
- Enter the Available from and Available until times and click Save Changes.
If a Cover required warning appears on the Overview page, click it to arrange cover or mark cover as not required.
Top Tips:
- Plan at least one meeting for a staff member (step 3) before adding their availability, or it will not show in the list.
- If you see “availability has already been registered”, edit the existing period instead of adding an overlapping one.
- If a meeting is already booked during a new break, you will need to reschedule or cancel it manually.
Full steps: Availability and Breaks - Setting up Parents Evenings (Guardian Consultations)
5. Manage your meetings
Once meetings are planned, you can adjust them from the consultation Overview or All Meetings page.
- Book a meeting for a parent: Click the meeting, choose a Time slot and click Book time slot. Use Book custom time-slot for a different length.
- Change a time or room: Click the meeting and choose a new time slot or room.
- Change staff: Tick the meetings, then Bulk Action > Change Staff Members.
- Remove meetings: Tick unbooked meetings, then Bulk Action > Cancel Unbooked Meetings. Booked meetings must be unscheduled one by one first.
- Download timetables: Use the green Staff Timetable button on All Meetings to see rooms.
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Send communications: Tick individual meetings on All Meetings and use Bulk Action to choose your communication method.
Top Tip: If the Time slot dropdown is empty, check that every attending staff member has matching availability and no clashing events or absences.
Full steps: Meeting Management - Setting up Parents Evenings (Guardian Consultations)
6. (Optional) Specific setups
- Split families and separated parents: Keep Allow separate meetings ticked. Guardians who did not book a meeting see that one exists, but the time and location show as Undisclosed.
- Next academic year: Parents cannot self-book until the new year starts. Book manually in the meantime.
- Applicants: Applicants are not eligible. Use custom meetings and book manually.
- Shared teaching: All teachers must be available at once. Consider splitting meetings between teachers or removing a teacher.
Full steps: Specific Setups and FAQs - Setting up Parents Evenings (Guardian Consultations)
What this guide does not cover
This checklist covers setting up a consultation only. It does not cover:
- Booking as a parent: See Booking Guardian Consultations (Parent’s Evenings) on the Parent Portal or Parent App
- Reporting: See Reporting on Guardian Consultations
- Sharing with parents: See Sharing Parents Evenings with Parents and Guardians
FAQs / Further reading:
- Full walkthrough for every step above: Start here Introduction - Setting up Parents Evenings (Guardian Consultations)
- Common questions: Guardian Consultations (parents evening) FAQ
- Booking problems: Why can’t a slot be booked for a Guardian Consultation?
- Shared teaching: Best practices and troubleshooting for job share consultation meetings or meetings with multiple staff
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