Your holiday: tell students early
Announce your dates a few weeks ahead, in one message to everyone – before the end of term is ideal. Say clearly what happens to prepaid lessons: they aren't lost, they simply move to the lessons after you're back. Parents think about money first, so answer that before they ask.
Don't delete your weekly lessons for the time you're away. You'd have to rebuild the whole timetable afterwards, and you'd lose the record of who usually comes when.
A student's break: pause, don't remove
When one student is ill, on a family holiday or stops for exam leave, pause only their lessons for those dates. Their slot stays theirs, unless you agree otherwise. If someone else wants that hour in the meantime, make it clear the slot comes back when the pause ends.
For a long or open-ended break, it's often simpler to end the series and agree a new time when the student is ready.
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Download on the App StoreWhat happens to prepaid lessons
The fair rule is simple: money paid for lessons that won't take place stays on the student's balance and pays for the next lessons after the break. No refunds to work out and no lessons to count by hand.
Lessons that fall in your holiday aren't the student's cancellation, so they shouldn't count against them or as lost income for you.
Holiday and pause in Squool
Set a holiday in Settings → Holiday: every lesson in those dates is removed from the timetable automatically, and you don't reschedule anything by hand. To pause one student, open their card and tap ‘Pause’ – only their lessons for those dates disappear.
Money a student paid in advance stays on their balance and goes to their lessons after the break. Lessons removed by a holiday or a pause aren't shown as lost income. When the dates end, the weekly lessons simply continue; you can also end a holiday or pause early.
When a student leaves for good
If a student stops altogether, archive them instead of deleting. Prepaid money for future lessons returns to their balance, and their history stays. If they come back, Squool shows their old weekly days and lets you choose which are still free.
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Questions and answers
What happens to prepaid tutoring lessons when I go on holiday?
They should stay on the student's balance and pay for the lessons after you're back. In Squool this happens automatically when you set a holiday.
How do I pause weekly lessons for one student?
Pause only that student for the dates. In Squool open the student card and tap ‘Pause’; the rest of your timetable stays as it is.
Do lessons during my holiday count as cancelled or lost income?
No. In Squool lessons removed by a holiday or a pause don't appear as lost income.
Do I have to rebuild my timetable after half-term?
No. Weekly lessons carry on by themselves after the holiday dates.
A student is stopping for the summer – pause or archive?
Pause if they're coming back at the same time in September; archive if the break is long or open-ended. Archiving keeps their history and returns prepaid money to their balance.
Read also
Weekly lessons
How to plan a weekly tutoring timetable: students twice a week at different times, moving one lesson, changing time or price from next term, ending a series.
Tracking payments
A simple way for UK tutors to track payments: one balance per student, prepaid blocks and termly fees, who owes you and how much. Paper, Excel or an app.
Missed & cancelled
How to write a fair 24-hour cancellation policy for private lessons, when to charge for a missed lesson, and how to track income lost to cancellations.
Early years tutors
Phonics, early reading and school-readiness tutors: short sessions, parents' payments, sick-day cancellations and each child's month on iPhone, iPad and Mac.
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