Switching dance school software without losing a term
The fear of switching keeps schools on systems they have outgrown. In practice a move takes a fortnight of evenings if you migrate the right things and pick the right week in the calendar.
Switch between terms, not mid-term
The cleanest moment is the gap before a new term, after the previous term has been billed and reconciled. You start the new term with fresh registers and no half-paid invoices spanning two systems.
Migrate only what you need
- Families and dancers with contact details and dates of birth
- Current class allocations and capacities
- Medical, access and consent records
- Outstanding balances, not the full historical ledger
- Teacher list with DBS status and assigned classes
Keep the old records, archive them properly
Export historic invoices and attendance to a dated archive before you close the old account. You need it for HMRC and for any data request, but it does not need to live in the new system.
Tell parents once, clearly
One short email explaining what changes for them (a new login, the same fees, bookings in one place) beats a long technical explanation. Send it the week before, with a second reminder on the day the portal opens.
Run the first week deliberately
- Check every class has the right dancers and capacity
- Confirm the first payment run before it goes out
- Ask teachers to mark registers digitally from day one
- Keep a list of the questions parents ask and fix the top three
