Summer Programs - Here Comes the Sun!

It's time to start planning for the Summer Season! Offering programs during the summer helps to keep revenue flowing year-round, provides a much-needed service for families when kids are out of school, and it's a great opportunity to market to new families.

A few things to keep in mind:

Classes may only last a week or two.
Families may prefer a daily enrollment option.
Different policies may be required.
Registration fees may or may not be needed.
Deposit or payment may be required prior to the start date.

Check out this On-Demand Webinar: Summer Programs with Jackrabbit!

Expand each section to learn more about summer programs.

Classes or Events? What Works Best?

How to set up your summer programming is the key to making things go smoothly for both your business and the families participating in your programs.

Q. Should I set up my summer programs or camps as Classes or Events?

A. Jackrabbit recommends setting up your summer programs as Classes for the following reasons:

Take attendance in the Staff Portal or use Self Check-in to have the most up-to-date camp rosters.
Offer flexibility using Per-Day Classes allowing families to choose the days their student plans to attend.
Communicate with families/students by text or sending a push notification.
Create custom summer policies, add them to policy groups and assign the groups to classes.

Learn more about why to Set Up Camps as Classes.

Q. What about Events? I use Events during the year for my Holiday Camps.

A. Events are a great option for separating your summer programs from your regular class schedule.

Display summer programs in a calendar format on your website.
Ask questions and collect responses in a specific format from families/students.
Customize the registration form for each Event Type with a graphic, description, etc.

Check out Compare Events & Classes in Jackrabbit for a summary of similarities and differences between classes and events.

Things to Consider

We know you are busy this time of year so we put together a few additional questions to help plan your upcoming summer programs.

	*Do you need to create custom policies for your summer camps*? There are many reasons why you may need to create summer policies, here are a few to think about: The payment policy for the summer is different than the regular school year. Your cancellation/refund policy could be different than your regular programming policies. Students may be on your premises for longer periods of time during the summer and a lunch/snack policy may be necessary for food allergy considerations, etc.
	*Do you need a new Category 1?* Create a new Category 1 to track revenue for your summer programs. If your summer programs vary greatly from your regular programs, creating a new Category 1 will make revenue tracking easier.
	*Did you offer summer camps last year?* When summer camps are set up as classes, you can use the Enrollment Detail report to help you determine any adjustments for this year’s summer camps.
	*Can you afford to offer multi-student/multi-class discounts?* Set up your summer programs as Classes and consider offering only multi-student discounts as demand for quality summer programs may be high. Always keep your bottom line in mind when discounting!
	*What's the best way to market your summer programs so you stand out from the competition?* Think outside the box from your normal yearly programming and plan some fun, creative activities for maximum student engagement. Blog Posts Preparing for summer camp at your youth activity center 5 Ways to Get a Jump Start on Your Summer Dance Camp Planning Best Ways to Improve Student Retention in Your Cheer Gym

Set Up & Manage Summer Programs as Classes

If you decide to use Classes for summer programming, it's time to start setting them up and managing registrations and enrollments.

Add Classes	Review your class schedule and Add Classes. The class start and end dates may only be for a one-week duration. Per-Day Classes are a great option to allow students to select which days they want to attend. These are for classes that meet at the same time on multiple days of the week. Create Sessions and assign them to classes. This makes it easy to copy multiple classes at once allowing you to quickly create your Summer Programs from existing classes. Learn more about maintaining two Sessions of classes simultaneously and transitioning to a new session of classes. Use the Weekly, Daily, Monthly, Room Calendars/Schedules to check rooms and instructors are not double booked.
Tuition Settings	Check to see if you need to update your Tuition Settings. Discounting - If you use the Tuition Billing Method of By Class Fee, use a new Discount Rule when summer programs don't offer the same discounts. If you use the Billing Method of By Total Hours, check the checkbox for Exclude from Total Hours Count on the Summary (tab) of the Class record. Any Multi-Student Discounts will still apply. Prorating - If your Prorating Options are set to Yes for your programs during the year, you may turn off prorating for individual summer program classes.
Edit Classes	Make changes to your classes as needed. Use Edit All Classes to modify multiple classes at once. Use the All Classes page to Assign Policy Groups for your summer programs to multiple classes at once. Learn more about Legal Policies. If a Registration Fee is not required for your summer programs, be sure the checkbox in class records for Has a Registration Fee? is not checked.
Registration & Enrollment	We recommend the following: Use the Process Class Registrations report to manage class enrollments. Refer to our Tuition Billing in 4 Steps - Fine Tune Your Process hub to step through the tuition billing process. Locate families that need to agree to your policies. Go to the Families (menu) > All Families grid and set Policies: show families that have agreed to all active policies to No. Use the Send a Message (icon) > Email to send a reminder email to these families.

Set Up & Manage Summer Programs as Events

If Events work best for your summer programming, start by reviewing your schedule of events and adding additional events as needed.

Create an Event

Adding an event is a two-step process. An Event Type acts as an "umbrella" for all the specific dates and times of that type of event. For example, an Event Type of Summer Camp Weeks could have dates of 6/20/22, 6/27/22, 7/11/22, etc.

Step 1 - Create an Event Type - All the Summer Programs can fall into this event type.

On the Summary (tab), you will see the enrollment and transaction details for all the dates. Note: Class Registration Fee settings do not apply to Event Registrations.
The information entered on the Description, Questions, and Agreements tabs customize the Event Registration Form.

Create Event
Dates & Times

Step 2 - Create Event Dates/Times - If you would like summer camps to run for one or two weeks in duration you only have to select the start date for this step.

For a camp event that runs for a duration of one week, we recommend you set it up as follows:

Click the Add Event (Date & Time) button.
Select the start date for the event Create Events From Date and select the same date for the Through Date.
Enter the Start Time and End Time and select additional information.
Select the checkbox for the day of the week the event starts. There should be only 1 checkbox selected for your camp/event.
Click Save.

Very Important! On the Description tab, indicate it's a week-long class in the Registration Form Description. Your Event calendar will display the start date of the event only, however, in both the Parent Portal and the Online Registration form the description information will display.

Registration & Enrollment

Families can enroll in events in the Parent Portal (existing families), on your website using the Events Calendar, or your staff can enroll them directly in Jackrabbit.

Learn more about Event Registration and Enrollment from Within Jackrabbit.
Manage Event enrollments by selecting the date link from the Event Type > Dates & Times (tab). Here, you can view enrollment in an event, see responses to questions on the Questions/Options (tab), and email families enrolled in the event.
Use Event Reports to Track Online Event Registrations and Enrollment Details.
If you set the Event Type to Do Not Post Fee on the Event Type Summary (tab), refer to Post Event Fees for more details.

Next Steps

Plan to use these Jackrabbit features to help you make your summer a successful one!

Summer Enrollment Payments

When you use ePayments it's much easier than collecting checks and making deposits, etc.

When ePayments are enabled, payment can be required when families enroll students in the Parent Portal.
Use Process ePayments to process payments for new registrations. Create a schedule to process ePayments daily, weekly, monthly, or on a set date to collect deposits/full payment of summer program registrations before your programs begin.

Learn how to Automate ePayments - Schedule ePayments to Process Later.

Staff Availability

Make use of the Staff Availability feature to determine if you will have enough staff to run your programs or if you may need to hire additional substitutes for certain days.

Learn how to Manage Substitute Instructors for Classes.

Stay in Touch with Active
Families & Staff

Remember to communicate important dates, registration, and enrollment information to your existing families and staff.

Email Your Families.
Use the Parent Portal to communicate with families.
Use the Staff Portal News to keep your staff informed.

Market Your Summer Programs

It's super important to get the word out and create a marketing strategy so families can learn about your great summer programs and what options they have for their kids! Consider all these ways you can market your business.

Your Website	For Classes - Add Class Listings Tables for the programs to your website, classes will be available for enrollment on the date you set for registration. You can also Filter (Group) Your Class Listings Tables to set the summer programs apart from other traditional classes you offer year-round. For Events Online - Use our Online Events Calendar - Checklist for a Successful Rollout. We provide you with the steps to take to make it easy for your families to enroll online. Link to your Online Event Calendar and optionally you can Filter Your Online Event Calendar specifically for your summer programs.
Email	Email last year's students and consider including a special offer for early registration. Learn more about Emailing an Archived Class. Email your families using one of our custom-designed templates. Go to the Gear (icon) > Settings > Email Templates and search for camp in the Name column search field. Or create your own email template, learn more on how to Customize/Edit a Jackrabbit Email Template. Reach out to inactive families in the Lead File to return to your facility and any additional leads you've added. Learn how to Email Families in the Lead File.
Newsletters / Flyers / Postcards	Drop newsletters, flyers, or postcards in the mail, or leave them off at local schools or businesses to promote your program. Learn how to create Family Mailing Labels or Print Mailing Labels for your Leads. Blog Post - 7 Tips for Staying in Contact with Prospective Customers
Social Media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.)	Create your online presence using social media. A simple Facebook page with information and links to your website can help get the word out about your summer programs. Post photos from past programs that look colorful, fun, and appealing.

Need some help? Schedule a Checkup Call and speak to one of our outstanding Support Representatives. They can walk you through setting up your summer programming.

Summer Programs - Here Comes the Sun! function fbshareCurrentPage() {window.open("https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u="+escape(window.location.href)+"&t="+document.title, '', 'menubar=no,toolbar=no,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes,height=300,width=600'); return false; } Share