A complete event lifecycle platform - from staff submitting an excursion request to the final approval, department notifications, parent permission slips, venue booking, and iCal feeds landing in every parent’s phone. Multi-level approval workflows route events through Heads of Department, Deans, and leadership. Automated notifications alert canteen, ICT, maintenance, and finance teams. Parents subscribe to personalised calendars filtered by their child’s year group.
Staff submit event requests with all details - dates, venues, participants, costs, transport, catering, and ICT requirements. Events route through configurable approval chains: Head of Department first, then Dean of Teaching, then leadership. Each approver can approve, decline, request a date change with up to three alternative suggestions, ask for more information, or propose different staff. Every action is logged with the approver’s name, timestamp, and notes - creating a complete audit trail from submission to final approval.
PortalHQ generates personalised iCal feeds that parents subscribe to from Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, or Outlook. Feeds refresh every four hours and filter events by audience - so Year 10 parents see Year 10 events, not the whole school. Separate feeds exist for the main school calendar, assessment calendars by year group, whole-school events, and admin-only events. Schools can also import events from Google Calendar, external iCal feeds, and Smartsheet - with automatic deduplication and sync.
When a staff member adds catering requirements to an event, the canteen/catering team is notified automatically. ICT requirements - microphones, laptops, projector screens, content source method - trigger an alert to the IT department. Maintenance gets notified about setup times, furniture needs, and room layouts. Finance receives cost tracking details and expenditure codes.
PortalHQ’s calendar isn’t just a schedule. It’s a full event management system that handles approvals, logistics, communications, and compliance for every event your school runs.
Create events that repeat daily, weekly on specific days, fortnightly, monthly by date or ordinal, or yearly. Edit or cancel individual occurrences without affecting the series. Complex recurrence patterns powered by the dateutil rrule engine.
Assign multiple venues per event. Each venue tracks room layouts, setup time, furniture counts, capacity, ICT equipment, and maintenance requirements. Upload layout images for setup staff to reference.
Flag any event to auto-generate parent permission slips. Customise departure info, transport method, return time, dress code, and what to bring. Office staff are notified automatically to distribute slips to the right parent groups.
Dedicated assessment event tracking with year-group specific iCal feeds. Year 7 through Year 12 each get their own assessment calendar that parents and students subscribe to separately from the main school calendar.
Publish events to staff, students, parents, or any combination. Filter by year group, campus, and member group. Mark events as private, staff-only, or public on the school website - with granular control per event.
Threaded comments on events for staff coordination. Owners, co-owners, approvers, and additional staff are notified of new comments. Keep all event discussion in one place instead of scattered emails.
PortalHQ replaces the email chains, shared spreadsheets, and paper forms that make school event management painful.
Staff submit event requests with dates, venues, participants, costs, transport, catering, ICT requirements, and permission slip details. Events enter the approval queue automatically.
Events route through your approval chain - HOD, Dean, leadership. Approvers review, approve, decline, or request changes. Department teams are notified of their requirements as soon as the event is approved.
Approved events appear on parent calendars via iCal, on the mobile app, in the parent portal, and in staff daily briefings. Permission slips are generated. Reminder emails go out on schedule.
See how PortalHQ can replace approval email chains, shared spreadsheets, and disconnected calendars with one event management platform that handles everything from request to parent notification.