ModuleFest Lantern help

About ModuleFest 3

• About ModuleFest — About ModuleFest This screen says who makes Lantern and lists our other free plugins on WordPress.org. Details opens WordPress’s own plugin window, so anything you install comes from WordPress.org through the normal Plugins screen.
• About ModuleFest — The newsletter Administrators can ask for Lantern news here. Nothing is sent until you tick the box and press Subscribe; then your name and email, this site’s address and the plugin’s name and version go to ModuleFest, which emails you a link…
• I pressed Subscribe but nothing arrived. Check your spam folder for the email from ModuleFest and press its link — nothing more is sent until you confirm. If the card said ModuleFest couldn’t be reached, this site may not be allowed to make outgoing connections; try…

Attendance 4

• A parent reported an absence — has the register been marked? No. Reports from the family app are a message of intent, not a register mark, so attendance stays under school control. Mark the register as usual, then acknowledge the report so it clears from the list.
• Attendance — Absences reported by parents Where to find it: the Reported by parents panel at the top of this Attendance screen, which is always there — it says “Nothing waiting” when no parent has reported one. Staff absence is a different thing and lives on…
• Attendance — Register codes Attendance uses DfE register codes. A present mark (/ and \) counts towards attendance; authorised and unauthorised absences are counted and reported separately. Persistent absence is flagged automatically in the report.
• Why is a session missing from the register? Sessions are defined per weekday. If a session doesn’t appear, check it’s enabled for that day of the week in the schedule settings.

Branding 6

• Branding — Making the apps yours Set your school’s name, logo, colours and app icon here and they are used across the staff app, the Lantern Family app and the sign-in screens. Tick Use our branding to switch it on — leave it off at any…
• Branding — The app icon Upload one square image of at least 512×512 and every size the apps need is generated for you. Keep the important part well inside the middle: some Android phones crop icons into a circle. Phones cache app icons hard. After…
• Can I rename the family app? Yes. Set a Family app name under Branding and it replaces “Lantern Family” in the app header, on the sign-in card and as the installed app name. Leave it blank to keep Lantern Family.
• Can I use a light main colour? Yes. Text on top of your colour switches between white and dark ink depending on how light it is, so buttons and headers stay readable either way.
• Do staff have to reinstall the app? No. Colours, the name and the logo appear the next time the app is opened online, and are then kept on the device so it stays branded offline. Only a change of app icon may need the app removing and…
• Will a plugin update wipe my branding? No. An update replaces the app’s shipped icon and manifest files, so the plugin re-applies your branding to them automatically the next time WordPress loads.

Card layout 1

• Card layout — Card layout Design how report cards look on the pupil timeline. Drag blocks — Header and Footer span the card, Body comes in one- or two-column form — into the card, then tick which attributes each block shows: date, ref number, category,…

Cover & resourcing 1

• Cover & resourcing — Arrange cover Go to Skills → Find cover and pick who is absent and the day. You’ll see three things: the sessions that need covering that day (pulled from the published timetable), the cover arranged so far, and a list of suggested…

Dashboard 7

• A saved link opened the start of a screen, not the record I expected. Why? Links between screens carry a security check that is tied to your sign-in and lasts about a day. A link that is older than that, was typed in by hand or came from someone else opens the screen’s normal starting…
• Dashboard — Card colours Each KPI card has a cog in its top-right corner. Use it to set the red / amber / green thresholds for that figure, and whether higher or lower is better. These settings are yours alone — they don’t change…
• Dashboard — News from ModuleFest Site administrators see a small Get news for Lantern card on the dashboard. It is optional and nothing in the plugin depends on it. Nothing is sent until you tick the box and press Subscribe. Then the name and email…
• Dashboard — Overview The dashboard shows at-a-glance KPI cards — today’s attendance, unread messages, open safeguarding and pupils on roll — followed by quick actions and the most recent evidence.
• What does the Get news card send, and when? Nothing until you tick the box and press Subscribe. Then only the name and email you can see in the card, this site’s address and the plugin name and version go to ModuleFest. Nothing about pupils, families or staff is…
• What happened to SEN School Manager and Willow? They have new names. SEN School Manager is now ModuleFest Lantern (Lantern in the menu), the family app Willow is now Lantern Family and the staff app is Lantern Staff. Your pupils, messages and settings are exactly as they were,…
• Where can I see what changed in an update? After each update, a What’s new window opens the first time you visit one of Lantern’s screens. It lists the releases since you last looked, then closes for good when you press Got it, the X, Escape or anywhere outside…

Demo data 2

• Demo data — Demo data Loads a built-in fictional dataset so you can trial the plugin — including a sample timetable (sites & rooms, colour-coded subjects, multi-group classes and staffed sessions). Import, remove and refresh are all reversible and only touch the demo rows. Never…
• Demo data — Public demo auto-reset For a public live demo, the data can wipe and reload itself on a schedule, so every visitor starts from the same clean set and anything they change disappears. Only the rows the seeder created are removed — nothing else…

Evidence vault 8

• A member of staff can’t add or remove a photo. Why? Adding or removing a photo, on a record or in a message, needs WordPress’s own Upload files permission as well as the plugin’s. The plugin’s staff roles include it. If you made your own role for staff, give it Upload…
• Evidence vault — Evidence vault Evidence covers behaviour, learning, medical and safeguarding. Safeguarding entries are visibility-restricted: only DSLs and deputies (and SLT oversight) can see them, everywhere in the plugin. A record can be edited only by the person who logged it (the reporter) or…
• Evidence vault — Logging on a phone Staff can log evidence on the move with the companion app (the PWA). Reports save on the device instantly — even offline — then sync automatically. A photo is optional, and each pupil has a full timeline of their reports.
• Evidence vault — Pupil timeline Pick a pupil from the Pupil timeline selector above the list to see all their evidence as a timeline. Use the Horizontal / Vertical toggle to switch direction: horizontal runs oldest-left to newest-right (scroll sideways); vertical runs newest-first down a…
• I clicked Delete or Save and saw “The link you followed has expired”. What happened? Every button and link that changes something carries a security token, and the plugin checks it before doing anything else. Tokens last about a day, so a screen left open overnight has old ones. Reload the screen and try again.
• What is a safeguarding record? A record marked with safeguarding visibility is hidden from everyone except designated safeguarding leads — in the vault, timelines, reports and the app.
• Where do photos go? Photos are stored in a protected folder of your uploads, uploads/sen-school-manager/protected/, not the public media library, and are shown in the Photos panel on the record. The reporter or a manager can add or remove them there at any time.
• Who can edit an evidence record? Only the person who logged it (the reporter) or a plugin manager/admin. Every edit, and any photo added or removed, is recorded in the record’s History panel.

Guardians 2

• A parent can read messages but can’t send one or report an absence. Why? In the family app, reading needs Portal access; sending a message, reporting an absence, changing a setting or turning on notifications needs Portal write as well, and attaching a photo needs Portal upload. The Parent / Guardian role has all…
• Guardians — Guardians & consent Each guardian has a preferred contact channel and a “can receive comms” flag. Messages are only ever sent to contactable guardians, and only on channels enabled under Settings.

Import 1

• Import — Importing data Import pupils or guardians from a CSV or Excel (.xlsx) file. The first row must be column headings. 1. Upload the file – Choose what you’re importing and upload the file. 2. Map the columns – Map each field to…

Message settings 3

• Message settings — Android SMS gateway An Android phone runs an app that polls this site and sends queued texts via its SIM (a pull model — the site never connects to the phone). 1. Choose the provider – Choose the Android provider, switch on SMS,…
• Message settings — Comms providers Pick how parent SMS and WhatsApp are delivered: – Twilio — paid gateway covering both SMS and WhatsApp. – Android phone — send SMS free through a phone’s own SIM (SMS only). – Custom webhook — forward messages to any…
• Message settings — Keeping secrets safe Gateway credentials can be defined as constants in wp-config.php (SEN_SM_TWILIO_SID, SEN_SM_TWILIO_TOKEN, SEN_SM_WEBHOOK_SECRET, SEN_SM_GATEWAY_TOKEN) and left blank on screen — the constants take priority and nothing secret is displayed back.

Messages 3

• It says the family app is already installed, but it isn’t on my phone. Chrome on Android sometimes remembers an app after it’s removed. Go to Settings → Apps → Chrome → Storage → Clear data, then add the app again. See the full guide on the ModuleFest Hub.
• Messages — Parent messaging Messages to a pupil’s guardians go out on each guardian’s preferred channel — email, SMS, WhatsApp or the parent portal — provided that channel is switched on under Settings.
• Messages — Phone notifications & the app-icon count When push notifications are switched on, a new message shows a notification on the phone and a count on the app icon — in both the staff app and the family app, even while the app is closed. Nothing personal…

Outcomes & targets 10

• How much detail should an outcome have? Enough that a colleague who does not know the pupil could tell whether it has been met. “Better communication” is too vague; “will request a preferred item using two symbols, in three out of five opportunities” can be judged.
• Outcomes & targets — Breaking outcomes into steps A big EHCP outcome can be broken into smaller steps using Sits under on the outcome form. Steps can themselves have steps — there is no depth limit. The list shows the tree indented beneath each pupil, with a different…
• Outcomes & targets — Importing frameworks Import outcomes reads CSV or Excel in either of two shapes. Most published frameworks use one column per level — name the columns Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 and so on, and the hierarchy comes from which columns each…
• Outcomes & targets — Linking evidence Open any evidence record and tick the outcomes it is evidence for under Evidence for — you can tick as many as apply. Only the lowest level of each branch can be ticked: the headings above it are shown so…
• Outcomes & targets — Progress and status Progress is how far along the pupil is (not started, emerging, developing, secure, achieved). Status is what is happening with the outcome itself (working on, achieved, on hold, archived). Marking either as achieved sets the other to match, so lists…
• Outcomes & targets — Sets & level colours Every import is filed into a named set. Because two frameworks rarely have the same number of levels, each set keeps its own level colours — a three-level framework and a five-level one won’t fight over one palette. Open Sets…
• Outcomes & targets — The review pack Review pack builds a printable summary for one pupil: their details, an at-a-glance count of outcomes and attendance for the period, then every outcome with its starting point, what success looks like, current progress, and the dated evidence behind it.…
• Outcomes & targets — What outcomes are for An outcome is what a pupil is working towards. Big ones usually come from the EHCP; smaller stepping stones are IEP targets. Record where the pupil is starting from and what success will look like, so progress can be judged…
• Should I delete an outcome once it is met? No. Mark it Achieved so the history is kept. Use Archived for outcomes that are no longer relevant.
• Why is safeguarding evidence missing from the review pack? It is excluded by default, because the pack is usually shared with families and other professionals. A designated safeguarding lead can tick to include it, and the pack is then marked accordingly.

Pupils 1

• Pupils — Pupil records Each pupil record holds their name, preferred name, UPN, date of birth and consent flags — including photo consent, which gates whether staff can attach photos to that pupil in the app. At the bottom of a pupil record is…

Report builder 3

• Can I pull in fields from another table? Yes — fields are grouped by their table. On an Evidence report you can add the linked pupil’s year group, SEN status, date of birth or UPN, plus the reporter.
• Report builder — Report builder Build your own reports: pick a data source (Evidence, Pupils or Attendance), tick the columns you want, add filters (e.g. category is Behaviour, or date in the last 30 days), and optionally group by a field to get counts and…
• Why can’t I see the whole report? The live preview shows the first 10 rows so you can see the shape of the report as you build it. Save & run to see every row, or Export CSV for the full set.

Skills & cover 1

• Skills & cover — Skills & cover Build a library of skills (e.g. Makaton, Team Teach, PMLD) and organise them into skill groups, which can be nested many levels deep. Staff are assigned to skills, never to groups. Use the Skills matrix to tick skills against every…

Staff app & Settings 2

• It says the staff app is already installed, but it isn’t on my phone. Chrome on Android sometimes remembers an app after it’s removed. Go to Settings → Apps → Chrome → Storage → Clear data, then add the app again. See the full guide on the ModuleFest Hub.
• Staff app & Settings — Installing the app Staff install the companion app by scanning the QR code (or opening the app address) on their phone, then adding it to the home screen — Share → Add to Home Screen on iPhone, or Install app / Add to…

Staff app sign-in 4

• Does this affect the live demo? No. The app lock and fingerprint unlock are hidden entirely on the shared demo account, so a visitor can’t lock the demo to their own device or fingerprint. Demo sign-in by QR code or sign-in code is unchanged.
• Is this as safe as the PIN? On most modern phones, yes: the key that decrypts the saved login is produced by the phone’s own security chip and is never written to disk. On older devices that lack that support the app falls back to a simpler…
• Staff app sign-in — Fingerprint & Face ID unlock Staff who have set an app-lock PIN can also unlock the staff app with the fingerprint or face check built into their phone. They turn it on themselves in the app under Settings, confirming their PIN once. The PIN always…
• What if a member of staff changes phone? Fingerprint unlock is tied to the individual device. On a new phone they connect the app again and can turn it on there.

Support 4

• Support — Plans and the Pro package Lantern comes in three plans. Free is the plugin you already have. Standard and Premium add to it. The paid features live in a second package, Lantern Pro, downloaded from ModuleFest and installed like any other plugin. It has no…
• Support — Support Support is handled on the ModuleFest website at modulefest.com, not inside the plugin. Raise bugs, enhancement requests and questions there, and follow the replies from any device rather than only from this site. The Go to ModuleFest button on this…
• Support — Updates New versions come from ModuleFest, not from WordPress.org. The site asks ModuleFest about twice a day whether there is a newer build, and anything it finds appears in the usual place: Dashboard → Updates, and the Plugins screen, with View…
• Support — When Premium pauses Premium features depend on the licence being confirmed with ModuleFest. The plugin checks once a day. If WP-Cron isn’t running, it checks the next time anyone opens a SEN screen in wp-admin instead. Premium pauses in two cases, and comes…

Tags 1

• Tags — Tags Tags are reusable labels (with a colour) you can attach to evidence records — e.g. "Playground", "Follow-up", "Parent informed". Add, rename or delete them here; renaming or deleting updates every record that uses the tag. Assign tags to a record…

Timetable 48

• A class isn’t showing as a row — why? Rows come from your teaching groups. Add or check the class under Pupils → Classes & groups; it then appears on the timetable.
• A pupil can’t attend one session but stays in the group — how? Click the session, then untick that pupil in the popup. You’ll be asked whether it applies to just this session, or to all sessions of that subject this term for the group. Either way they stay a member of the…
• A pupil doesn’t come in on some days — can I reflect that? Yes. Click the group name to open its list and untick the day(s) that pupil isn’t in. They’re then left out of that day’s sessions and the headcount on each session updates to match.
• Can a class set the room for its sessions? Yes. Give the class a “Room / location” on the Classes tab and every session you place from that class is created in that room. You can still change the room on an individual session by opening it on the…
• Can I be warned when a teacher lacks the skill a session needs? Yes. On the Subjects screen, tick the “Required skills” a subject needs. If you then add a teacher to one of those sessions and they’re missing any of them, a warning appears listing which, with “Override” (add anyway) or “Cancel”.…
• Can I colour sessions by who’s teaching? Yes. Each staff member has a timetable colour. Set them all in one place with the Staff colours button above the grid (or on an individual’s staff record) — or leave them automatic, in which case teachers and TAs get…
• Can I hide classes I’ve finished placing? Yes. Tick “hide finished” at the top of the Classes list in the planner tray. Any class that has reached its weekly target is hidden, so only the ones still needing sessions show. Untick it to see them all again.
• Can I import my timetable from a spreadsheet? Yes — Timetable → Import. Upload a CSV or Excel file with a header row and one row per session (columns: Group, Day, Period, Subject, plus optional Room, Lead, Support, Week and Term). New subjects and rooms are created automatically;…
• Can I make the grid columns wider or rows taller? Yes. Hover the right edge of a column header, or the bottom edge of a row’s name, and drag. Column widths apply across all views and row heights are kept per view. Your sizing is saved to your account, so…
• Can I print the week? Yes — use the Print button. It prints a clean landscape grid of whichever view you are on, with the selected week’s dates in the header. Use the arrows to pick the week first.
• Can I see all my terms’ sessions at once? Yes — choose “All terms (overview)” from the term selector above the grid. It shows every term’s sessions together as a read-only overview. To make changes, pick a specific term. Note that each term is a separate timetable, so a…
• Can I stop a class being placed in the wrong term? Yes. Give the class a Term on the Classes tab. It can then only be dropped onto that term’s grid, and it only appears in the tray while that term is selected. Leave it on “Any term” to place it…
• Can one class run for more than one group? Yes. When adding or editing a class, tick every group it runs for. Dropping that class on the grid places a session onto each of its groups at that day and period in one action. The tray chip highlights all…
• Can two teachers run one session? Yes. Add as many teachers as you like — one is the lead and the others are support. Teaching assistants can be added to the same session as assistants.
• Does the timetable use a phone? It’s a back-office planning screen, but it works on a touch screen too: tap a subject or staff card to pick it up, then tap where it should go.
• How do I arrange cover for an absent staff member? Go to Skills → Find cover, pick who’s absent and the day. You’ll see who can cover (ranked by matching skills) and the exact sessions that need covering. Click “Assign as cover” next to a person — their sessions for…
• How do I change which teacher leads a session? Click the session to open it, then use the “make lead” link next to a teacher’s name in the Staff list. The lead is shown with a star on the session tile.
• How do I check a teacher’s skills? In the planner tray, each teacher or TA has a small “i” button. Click it to see their role, colour and skills (their primary skill is starred), with a link to open their full staff record. Clicking the chip itself…
• How do I know if I have changes that aren’t published yet? An amber “unpublished changes” pill shows in the planner toolbar whenever you’ve edited the timetable since the last publish. Click “Publish sessions” to review those changes and publish them (or keep working in draft).
• How do I move a session? Drag the session block to another cell, or on a touch screen tap it once to pick it up and tap the target cell. Its staffing moves with it.
• How do I run different timetables for each term? Set your term dates on the Terms tab, pick a term from the selector above the grid, and build that term’s timetable — each term is its own board. Press Publish sessions and every term publishes at once; pupils only…
• How do I see a session’s details and its pupils? Click the session on the grid. A popup shows the subject, class, group, term, day, time, room and staff, plus the pupils in it and how many are attending.
• How do I set up a two-week (A/B) rota? On the Terms tab, set the term’s pattern to “Two-week rota (A/B)”. Back on the grid, use the week arrows: the banner shows whether you’re editing Week A or Week B, and each applies to every week of that side.…
• How do I set up a two-week (A/B) rota? On the Terms tab, set that term’s pattern to “Two-week rota”. Back on the grid, the banner shows whether you’re editing Week A or Week B (it follows the week you’ve navigated to). Build both; they alternate automatically across the…
• How do I set up rooms? Go to Timetable → Rooms. Add a location (a site) first, then add rooms/areas under it. Classes and sessions then pick from that list, and both the site and room are shown together.
• How does a teacher know they lead a session? On the staff app schedule, sessions you lead are marked with a “★ Lead” badge and a note that you’re responsible for the lesson plan. The lead is the first teacher added to a session; teaching assistants are never the…
• If a class runs for several groups, can I staff them all at once? Yes. When you add a teacher or TA to one session of a multi-group class, a popup asks whether to add them to just that session or to the other linked sessions too (same class, same time, other groups) —…
• If I move or remove a session, does it change every week? Yes — moving or removing a session updates that session’s pattern for the whole term (every week it runs). Timetable changes always apply to the term, so there’s no separate per-week option to worry about.
• My other terms are empty — where did my timetable go? When terms were introduced, your existing timetable was kept safe in a “Full year” term. Other terms start empty. Use “Copy a timetable between terms” on the Terms tab to drop your Full year plan into Autumn/Spring/Summer, then adjust each…
• Timetable — Building the timetable (step by step) 1. Classes – The rows come from your teaching groups. Add them under Pupils → Classes & groups. 2. Periods & days – Choose which weekdays you teach and the periods in each day. AM and PM are set up…
• Timetable — Checking the timetable The Check timetable button (next to Print) scans the whole term at once and lists anything worth a look, so you don’t have to spot clashes by eye. First choose which checks to run — they’re all selected by default…
• Timetable — Class lists & who attends Each class row shows how many pupils are in it. Click the class name to open its list. A pupil is in every teaching day by default — untick a day for anyone who isn’t in then (for example, “doesn’t…
• Timetable — Classes, groups & rooms A class is a subject with a number of sessions a week — e.g. “Core, 3 a week”. Create classes on the Classes tab: pick the subject, tick the group(s) whose pupils attend, optionally pick a default room (from your…
• Timetable — Importing a timetable Already have your timetable in a spreadsheet? Go to Import and upload a CSV or Excel (.xlsx) file — one row per session, with a header row. Recognised columns: Group, Day, Period, Subject (these four are required), plus optional Room,…
• Timetable — Locations & rooms Rooms are a managed list, not free text. A location (a site — e.g. a building) groups several rooms/areas beneath it. Set them up under Rooms: add your locations first, then add rooms to each. A class is set against…
• Timetable — Publishing, weeks & printing Publish sessions publishes the timetable so pupils and parents see it in their app, and staff see it on their registers. It keeps everything in step: run it after any change and new placements are added, edited ones updated, and…
• Timetable — Staffing a session Drop a staff member onto a session to add them. Roles are set automatically: the first teacher becomes the lead (marked ★), further teachers are support, and teaching assistants are assistants. Hover a chip to Make lead or remove it.…
• Timetable — Staffing, skills & leads Drag teachers and teaching assistants from the tray onto a session to staff it. Open a session to set its lead (shown with a star), change rooms, or mark which pupils attend. Search the tray by name or skill to…
• Timetable — Subjects, periods & days Manage the building blocks from the sub-tabs. Subjects sets the cards and their colours. Periods & days sets the columns and which weekdays show, plus the active academic year the plan is saved against — switch year to start a…
• Timetable — Terms (date ranges) Each term is a named date range with its own timetable, so Autumn and Spring can be laid out completely differently. Set each term’s start and end dates on the Terms tab to match your school calendar — Autumn, Spring…
• Timetable — Timetable overview The timetable is part of the Standard plan, and its code ships in the Lantern Pro package. Without both, this screen explains what it does and the Terminology tab still works; your existing timetable stays in the database untouched and…
• Timetable — Two-week rotas (A / B) Within a term you can run a two-week rota. Two-week rota (A / B). Set the term’s pattern to “Two-week rota” on the Terms tab. The grid then shows Week A or Week B automatically depending on which calendar week…
• Timetable — Views & clash spotting A staff chip turns red when that person is timetabled to two sessions at the same time. Switch to the by teacher or by TA view to see each person’s week and where the double-bookings are, then move a session…
• What does a red staff chip mean? That person is booked into another session at the same time. Use the by-teacher view to find and fix the clash.
• Where do a class’s pupils come from? From the group’s membership. Add or remove pupils under Pupils → Classes & groups; the class list and headcounts follow.
• Why was a session skipped when generating? Its period has no start and end time, and a pupil-facing session needs real clock times. Add times to that period under Periods & days, then generate again.
• Why won’t a session drop on some rows? That session belongs to a class, and a class is tied to one group. As you drag, only that group’s row is highlighted and the others grey out, so the class can only be timetabled against its own group. Use…
• Why won’t my timetable publish? Publishing is blocked while any placed session has no lead teacher. The publish window lists every session missing one — click a session to open it and add staff (the first teacher you add becomes the lead). Once every session…