School terms, public holidays and calendar notes

MyHallWizard can make a repeat booking for school term time only, for the school holidays only, or with public holidays left out. You enter your local school term dates and public holidays once, and every repeat booking that uses them books the right days.

You can also add notes to your calendar, such as "Small Hall closed for renovation", and choose whether the public sees them.

Everything here is set up in Settings > School Terms, Holidays & Notes.

Turning the options on

Both options are off until you turn them on. Go to Settings > School Terms, Holidays & Notes, where each section starts with a switch:

• School terms: Allow repeat bookings to be set for term times or school holidays only

• Public holidays: Allow repeat bookings to exclude public holidays

Turn on only the ones your venue needs. Once a switch is on, its section opens so you can enter the dates, and the option appears on your repeat booking and booking enquiry forms. "Saved" shows briefly beside the switch when the change is stored.

Only the venue owner and Venue Administrators can change the switches.

If you turn a switch off later, nothing is lost. Repeat bookings already using the option keep it, and the dates you entered are kept for when you turn it back on.

Entering school terms

Enter each term as one date range, with its half term inside it. You don't enter the school holidays: they are the gaps between your terms, plus the half terms.

1. In the School terms section, click Add Term.

2. Enter the First day and Last day of the term. The last day is the last day of term, not the first day of the holiday.

3. Under Half term, enter the half term's From and To dates. Leave them blank if the term has none.

4. Click Add Term.

For example, for an autumn term from 1 September to 18 December with half term 26 to 30 October, enter one term: 01/09/2026 to 18/12/2026, half term 26/10/2026 to 30/10/2026.

Terms can't overlap, and a half term must fall inside its term. To change or delete a term, click its row. Terms that have already ended aren't listed, but are still used.

If two terms are more than 100 days apart, you'll see a warning asking whether a term is missing, because no school holiday is that long.

Entering public holidays

Enter each public holiday your repeat bookings run into, including any local ones.

1. In the Public holidays section, click Add Public Holiday.

2. Enter its name, for example Christmas Day.

3. Choose A single day or A range of days, and enter the date or dates.

4. Click Add Public Holiday.

Enter all of a year's public holidays. MyHallWizard assumes it knows every public holiday up to the last one you've entered, and none after it.

Calendar notes

A note puts a short message on your calendar for a day or a range of days, for example Small Hall closed for renovation. Notes are always available; they don't need a switch.

1. In the Calendar notes section, click Add Note.

2. Type the note, up to 255 characters.

3. Choose A single day or A range of days, and enter the date or dates.

4. To let visitors see it, turn on Show on the public calendar. Otherwise only your own users see it.

5. Click Add Note.

Clicking a note on the calendar shows it in full, with a Change notes button for those who can edit them. Notes never appear on the Information Board.

Making a repeat booking

When you make a repeat booking, the options appear under the until date as three tick boxes:

• Term time only: books only days inside your terms, not half terms or holidays.

• School holidays only: books only days outside your terms, including half terms.

• Excluding public holidays: leaves out any public holiday you've entered.

You can tick one of the first two, and the third with either. With none ticked, every date is booked as usual.

The Series Preview lists the dates that will be booked, and the dates left out with the reason, such as School holiday. The repeat booking's description says what it follows, for example Repeat on Monday every week during school term time, excluding public holidays. The description also appears in emails.

When your dates don't reach the end of the repeat booking

Outside the dates you've entered, the options can't be applied, so those days are booked as normal. The form warns you, for example:

School term dates have only been entered up to 25/03/2027, so this is not applied after that.

Public holidays have only been entered up to 01/01/2027, so are not excluded after that.

Click Add term dates or Add a public holiday beside the warning to enter the missing dates without leaving the form. Your booking stays as you've filled it in, and the warning updates. If you add them later instead, the repeat booking is flagged so you can review it (see When term dates or public holidays change).

Booking enquiries

When someone makes a repeating booking enquiry, they can tick the same options, but only the ones you've turned on. They aren't told how far your dates reach; that's for you when you accept.

When you accept the enquiry, the form starts with the options they asked for. You can change them before saving, and you'll see the usual warnings if your dates don't reach the end of the series.

School holidays and public holidays also show on your public calendar for whichever options you've turned on, so visitors can see which days they're asking for.

Adjusting a repeat booking by hand

A group's dates won't always match the standard term dates; some stop a week earlier or start a week later. You can adjust a repeat booking day by day.

On the repeat booking's page, the Bookings table lists every date of the pattern. Dates left out show as No booking, with the reason (School holiday, Term time or Public holiday). Use Show dates not booked for school terms or public holidays to hide or show them.

• To book a day that was left out, click Create on its row. The booking becomes part of the repeat booking.

• To take a day out, delete its booking as usual. It then shows as Removed from the series.

MyHallWizard remembers these changes. If the repeat booking is updated later to match changed dates, days you booked or removed by hand stay as you left them.

When term dates or public holidays change

Changing your dates never changes existing bookings by itself. Instead, any repeat booking whose days would now be different is flagged for you to review.

1. When you save a change in settings, the message tells you how many repeat bookings may need updating. Review them shows just those, and Repeat Bookings has a switch to show only them too.

2. On each one's page, a yellow message says the dates have changed. Click Review changes.

3. You'll see what updating it would do, from today on: bookings to be made, and bookings to be deleted because their day is no longer included.

4. Click Update bookings to go ahead, or Leave as it is on the page to keep it unchanged and clear the message.

Updating never touches past bookings, days you booked or removed by hand, or bookings moved to another day. Invoiced bookings are kept but detached from the series. Bookings changed from the series are kept unless you tick Delete them anyway. A day can't be booked if its room or an extra is already taken.

The same happens if you change a repeat booking's options yourself. Save it, then review the changes on its page.

Who can do what

Without a current subscription, only the venue owner can use these settings.

Questions

Do I need to enter every school holiday? No. Enter the terms with their half terms; the holidays between them are worked out.

Our groups follow different schools' dates. What can I do? Enter the dates most of your bookings follow, then adjust individual repeat bookings by hand, as above.

Will changing a term move bookings I've already made? No. The affected repeat bookings are flagged, and nothing changes until you review and update each one.

I've turned an option off. What happens to repeat bookings using it? They keep it. On the repeat booking's edit form it stays ticked, and you can untick it there.