Check-in rooms

Every child who checks in goes to a room. You never have to pick one at the iPad: check-in works it out for each child, in this order.

1. A room chosen by staff for that child, if there is one (see Choose a room for one child below).
2. The child's grade, if the family gave one, against the rooms that have a grade band.
3. The child's age in years and months on the day of the service, against the rooms that have an age band.
4. If nothing fits, the child is assigned at the desk: the iPad sends the family to the welcome desk and a staff member picks the room.

The same rules run on every iPad (even with the internet down), here in the back office and in the database, so a child lands in the same room wherever you look.

When to use this

• Setting up the rooms before the church's first Sunday on our iPads.
• A class changes its ages, a new class starts, or a room closes for good.
• A child needs to be in a different room from the one check-in picks, for example to stay with a sibling.
• Before a new school year, to check the grade promotion date.

Add or edit a room

1. Open Kids check-in, then Rooms.
2. To change a room, select Edit beside it. To add one, use the Add a room form.
3. Type the Room name (it prints on each child's name tag) and, if you like, a short Class label such as Ages 4–5.
4. Fill in an age band, a grade band, or both (see the next section).
5. Set the Sort order: lower numbers come first.
6. Watch Check the setup on the right: it updates as you type, before you save.
7. Select Add room or Save room.

To stop using a room, select Archive. Archived rooms aren't offered anywhere, but nothing about past Sundays changes, and Restore brings a room back.

Age and grade bands

• Ages are typed in years and months and count on the day of the service. Youngest 0 years 2 months, oldest 3 years 11 months takes children from 2 months old up to the day before their fourth birthday. Leave an end blank for no limit there.
• A child's age goes up a month on the same date each month. A child born on 31 January turns one month old on 1 March, since February has no 31st; a 29 February birthday counts on 1 March in other years. That way a child is never moved to an older room early.
• Grades run Pre-K, Kindergarten, then 1st to 12th. When a family gives a grade, it decides before age. A grade nobody's room takes falls back to age.
• A room can have both: the church's Pre-K & Kinder class takes ages 4 to 5, or Pre-K and Kindergarten by grade.
• A room with no band at all is never picked by itself. Staff can still place a child there by hand.

When two rooms match

If two rooms both fit a child, the one with the lower sort order wins (then the name, alphabetically). Check the setup flags every overlap so you can decide whether it's on purpose. It also flags gaps: ages or grades between your youngest and oldest bands that no room takes. Children in a gap are placed at the desk.

Check the setup

Where children go shows what check-in would do for typical children: each age-band edge for a child with no grade, and each grade. Read it top to bottom after any change: it's the quickest way to spot a child who would land in the wrong room.

Grade promotion date

Families say a grade once, and it moves up by itself: every child goes up one grade on the grade promotion date each year. A child entered as 1st grade in October 2026 shows as 2nd grade from 1 August 2027.

The default is 1 August: Texas schools start in mid-August, so the new grade is in place before the first day of school. Only admins can change it.

Choose a room for one child

1. Under Rooms chosen by staff, type the child's name in Place a child in a room.
2. Pick the room beside the child and select Set room.

The choice sticks every Sunday, through birthdays and new school years, until someone selects Back to automatic. The list shows each child placed by hand, the room check-in would pick otherwise, and who chose it and when: you, staff in the back office, or the check-in iPad where it was set with Change room. The iPads pick up a change at their next sync.

Good to know

• Only admins add, edit or archive rooms and change the promotion date. Staff can look, and can place a child in a room.
• An iPad only learns each child's room, never their birthdate or grade. It holds the room bands so it can place a brand-new family registered at the desk, even offline.
• A room that's closed for a service (see Check-in services) sends its children to the desk for that service.
• In the practice sandbox, the rooms are the church's public Sunday classes and the children are made up.

Top tips

• Give each room one clear band and let the warnings guide you: an empty Check the setup box means every child has exactly one room.
• Prefer grade bands for school-age classes: a grade a family gives once stays right every year.
• Choose a room by hand only when a child truly needs it, and set it back to automatic when they no longer do.