Get Ready for Fall Registration: The Summer Checklist

September's chaos is decided in July. Coordinators who coast through opening day aren't luckier — they front-loaded the work into the quiet weeks of summer. Here's the checklist, ordered by week, with links to deeper guides for each step.

Early July: records and structure

• Close out last year. Final attendance tallied, sacrament milestones recorded on each child's permanent record, year-end summary to your pastor (enrollment, attendance rate, milestones completed — the numbers that matter)
• Clean your family records now, while there's no line at your door. If they live in six spreadsheets, this is the season to consolidate them
• Draft the program calendar against school district and liturgical dates — the full sequence here
• Decide the fee question deliberately, with assistance built in from the start (a fair framework)

Mid-July: open registration

Yes, July. Families plan their fall now, and early numbers drive everything downstream.

• Registration form live — family-based, with allergies, consents, and authorized pickups required (what good looks like)
• Announce three ways: email to last year's families, worship announcements, and your congregation's website
• Returning families get pre-filled forms. Nothing says "we have our act together" like a two-minute renewal

Late July–August: staff to the numbers

• Watch enrollment by grade weekly and derive your class count from ratios (the math)
• Recruit to specific gaps with personal asks (twelve tactics)
• Start screening immediately — background checks take weeks, and every adult needs one before their first session (safety guide)

Two weeks out

• Rosters to every teacher, with allergies and pickup authorizations included
• Walk the check-in flow physically, from parking lot to classroom
• Parent welcome message: schedule, drop-off procedure, how you'll communicate all year (writing messages that get read)
• Confirm your cancellation protocol — who calls it, by when, on which channel

Opening day

Take attendance in every class, first ten minutes, from day one. Send a short "great first week" note that afternoon. The habits you set in week one are the program's habits by October.

The shortcut

Nearly everything on this list — registration, records, rosters, attendance, announcements — is one system in Bead, free for congregation education programs. Not a trial, not a starter plan. Create your free workspace this week, and let September be boring.