Waitlists

Enabling waitlists

Waitlists are enabled per package. Once on, families who try to book a full session join a queue instead of being turned away. You can also set a waitlist capacity, which caps how long that queue gets — beyond it, bookings are refused as if waitlists were off.

Capping the waitlist is worth doing. An uncapped queue on a popular programme creates an expectation you can't meet.

Where a waitlist actually forms

In practice the queue builds from the parent portal. A family tries to book a session that is already full, and rather than being turned away they join the waitlist — that is the path almost every waitlisted booking arrives by.

Booking someone in yourself is the deliberate exception. You usually have a reason: a sibling who has to be collected at the same time, a family you already promised a place to, a child moving up from a class you are closing.

How a waitlisted booking behaves

A waitlisted booking is a real booking with a waitlisted status. It shows in your lists, it belongs to the family, and it blocks that child from separately booking the same sessions — so nobody ends up both waitlisted and enrolled for the same class.

Moving families off the waitlist

When a place frees up — usually because someone cancelled — you confirm a waitlisted booking to move it into the class. This is deliberately a decision you make rather than something automatic, so you can apply judgement about who gets the place.