Glossary: the words ShuleOS uses

A plain-language list of the words used in ShuleOS and this manual, from academic year and enrolment to NSSF and safe mode.

Checked on the ShuleOS demo school 6 min read

Words are grouped by part of the school. Where a word has a guide of its own, the link takes you there.

School and students

Word	Meaning
Academic year	One school year, for example 2026. Almost everything in ShuleOS is done "for a year": classes, marks, fees, attendance. Only one year is current.
Term	A part of the academic year, with a start and an end date. The default is three terms.
Class (classroom)	A grade or form, for example Standard 4 or Form 2.
Section (stream)	A subdivision of a class, such as A or B. A class with one group has no sections.
Enrolment	Placing a student in a class for one academic year. A student who is not enrolled cannot be given attendance, marks or invoices.
Admission number	The student's own number at the school, different for every student.
Roll number	The student's number in the class register.
Status (student)	Active, Inactive, Graduated or Transferred. Only active students are counted, taught, billed and messaged.
Guardian / parent	A person linked to a student. One parent can be linked to several children.
Promotion	Moving students up to the next class at the end of a year.

Word	Meaning
Class teacher	The teacher responsible for a class (or section). Takes the register and writes report comments.
Subject teacher	A teacher assigned to teach a subject in a class.
Period	A slot in the school day, with a start and end time. Breaks are periods too.
Timetable	Which subject and teacher are in which period, for each class.
Exam	A test event, with its dates, the classes that sit it, and its subjects and components.
Component	One part of an exam's mark, such as coursework or the written paper.
Grading scheme	The rules that turn marks into grades, with a pass mark.
Combined report	Several exams joined by weights into one term result.
Report card	A child's written report. It is draft until the office releases it to the parents.
Locked exam	An exam whose status is completed or published: marks cannot be changed until an administrator sets it back to active.
Behaviour criteria	The qualities a child is rated on, such as discipline and punctuality.
Competency assessment	Rating a child on skills (learning areas) instead of giving marks, used for the youngest classes.
Lesson plan	A teacher's plan for one lesson.
Invigilator	A teacher supervising an exam.

Word	Meaning
Fee type	A kind of fee, such as tuition, meals or transport.
Installment	A payment period for fees, usually a term.
Fee amount	The price of a fee type for a class and installment.
Invoice	The fixed bill for one student and one installment. Its lines keep the amount it was issued with.
Void	To cancel an invoice or a payment. It stays on record, marked voided, with a reversing entry.
Discount	A reduction, in percent or a fixed amount, given to a student or a group.
Fee override	A different amount for one student, for one fee.
Control number	The number the school's bank gives each student, to use as the payment reference.
Receipt	The proof the school gives when it records a payment.
Arrears	Fees from earlier terms or years still unpaid.
Statement	A student's account line by line: charges, payments and the running balance.
Adjustment	A manual charge or credit posted straight to a student's account.
Opening balance	What a student owed, or had paid ahead, when the school started using ShuleOS.
Expense	Money the school spends. Recorded from a cash account (cash, bank or mobile money).

Word	Meaning
Employee	Anyone who works at the school, whatever their job.
Category	Teacher, Administration, Support staff, Management or Driver.
Working days	Monday to Friday, without the days the school calendar closes the school. Leave is counted in them.
Check-in PIN	A 4 to 6 digit number a staff member types at the check-in desk.
Pay item	An allowance (earning) or a deduction attached to an employee's pay.
Gross pay	Basic salary plus earnings, before deductions.
Net pay	What the employee takes home.
NSSF	The national pension fund. The employee pays a share and the school pays a share.
PAYE	Income tax taken from pay each month.
HESLB	The Higher Education Students' Loans Board. Staff repaying a student loan have a share of their basic pay taken for it.
WCF, SDL	Workers' compensation and the skills and development levy: costs the school pays on top of salaries.
Payroll stages	Draft, In review, Approved, Paid.

Word	Meaning
Reorder level	The stock level at or below which ShuleOS warns you to buy more.
Movement	One change to an item's stock: received, issued, returned or counted.
Issue	Handing stock to a person, a class or a department.
Returnable	An issued item that is expected to come back.
Asset code	An asset's number in the register, such as AST-0001.
Retire	To take an asset out of use for good. It cannot be undone.

Word	Meaning
Role	A named set of permissions given to a login.
Permission	One thing a role may do, such as view, add, change, delete or import on a screen.
Package	What the school has bought: which parts of ShuleOS, how many admin logins, how many students.
Module	A part of ShuleOS, such as Fees or Exams.
Audit log	The permanent record of who did what and when. It cannot be edited.
Bell	The notification icon at the top right.
Quiet hours	A time of night when SMS are held back until the morning.
Safe mode	A setting on demonstration copies of ShuleOS: SMS and email are recorded but not really sent.
Portal	A separate sign-in for each kind of person: admin, teacher and parent.