Use this when... a student is ready to start lessons and you need to match them with the right tutor, keep the family record clear, and make future scheduling and billing easier.

Before you start... create or confirm the family, parent, student, and tutor records. Check subject, level, availability, location, online/in-person preference, safeguarding requirements, and any learning needs or access notes before assigning anyone.

Start from the family or student record so the assignment is attached to the right learner.

An assignment is the operational link between a student and the person who will teach them. It helps admins understand who is responsible for delivery, helps scheduling teams create sessions faster, and gives billing and reporting clearer context later.

For most tuition businesses, assignment should happen after the enquiry or trial decision and before recurring sessions are created. If you schedule first and assign later, you may need to revisit each session to confirm the tutor, rate, attendance expectations, and reporting workflow.

Open People, then Families, and find the student. Check their subjects, academic level, lesson goals, parent contact, branch, and any internal notes. Avoid relying only on a lead note or message thread if the student profile has since been updated.

Expected outcome: you understand what the student needs and can rule out unsuitable tutors before contacting anyone.

Open the Tutors or Employees area and review possible tutors. Look at subject coverage, availability, teaching format, location, employment model, compliance status, and workload. If a tutor's compliance or onboarding status is incomplete, resolve that before assigning them to active teaching.

Use the tutor record to confirm the match before you attach them to the student.

On the student, family, or scheduling workflow, select the tutor and confirm the subject or service the tutor will deliver. If TuitionFlow asks for a rate, billing rule, branch, or default lesson format, complete those fields at the same time.

Expected outcome: the student record shows the assigned tutor clearly, and scheduling can use that relationship when creating one-off or recurring sessions.

After assignment, create the first lesson or recurring series from Scheduling. Check the tutor, student, subject, time, duration, location, price, and reporting expectations before saving.

After assigning the tutor, confirm the schedule reflects the same tutor and student relationship.

Use Messages or your normal communication workflow to confirm the tutor match with the parent and tutor. Include lesson time, start date, format, cancellation policy, and what happens after the first session.

The tutor is not available to select: check whether they are active, assigned to the correct branch, fully onboarded, and set up for the relevant teaching role.

The wrong tutor appears on sessions: edit the session or recurring series and confirm whether the change should apply to future lessons only or to historical records as well.

The parent cannot see the expected tutor information: check whether the relevant portal visibility, invitation, and communication settings have been completed.

If the student changes tutor, update the active assignment and then review future sessions. Decide whether the new tutor starts immediately, from the next lesson, or from a specific date. Historical lessons should normally keep the tutor who actually taught them, because attendance, reports, tutor pay, and parent communication may depend on that history.

If the change is temporary cover, record that on the affected session rather than changing the long-term assignment. This keeps the student normal tutor relationship clear while still reflecting who delivered the individual lesson.

Before leaving the record, check the student profile, tutor profile, next scheduled lesson, and parent communication. All four should agree. If the parent has been told one tutor but the schedule shows another, fix the mismatch before the first lesson.

For high-need or safeguarding-sensitive placements, ask the appropriate lead to review the match before confirming it externally. The admin record should show that the decision was made deliberately, not inferred from a message thread.

Once the assignment is saved, create the first lesson, confirm attendance expectations, and decide whether the tutor should write lesson reports or set assignments after each session.