Daily cover software
Daily cover software for schools: a cover plan for every absent teacher before the first bell.
Mark a teacher absent and Bell Path shows every lesson and duty that needs covering and who is free to take it. Book the relief teacher and their brief goes to their phone by text, with the absent teacher’s class plan behind one code.
Absent · Mrs Patel (3B)
Covered by K. Walsh, CRT
Nothing left uncovered
8:50
3B Literacy
CRT · K. Walsh · Room 6
9:50
3B Numeracy
CRT · K. Walsh · Room 6
10:50
Recess duty · undercover
Swapped to D. Nguyen
11:20
3B at Music
CRT releases R. Singh (4A) · Planning time owed back
12:20
3B Reading
CRT · K. Walsh · Room 6
1:20
Lunch
No duty
2:10
3B Inquiry
CRT · K. Walsh · Room 6 · until 3:30
Sample day · for illustration
What you are looking for
Someone has called in sick and you have until the first bell.
The same puzzle comes up several mornings a week: who is free, who is already owed time, what the relief teacher needs on their phone before they walk in, and how the absent teacher gets their plan to a stranger without coming in.
Daily cover is the morning version of timetabling. Someone is away, the clock is moving, and everybody feels the answer by first period.
Bell Path already knows the timetable, the specialist lessons and each teacher’s hours, so the cover plan starts from the real day rather than from a blank page.
The problems
What goes wrong without it.
School leaders describe these problems to us before they start with Bell Path. It is built to stop each one.
The person doing cover has to open the timetable, the staff list and a spreadsheet before 8am.
Working out what a CRT should do while the class is at a specialist lesson depends on memory and goodwill.
The cover sheet still has to be typed up and handed out, under pressure.
What it does
From school setup to a timetable you can explain with confidence.
What it handles
- Mark a teacher absent and see every lesson and duty that needs covering, with covering staff suggested by the term’s fairness count
- A CRT brief built from the absent teacher’s real day, texted to the relief teacher as one link that opens on their phone with no account and no app
- The absent teacher’s class plan, typed or uploaded (Word, PowerPoint, PDF or a photo) from a link in their email, and kept private until they choose Share with the CRT
- Lesson links and files on the school laptop through one short code the relief teacher types at bellpath.com.au/go
- Student support instructions and the school’s laptop logins behind one six-digit code sent to the relief teacher’s phone, never in the plain link and never on paper
- A choice, when the class is at a specialist lesson, of releasing another teacher or keeping the CRT with the class, with planning time and time in lieu recorded
- The relief teacher’s end-of-day note: how each session went, a short message, or one recorded voice message with its transcript, sent to the teacher whose class it was
- Printed briefs and the staffroom display, with a text to the relief teacher when the plan changes after their brief went out
Why schools choose Bell Path
- Every absent teacher’s class has a named person covering it before the first bell
- The relief teacher reads one live page on their phone instead of a printout, a text and three emails
- The class plan comes from the teacher who knows the class, not retyped by the office
- Anything sensitive sits behind a code; the plain link only ever carries the outline of the day
- Bell Path records the booking you have already made and communicates it; it does not find or employ relief teachers
- You still make every call; Bell Path shows you the options
Related stories
Stories from schools like yours.
Each story is built from the patterns schools describe to us. Names and identifying details are left out.
FAQ
Questions schools ask before they start.
Does daily cover use the school timetable?
Yes. When you mark a teacher absent, Bell Path reads their real timetable for that day, so the CRT brief starts from the actual lessons and duties rather than from scratch.
Does the relief teacher need an account or an app?
No. The booking text carries one link. It opens the outline of the day straight away: times, rooms, contacts, duties and where to report. The class plan, student support instructions and any school laptop login open after a six-digit code sent to the relief teacher’s phone, once, for that day.
How does the absent teacher share their plan?
Bell Path emails them a link for that date and class, so they do not need to sign in. They can fill in the session cards Bell Path has already made from the timetable, type one page, or upload the plan they already have as a Word, PowerPoint or PDF file or a photo. Nothing reaches the relief teacher until they press Share with the CRT, and if they are too unwell to prepare anything, they can say so and the daily organiser is told.
What is the voice message?
One recording, with a transcript Bell Path writes for it. A teacher can attach one to their class plan, and the relief teacher can leave one with their end-of-day note. It is a record for the relevant teacher and school leaders, not a chat, and it never plays by itself.
Can Bell Path print a brief for the CRT?
Yes. The brief prints from the cover page as a day outline or a complete brief, and Bell Path only marks a paper copy as ready when a person confirms it was printed. The live link on the relief teacher’s phone stays the current version.
Why keep daily cover in the same system as the timetable?
Because the cover plan depends on the timetable: the absent teacher’s lessons, which specialist sessions fall that day, when the CRT is free, and which teachers are already owed planning time. Bell Path has all of that before the phone rings.
Also compare
How Bell Path stacks up against other options.
Free guides
Practical reading before you decide anything.
Guides written for Australian primary school leaders. No sign-up required.
Covering teacher absences without wearing out the same five people.
Covering a teacher absence means deciding, before the first bell, who takes each class, duty and meeting the absent teacher leaves behind, and recording whose planning time paid for it. Every morning, someone turns a list of absent staff into that plan. This guide makes the decision sequence explicit, and shows where fairness and planning time leak.
Time in lieu in primary schools: what counts, how to record it, and how to give it back.
Time in lieu is the time a teacher or education support employee is owed when the principal requires them to work beyond their normal hours. In Victorian government schools it accrues hour for hour above a 38-hour week, and it has two hard dates attached. This guide sets out what attracts it, how camps are counted, how to keep the record straight, and how to acquit it before the deadlines turn it into a payout at 150 per cent.
Ready when you are
Publish a timetable you can trust.
Bell Path builds the timetable from the details you give it, checks it before staff see it, and keeps working through the term for cover and duty rosters.