Planning for Dancing in Rain (not being struck by lightning) as your School in the Cloud Grows
From Admin to Innovation...
Anyone who follows me knows I’m rather obsessed with safeguarding kids online, digital safety, and freeing educators to inspire rather than being throttled by admin and disjointed tech...
...so I was especially struck by how platforms like TutorCruncher help online school leaders and administrators handle all this.
Don’t be put off by niche-sounding product names in this space either—
think of it as a versatile system that can function as a backend for administrators, accounts departments, headteachers, designated safeguarding leads, and HR, or as a frontend for users like parents, students, and clients — or both!
Like my article last week, I'm in no way affiliated with this company nor do I benefit from recommending them — but I've tried others and was really impressed with their customer support and handholding with onboarding and set up.
In this tech-fangled world, it's always the edtech with the best human experience I love the most.
If you'd prefer, you can watch my chat with Sam from TutorCruncher here, giving us a live demo.
It’s worth noting that while online schools are currently considered separate entities to traditional brick-and-mortar schools, there is no recognised "hybrid school" concept yet by the Department for Education (DfE) or HMRC. However, some of these tools are already ahead of the game, offering features that support VAT handling, split payments, billing, and accommodating a wide variety of business models, including employment agencies, tutor businesses and tutor agencies. More on this in a future newsletter!
Setting up online systems presents both challenges and opportunities for schools. From managing stakeholders to ensuring scalability, schools require robust and customisable platforms. Based on my experience with traditional, hybrid, blended and online education models, I see tools like TutorCruncher as great examples of how these needs can be addressed effectively.
While there are opportunities to brand these systems to your school or business, I recommend choosing a human-centred company based where you are, who is agile and responsive and has the tech support to help you make these systems fully bespoke. While this requires some planning and a deep knowledge of your business, it's worth the effort and far cheaper and scalable than building your own.
Butts on seats and paying the bills
One of the most consistent pain points I’ve heard from schools considering online programmes is the complexity of scheduling, invoicing, and communication. Schools are managing a diverse array of stakeholders — students, teachers, parents, and even local authorities. Doing this efficiently, without being bogged down by endless admin or tech glitches, is critical for success. A good admin platform tackles this head-on with features such as:
User Management: Centralised profiles for students, parents, and tutors, with the flexibility to manage multiple relationships (e.g. a parent overseeing two students or a school managing multiple staff members).
Customisable Dashboards: A glanceable view of everything you need, from lesson schedules to unpaid invoices.
Integrated Accounting: Options for invoicing upfront, after lessons, or even batching payments — reducing the friction often faced with local authority budgets.
Scheduling & Lesson Management: Effective scheduling systems are vital for schools to manage lessons efficiently and reduce administrative burdens. The best of them make session management simple: easy to set up, edit, adjust, and track lessons. Clients and tutors can book and deliver lessons effortlessly, and admins have access to a clear, centralised view of all schedules. With automated reminders to minimise no-shows and real-time calendar sync, everyone stays organised and informed.
Unlimited, Customisable User Profiles: Look out for fully customisable, unlimited tutor, student, and client profiles, allowing you to capture all the details that matter most to your school in the cloud. It's all about people after all. You can tailor each profile to include unique information such as preferences, session history, contact details, and payment data, with no restrictions on the number of profiles you can create. This flexibility ensures that you can manage and organise a growing client base and team, while keeping all relevant information easily accessible and up-to-date.
Borderless learner communities and smart payments
Automated payment systems are essential for scaling education businesses beyond local borders, saving time, and ensuring accuracy. These systems streamline payroll and invoicing while accommodating diverse needs such as multi-currency transactions. Look for systems offering automatic payments directly to both tutors and companies instantly — often called split payments — whose prebuilt, compatible exports for Xero, QuickBooks, and Sage make updating your accounting platform quick and easy.
Data security & data ownership
When evaluating a platform, ask specific questions about their security measures, such as encryption standards, secure storage, and access controls. Ensure they provide clear evidence of GDPR compliance, such as a Data Processing Agreement (DPA), and
confirm that your school retains full ownership of the data with straightforward processes for retrieval, transfer, or deletion, and make sure you articulate these in your policies.
Look for providers who are transparent and proactive, offering documentation, clear processes, and training where needed. If their responses feel vague or overly complex, it’s a red flag that they may not meet the necessary standards.
The UK Department for Education (DfE) and Ofsted emphasise the critical importance of data protection and online safety within educational institutions, including online schools. The DfE provides a comprehensive toolkit designed to assist school staff, governors, and trustees in understanding and complying with data protection laws. This resource aids in developing data policies, determining which staff and pupil data to retain, and implementing best practices to prevent data breaches.
It's so super helpful to interrogate your policies, tools and processes and conscientiously design this into your School in the Cloud architecture in the set up phase, not wait for the catastrophic data breach phase!
Make it personal: building your unique brand
Interestingly, tools like these aren’t limited to schools. As someone who consults on building online education systems, I’m intrigued by the potential for using these platforms to manage consultancy projects. By tweaking the terminology (e.g. ‘tutors’ to ‘consultants’), the platform could easily adapt for professionals in adjacent industries.
For example:
Manage client relationships and projects with the same clarity as managing student and tutor connections.
Use the integrated invoicing and scheduling tools to streamline your operations.
Provide a seamless, professional experience for your clients with white-labelling options to match your branding.
Play and try
If you’re considering launching a cloud-based school or consultancy, now is the perfect time to experiment. Most of these platforms offer free trials, so you can test the fit before you commit.
Alongside TutorCruncher, platforms such as Teachworks, LearnSpeed, and MyClassCampus also offer valuable features, ranging from intuitive scheduling to enhanced reporting functionalities. Each has its own strengths, so it’s worth exploring the options to find the best fit for your goals.
For those interested in diving deeper into the possibilities, keep an eye on upcoming events and discussions I’ll be hosting with virtual school creators, edtech leaders, and innovators. (And if you'd like to take part, let me know!) These conversations will explore how we can cocreate and collaborate to realise the best learning ecosystems to meet the needs of all learners everywhere.
Building schools in the cloud by personalising and customising clever tech provides not only a solution to logistical problems but a way to reimagine education entirely.
Already have an online school or tuition business and want to know what you're doing well and where you can optimise efficiency? Try this free scorecard to see how you can accelerate attendance in your school or learning community.
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First published in Building Schools in the Cloud on LinkedIn, 28 January 2025; lightly edited for the web.