How to move your school records from paper or Excel

Moving to school software sounds like months of typing. It does not have to be. With a clean class list and a spreadsheet upload, most schools can set up their classes and students in a day or two. Here is a plan that works whether your records are in exercise books or in Excel files.

Last updated 21 October 2026 · about 6 minute read

Before you start: collect five things

• A class list for every class, with each student’s full name and admission number (if you use them).
• The parent or guardian’s name, phone number and email for each student. The email matters: it becomes the parent’s login.
• Your class names and arms exactly as you want them shown, for example JSS 1 A, B and C, or SS 1 Gold and Diamond.
• The subjects each class takes, and which teacher teaches each.
• This term’s fee amounts for each class.

Step 1: Set up your classes and arms

Create each class and, if it is split into sections, its arms. Use the same names every year so students keep their arm when they are promoted. If your school uses its own naming (Gold, Diamond, Science, Arts), use that. The system should show you what it will create as you type, so mistakes are obvious before you save.

Step 2: Clean your class lists in Excel

Even if your records are on paper, type each class once into a spreadsheet. Use one row per student, with columns for name, class, arm and parent details. Use a template from your system, so the columns match exactly. Fix obvious problems now: misspelt names, missing phone numbers and duplicate students.

Step 3: Upload each class

In StudyPat, open People, then Students, download the template, fill it in and upload it. Rows that have a problem are reported, so you fix only those rows and upload again, without redoing the whole class. Parents get their login automatically from the email you supplied.

Step 4: Link brothers and sisters

If a parent has several children in the school, group them as a family so that the parent signs in once and sees them all. Add the children first, then the parent, and any child added to the family later is linked automatically.

Step 5: Add teachers and subjects

Add each teacher with their contact details, then assign their subjects and classes. Name a class teacher for every class or arm. Teachers then see only their own classes and score sheets, which keeps the system simple for them.

Step 6: Set your fees and scoring

Create the term’s fees for each class, and choose your score divisions (for example CA 30 and Exam 70) and your grading scale. Doing this before the term starts means teachers can begin entering scores from the first test.

Step 7: Test, then tell everyone