Setting up VBS grade levels and SS grade levels

[Karen Harris]

What is the best way to set up your database to show grades for SS attenders and grades for VBS attenders? We currently have ours set up with VBS as an activity and the grade level as a different activity. So if we need to get a list of SS attenders who are in the 4th grade, for example, it pulls up both VBS and SS students. It's probably very simple but the solution isn't jumping out at me! Thanks.

[NeilZ]

What is the best way to set up your database to show grades for SS attenders and grades for VBS attenders? We currently have ours set up with VBS as an activity and the grade level as a different activity. So if we need to get a list of SS attenders who are in the 4th grade, for example, it pulls up both VBS and SS students. It's probably very simple but the solution isn't jumping out at me! Thanks.

You definitely need to separate the activities and grades.

IE:
VBS:

VBS #5000
VBS - K #5010
VBS - 1 #5011

and so on

SS:

SS #6000
VBS - K #6010

You get the idea. In this way you can graduate kids much easier from grade to grade when you setup (in v11) the automatic graduation as of a certain month.

Yes you may have to create additional activities and assign both to some students, but you probably will have kids only for VBS and some only in SS, especially if you open VBS to the general public.

[Karen Harris]

Thanks for your response. So if we were to do it the way you suggested, Neil, would we just keep using the same VBS activity number each year for each grade, i.e. VBS - K #5010 and delete all of the info in that activity prior to the new VBS year? Or would you perhaps do VBS - K 6010 the next year? (I suppose it probably depends on what one needs to do with the information.)

[NeilZ]

Thanks for your response. So if we were to do it the way you suggested, Neil, would we just keep using the same VBS activity number each year for each grade, i.e. VBS - K #5010 and delete all of the info in that activity prior to the new VBS year? Or would you perhaps do VBS - K 6010 the next year? (I suppose it probably depends on what one needs to do with the information.)

Not exactly ... Powerchurch has the capability to PROMOTE kids from one grade to the next. So what would happen is that you'd promote the kids from Sr High out to young adult (for example), then Jr High to Senior High, and so on.

So the only place you'd need to add new people is to the VBS or SS Kindergarten class. Look in the Powerchurch manual, or the built-in help for Class Promotion. That section will show you how to setup your activities so you can do this easily.