A complete leave management system for South African preschools and ECD centres
Not just leave requests, a full leave management system. A colour-coded team calendar, South African public holidays subtracted automatically, an auditable balance ledger with accruals and carry-over, half-day and custom leave types, contextual approvals, and one-click team bookings for a December shutdown. Everything you need to run staff leave properly, included in the Professional plan at no extra cost.
- A colour-coded team leave calendar grouped by department, with a "who's away today" view
- South African public holidays preloaded and subtracted from leave days automatically
- Balances on an auditable ledger, every accrual, carry-over, and admin correction is logged
Leave on a spreadsheet means the principal is the only record, and it is always out of date
Leave is one of the most common reasons staff and management fall out, and in most South African ECD centres it is managed entirely through verbal requests, WhatsApp messages, and a spreadsheet that one person, usually the principal, keeps. The Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) sets out annual, sick, family responsibility, and maternity entitlements, but knowing the rules is not the same as having a record that proves you applied them.
A teacher asks for three days of annual leave over WhatsApp. The principal says yes. The spreadsheet was last updated a month ago, so nobody is sure what the teacher's remaining balance actually is. The days are approved on a guess. Later, when the teacher disputes how much leave they have left, there is no clear ledger to settle it, only a spreadsheet that has been edited, overwritten, and copied between devices.
A second teacher requests leave for the same week. The principal cannot remember who else is off without opening the spreadsheet, and the spreadsheet does not flag the overlap. Both are approved. Now two staff members are away at once, and on those days the centre may not have enough adults for the children present.
A leave request runs across a public holiday. Nobody adjusts for it, so the staff member is charged a full day they should not have lost, or the school loses track and over-credits them. Sick leave is harder still: the BCEA counts sick leave over a rolling three-year cycle, not a calendar year, and almost no spreadsheet tracks that correctly.
At year-end, leave that should carry over is forgotten, or leave that should be forfeited is quietly carried anyway. No warning goes out beforehand. The carry-over cap, if there is one, lives in the principal's memory.
None of this is carelessness. It is what happens when leave, with its public holidays, accruals, carry-over caps, and three-year sick cycle, is run on a tool that was never built to track any of it.
One leave system, staff apply, the principal approves with full context, and the ledger keeps itself
EarlyTrack's leave management module replaces the WhatsApp-and-spreadsheet routine with a connected system: staff apply from their portal, public holidays and block-out periods are handled automatically, the principal approves while seeing balances and conflicts, and an auditable ledger records every change. Leave management is included in the Professional plan at no extra cost.
Apply
Staff apply from the portal, choosing a leave type, dates, and a full or half day, with their balance visible before they submit.
Approve
The principal reviews with the balance, the requested days, the resulting balance, and who else is already away, then approves, one request or in bulk.
Track
The auditable ledger deducts the days, the calendar updates, and reports, reminders, and forfeiture warnings follow on their own.
What the leave management module covers
All features on this page are included in the Professional plan at no extra cost. Standard does not include leave management.
A colour-coded calendar grouped by department
See the whole team's leave on one colour-coded timeline, grouped by department, plus a "who's away today" view for the morning glance. Before approving anything, you can see who is already off.
Public holidays subtracted automatically, plus your own closures and block-outs
South African public holidays are preloaded and automatically subtracted from leave days, so a public holiday inside a request never counts against the balance. Admins can add custom school closures, and block-out periods, such as a December shutdown, that prevent applications.
Entitlement, accruals, carry-over, and corrections, all logged
Balances run on an auditable ledger that records entitlement, accruals, and carry-over with a configurable cap. Forfeiture comes with advance warnings, and admin balance corrections are possible, with every adjustment logged so a balance dispute can always be traced.
Apply for a morning or an afternoon
Staff can apply for a morning or an afternoon (0.5 day) on a single day, rather than being forced to take a whole day for a short appointment. The half-day is deducted from the balance accordingly.
BCEA defaults, your own custom types, and per-employee overrides
Schools define their own leave types and colours, and each employee can have an entitlement override. BCEA defaults are included: Annual at 15 days, Sick on the 3-year BCEA cycle, Family Responsibility, Maternity shown as up to 4 months, and Unpaid.
Approve knowing the balance, the impact, and who else is away
When reviewing a request the principal sees the staff member's available balance, the requested days, the resulting balance, and which colleagues are already on leave for those dates. They can change the leave type at approval, and bulk-approve several requests at once.
Company leave year or anniversary cycle, with a per-employee override
Choose a uniform company leave year by setting the start month, or an anniversary cycle that runs from each employee's start date, with a per-employee override where you need one. Sick leave always uses the BCEA 3-year cycle, separate from your chosen leave year.
Subscribe in Google, Outlook, or Apple, read-only, no setup
Staff subscribe to their own leave, and admins to the team calendar, from Google, Outlook, or Apple using a private .ics link. The subscription is read-only and needs no setup, leave shows up alongside everything else in their calendar.
Weekly approver reminders and a team "who's away" digest
Approvers get a weekly reminder of requests still waiting on them, so nothing sits pending and forgotten. The team receives a "who's away" digest, and staff and admins are warned in advance before leave is forfeited.
Sick-leave patterns, carry-over tracking, and a month-end summary
Spot recurring sick-leave patterns, track carry-over and forfeiture, and receive a scheduled month-end leave report by email. Everything can be exported to CSV or PDF for your own records or your accountant.
Read-only balance cards and apply from the staff portal
Staff see read-only balance cards that match the admin view, so there is one shared source of truth, and they apply for leave straight from the staff portal. Fewer "how much leave do I have left?" questions arrive at the principal's desk.
Book the same dates for the whole team, a December shutdown in seconds
Closing for the December break or a long weekend? Book the same leave dates for many staff at once instead of capturing each request by hand. Select the whole team or just a few, pick one date range, and EarlyTrack skips anyone with overlapping leave or no balance, with the option to approve immediately.
An optional reminder so a birthday is never missed
An optional extra: EarlyTrack can email admins, show an in-app popup, and notify the birthday staff member when a staff birthday comes around. Schools can upload their own English and Afrikaans popup image to match how they like to celebrate.
From a leave request to an updated balance, the full lifecycle
Who the leave management module is designed for
Principals who keep leave in their head and a spreadsheet
If the principal is the leave record, approving over WhatsApp and updating a spreadsheet when there is time, EarlyTrack moves that into a shared, auditable system that does not depend on one person's memory.
Schools that want to apply the BCEA correctly
Annual, sick on the rolling three-year cycle, family responsibility, maternity, and unpaid leave each behave differently under the BCEA. EarlyTrack tracks each correctly, with the sick cycle handled separately from your leave year.
Schools that have had a dispute over how much leave is left
When the balance is questioned, an auditable ledger settles it: every accrual, carry-over, deduction, and admin correction is recorded with a timestamp, rather than living in an edited spreadsheet.
Centres that need to keep enough adults on the floor
Because the approver sees who else is already on leave for the same dates, it is easier to avoid approving two staff off at once, and a December block-out keeps the shutdown period clear.
Schools that lose track of carry-over at year-end
The configurable carry-over cap and advance forfeiture warnings mean year-end is handled by the system, not remembered at the last minute, and staff are told before they lose anything.
What principals should know before moving leave off the spreadsheet
Every balance change is recorded on the ledger
Entitlement, accruals, carry-over, deductions, and admin corrections are all written to an auditable ledger. If a balance is ever questioned, you can show exactly how it was reached and who changed it.
Sick leave follows the BCEA three-year cycle
Sick leave is tracked on the BCEA rolling three-year cycle regardless of the leave year you choose for other types, so the entitlement is calculated the way the Act intends.
Staff are warned before leave is forfeited
Forfeiture does not happen silently. When a balance is approaching its carry-over cap, both staff and admins receive advance warnings so the leave can be used or carried before it is lost.
The calendar subscription is read-only
The .ics link staff use to see their leave in Google, Outlook, or Apple is read-only and private. Subscribing to it cannot change any leave record, it only displays what is already approved.
Leave records are isolated to your school
Staff leave balances, applications, and history are stored within your school's isolated data environment. No other school can see your records.
Staff departure does not delete leave history
When a staff member leaves and their account is deactivated, their leave ledger and history remain in the system. Deactivation removes access, it does not erase the record.
Questions about moving leave off the spreadsheet
Frequently asked questions
Leave management on Standard and Professional
Explore related features
Run staff leave from the same platform as your assessments
The 14-day free trial gives you the complete Professional plan, the full leave management module, including the team calendar, public holidays, the auditable balance ledger, half-day leave, BCEA leave types, and contextual approvals, with no credit card required.
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EarlyTrack also covers staff clock-in and qualifications, student attendance tracking, DSD-compliant incident reporting, parent communication, and ELDA and Grade R assessments.
For a broader view of how leave management fits into running a South African preschool, the preschool management guide for South Africa covers all six operational systems in one place.