Overview
This article explains how Orah supports boarding schools on a day-to-day basis.
Before configuring settings, it’s important to understand how Orah brings together roll calls, sign-in and sign-out, passes, locations, and staff roles to support student safety and visibility.
By the end of this guide, you should have a clear picture of how boarding workflows operate in Orah and what needs to be in place before moving on to setup.
1. What Orah Tracks in a Boarding Context
At its core, Orah is designed to help boarding schools understand:
Where students are
Where students should be
Who is responsible for them
To do this, Orah tracks a small number of key elements:
Students – the individuals being monitored
Staff – the adults responsible for supervision
Locations – where students can be during the day or evening
Time-based events – such as roll calls and passes
Status – a real-time view of student whereabouts
Orah focuses on real-time awareness, not just record-keeping.
2. Boarding Houses and Student Grouping
Boarding houses are central to how Orah works for boarding schools.
Houses are used to:
Group students and staff
Assign responsibility to house parents
Drive roll calls, permissions, and reporting
Depending on your setup:
Houses may be managed via your SIS, or
Created and managed directly in Orah
Houses must reflect how your boarding school operates in real life, as many boarding workflows depend on this structure.
👉 [Link: Boarding houses overview]
3. Locations: Where Students Can Be
Locations represent the places students may be during the day or evening.
Common boarding locations include:
Boarding houses or dormitories
Classrooms
Dining halls or common areas
Approved off-campus locations (if applicable)
Locations are used across multiple workflows, including:
Roll calls
Sign-in and sign-out
Passes
Emergency rolls
Accurate locations ensure staff can quickly account for students and respond effectively in both routine and emergencies.
👉 [Link: Locations overview]
4. Roll Calls: The Foundation of Boarding in Orah
Roll calls are the core boarding activity in Orah.
They are used to:
Confirm student presence
Identify absences or exceptions
Provide real-time visibility to staff and administrators
Most boarding schools run:
A daily roll call, and
An evening roll call
If roll calls are not working as expected, other boarding workflows will feel incomplete or unreliable.
Tip: A successful Go-Live almost always starts with well-configured roll calls.
👉 [Link: Roll calls overview]
5. Sign-In, Sign-Out, and Passes: Tracking Movement
Orah tracks student movement using a combination of sign-in/sign-out actions and passes.
Sign-In and Sign-Out
Records when students leave or return
Used frequently by house parents and boarding staff
Reflects real-time student movement
👉 [Link: Signing students in and out]
Passes
Define permission for students to be away
May include:
Leave or exeat passes
Weekend leave
Event or trip passes
👉 [Link: Passes overview]
Important distinction:
Passes explain why a student is away.
Sign-in and sign-out records when they leave and return.
Understanding this relationship helps ensure accurate tracking and reporting.
6. Who Uses Orah in a Boarding School
Different roles interact with Orah in different ways.
Boarding Administrators
Typically responsible for:
Setting up houses, roll calls, and passes
Managing staff access and permissions
Reviewing reports and overall boarding data
House Parents and Boarding Staff
Typically responsible for:
Running roll calls
Signing students in and out
Managing daily boarding activity
IT or Systems Administrators (if applicable)
May be involved in:
Managing SIS or data integrations
Supporting ongoing data accuracy
Clear role ownership ensures smooth onboarding and avoids confusion during Go-Live.
👉 [Link: Users and roles overview]
7. How Daily Boarding Workflows Fit Together
In practice, boarding workflows in Orah follow a predictable pattern:
Students are assigned to boarding houses
Locations are defined
Roll calls are scheduled
Staff run roll calls at scheduled times
Students move using sign-in, sign-out, and passes
Data feeds reporting, visibility, and safety workflows
You do not need to configure every feature at once. Most schools start with core boarding workflows and build from there.
8. Optional Modules That Build on Boarding
Orah offers additional modules that can enhance boarding operations once core workflows are in place.
These may include:
Student Care / Nurture for well-being and pastoral tracking
Emergency Rolls for critical incident management
Connect for communication
These modules rely on your core boarding setup and can be enabled once daily usage is established.
👉 [Link: Student Care overview]
👉 [Link: Emergency Rolls overview]
👉 [Link: Connect overview]
9. What You Should Have in Place Before Setup
Before moving on to configuration, it helps to have clarity on:
How your boarding houses are structured
Who will act as Boarding Admins and House Parents
When roll calls should run
How students typically move on and off campus
This preparation will make setup faster and reduce rework later.
What’s Next
Now that you understand how boarding works in Orah, the next step is preparing your school for setup.
👉 [Next article: Preparing for Go-Live – Boarding Schools]