> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://educontroldoc.pixelspectivetech.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Closing the term

> Deciding what happens to every pupil, enrolling them into the next term, and rolling the school forward.

Closing a term is the single action that moves your school into the next one. It records a decision for every pupil and creates the enrolments the next term's billing will read.

## Before you close

<Steps>
  <Step title="Publish the term's report cards">
    Closing does not publish them, and an unpublished report card is not visible to pupils. See [Report cards](/docs/marks-and-reports/report-cards).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Settle what can be settled">
    Arrears follow a pupil forward, but it is far easier to resolve a disputed charge while the term is fresh.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create the destination term">
    You are closing *into* somewhere. The next term must exist, with its dates and calendar. See [Academic year and terms](/docs/before-the-term/academic-year-and-terms).
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Preview first

The close has a preview showing what will happen to every pupil before anything is written. Read it. It is much easier to correct a promotion decision here than to unpick a wrong enrolment after next term's billing has run.

## The five outcomes

Every pupil gets exactly one:

| Outcome       | Meaning                                                             |
| ------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Continued** | Moving to the next term in the same class — a Term 1 to Term 2 move |
| **Promoted**  | Moving up a class, at the end of the year                           |
| **Repeated**  | Staying in the same class for another year                          |
| **Graduated** | Completed JHS 3 and leaving                                         |
| **Withdrawn** | Leaving the school                                                  |

Continued and Promoted are different: a pupil moves through three terms in one class before being promoted out of it. Choosing Promoted between Term 1 and Term 2 would advance the whole school a year early.

## What the close records

The closure records the source and destination terms, the count of each outcome, any notes, and who closed it. Each pupil's individual decision is kept as well, so a question about why a particular pupil repeated has an answer.

The source and destination must be different terms — you cannot close a term into itself.

## Fee categories do not follow automatically

<Warning>
  A pupil's [discount](/docs/fees/discounts) is attached to their enrolment for a term, not to the pupil. It does not carry into the next term on its own.

  Review concessions as part of closing. This is the moment a staff child whose parent has left, or a one-term bursary, should stop — and the moment it is easiest to miss.
</Warning>

## After closing

<Steps>
  <Step title="Check the new term's enrolments">
    Every pupil who should be billed needs one.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set the new term's fee matrix">
    A new term starts with an empty grid rather than inheriting the last one. See [The fee matrix](/docs/fees/fee-matrix).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set feeding rates and plans">
    Also per term. See [Feeding rates](/docs/fees/feeding-rates).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Make the new term current">
    Everyone's screens now default to it.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Run billing">
    See [Running term billing](/docs/billing/running-term-billing).
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Who can do this

The `edit_academics` permission, alongside `edit_students` for the enrolment changes it makes.