Everything in the staff app hangs off the left sidebar. Items are grouped so related things sit together; some groups expand to reveal sub-pages. Here’s the whole map — read it alongside the note at the end about why your own sidebar may be shorter.
The sidebar, top to bottom
| Item | What’s there |
|---|---|
| Finish setup | A row that sits above everything else while your setup is unfinished, and retires itself once it’s done. |
| Today | Your day at a glance and what needs attention — unconfirmed attendance, overdue invoices, make-ups to rebook. (This replaced the old “dashboard”.) |
| Calendar | Your timetable. Book lessons, drag to reschedule, take attendance. |
| Term Planner | Roll this term’s timetable into next term in one review pass. Owners and admins. |
| Make-ups | Students owed a make-up lesson, and rebooking a credit into a slot. |
| Students | Your roster and each student’s profile. The Enquiries pipeline lives behind a toggle here too. |
| People (or Locations) | Teachers and Locations. Teaching alone? You get a top-level Locations row instead — and the full People group the moment you add your first colleague. |
| Billing & Finance | Expands to Family Accounts, Invoices, Billing runs, Expenses & Mileage and Reports. |
| Messages | Your conversations with families. |
| Teaching | Expands to Repertoire, Resources (your file library) and Lending Library. |
| Growth | Expands to Website (booking page and open classes), Enquiries, Reviews and News. |
| Settings | Your account, your organisation, integrations, and more. |
Worth knowing Invoices and Reports are inside the Billing & Finance group — they are not top-level items. If a teacher signs in, that group sheds its admin framing and presents as "My pay & mileage".
Why your sidebar may be shorter than this
LessonLoop shows you the studio you actually have. A part of the app your studio hasn’t reached yet renders nothing at all — no greyed-out row, no padlock, no upsell. Rows appear as you grow into them, and nothing you have created is ever hidden from you. See what appears as your studio grows.
Your role trims the list too — finance sees no Messages and no Growth group, and Settings is a sidebar row for owners and admins only; finance members and teachers open it from the avatar menu. See who sees what.
Things that don’t have their own menu item
These open from a button, a card, or search rather than the sidebar:
- Take attendance (the register) — the “Take attendance” button on the Calendar, or Today.
- The attendance backlog — every past lesson still unmarked, from the Today tile or the bell.
- Term continuation — the attention card on the Calendar as a term ends.
- Bring your school in — the whole-school migration, from Settings → Advanced.
- The guided setup, and Concierge, the done-for-you handover.
Search for anything
Press the Search button in the top bar (or ⌘K / Ctrl-K) to jump to any student, lesson, invoice or enquiry — and to reach the pages that don’t have a menu item. It’s the fastest way to get anywhere.
The top bar
Left to right: your studio switcher (if you run more than one), Search, the notifications bell, a ”?” button that opens the Help Centre article for the page you’re on, the sparkle that opens LoopAssist, and your avatar menu — which is where Settings and Sign out live.
Was this out of date or unclear? Tell us — we keep these guides matched to the live app.