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A full class is a demand signal, not a dead end.

When a class fills, parents can still submit the form and join a queue — and you get told. Approving is your call, not the system’s, so a place never goes to whoever refreshed fastest. Meanwhile a second, separate queue handles clients who already hold a make-up credit and want a session that is full.

Two queues, and they are not the same thing

This is the distinction that causes the most confusion, so it is worth getting straight before anything else. Zooza runs two waiting lists. They apply at different moments, hold different people, and behave differently on purpose.

The class capacity queue

For prospective clients who want into a class with no enrolment places left. It is on by default — when a class is full, the form offers the queue without you configuring anything.

Approval stays with you

Nothing moves off the class queue on its own. You are notified, and you approve, move the person to a class with room, or call them with options. No automatic enrolment means no place lost to a race.

The make-up queue

For clients who already hold a credit and want a specific session where every extra-capacity place is taken. Separate system, separate switch, in the programme’s make-up settings.

That one is automatic

When a place opens, everyone queued for that session is emailed at the same time and the first to click the link takes it. No admin action — which is the right trade when the alternative is you refereeing it.

Capacity and extra capacity

The booking form only ever sees <strong>Capacity</strong>. Extra capacity is invisible to a paying client signing up, which is what stops a class being oversold — and what lets you hold places back.

A queue is not the only answer

If the class is full now but frees up shortly, delayed start offers a later joining date instead of a queue. The family pays from that date and takes a seat that was going to sit empty.

Holding places back without hiding them

Because the booking form ignores extra capacity, you can reserve seats for the people who should get them while still selling out the sellable ones.

  1. Step 1

    Split the room

    A room that fits seven does not have to be a class of seven. Set <strong>Capacity 5</strong> and <strong>Extra capacity 2</strong>: you sell five places, and the last two are reachable only by trials and make-ups. The room still fills to seven.

  2. Step 2

    Reopen it later in the term

    Extra capacity changes any time, including in bulk across classes. A common pattern is 5 + 2 through the enrolment window, then 7 + 0 once the class is full and you no longer need to court new families.

  3. Step 3

    Decide what trials may touch

    Programme → Settings → Trial → Session capacity. Confine trials to the extra seats and main capacity stays reserved for paying enrolments. Or let them draw on both, if filling the room matters more than protecting the seat.

  4. Step 4

    Work the queue from Bookings

    Filter by status Waitlist. Open a booking, Change status, pick Enrolled, and tick the confirmation email. If the booking is unpaid, set the amount owed <em>before</em> you send it — the email carries the payment status.

What you can set

  • Class capacity, on the class itself.
  • Extra capacity, globally for every class — then per class, either added to the global number or replacing it.
  • Whether trials draw on currently available capacity or are confined to the extra seats.
  • Whether a trial attendee’s seat is held after their trial ends, while they decide.
  • Whether a class disappears from the booking form once it is full, which is how you stop a queue forming.
  • Whether the make-up session waiting list is available, per programme.
  • Delayed start, per programme, with a window of how far ahead someone may join.
  • An age restriction on the programme’s additional fields, which is one of the things that puts a booking in a queue.
  • How many people a single booking may register, in the class’s advanced settings.

Stop losing afternoons to “why is this on the waiting list?”

Four causes, one order to check them in, and a queue that tells you when to open another class. Start a free trial, or have us look at how your classes are filling now.

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FAQ — including what it will not do

  • Why is a registration on the waiting list when the class has space?
    There are four reasons a booking lands on a waiting list and only the first is the one people expect. The class is full; the child’s date of birth falls outside an age restriction; a downpayment has not been paid; or an unpaid-booking automation moved it. Check them in that order. If capacity and age both look fine it is one of the payment reasons — and the class showing free places is a red herring rather than a fault. Full breakdown in the help centre: why a registration goes to the waiting list.
  • We do not collect downpayments, so why did an automation move it?
    That automation is tied to downpayments, and if it is switched on while you do not actually collect them, an unpaid booking still gets moved. Put the booking right — status to Enrolled, add the amount owed under Payments, resend the confirmation from Communication → Send message — and then review the automation itself, or every unpaid booking will keep landing there.
  • Does the system enrol people from the waiting list automatically?
    No, and not by omission. Every approval off the class capacity queue is a decision you make, even when a place has obviously opened up. The make-up queue is the opposite: fully automatic, everyone notified at once, first click wins. If you were expecting the class queue to behave like the make-up one, it does not.
  • Is there a priority order, so whoever queued first gets the place?
    No. Neither queue is first-come-first-served. The class list is yours to work in whatever order you judge fair, and the make-up list notifies everyone simultaneously, so it goes to whoever clicks first rather than whoever waited longest. Worth knowing before you promise a parent they are “next in line”.
  • My class still shows 10/10 after students cancelled. Why?
    Capacity counts active registrations, not attendance. A client who missed a session, or whose attendance was cancelled for one session, is still enrolled in the class, so the counter does not move. To release a place you have to cancel or delete the booking, or transfer the client to another class. Marking someone absent does not do it.
  • How do I turn the waiting list off?
    There is no switch labelled “waiting list”. People join by submitting the form for a full class, so you stop it by taking the class out of the form: Programmes → Online Booking → Edit → Other → If the class reaches full capacity, do not show it in the booking form. Two things to know. It is per programme, not per class, so if you want the queue on some classes and not others they have to sit in different programmes. And you lose the demand signal — a full class that stays visible tells you how many more families wanted in, which is what you would use to decide whether to open another one.
  • Will parents see the class is full before they fill the form in?
    Yes, the form carries a “class full” indicator upfront. In fairness, though, they can still work through the form and submit the queue request at the bottom — and some parents will not scroll far enough to notice the option is there.
  • Can I keep separate extra places for trials and for make-ups?
    No. There is one pool of extra places per class and both uses draw on it. Two extra places with one taken by a make-up leaves exactly one for a trial. Size the pool for both together rather than for whichever you thought of first. The two numbers are explained in capacity and extra capacity.
  • Where do I see who is on the make-up queue?
    In the session’s attendance detail. Clients who joined the queue appear in the attendees list with a waitlist status, which is also the quickest way to gauge how badly oversubscribed a particular slot is.