Getting Started on ClassCover: From Sign-Up to First Booking

You’ve decided to give casual relief teaching a go, or you’re switching from an agency to managing your own bookings. Either way, the gap between downloading an app and getting your first booking confirmation can feel bigger than it should. It isn’t.

This guide walks through the whole process: creating your account, filling out your profile properly, connecting with schools, setting your availability, and what happens when that first booking request lands. Most casuals are through the full process within a day or two. The only thing that really takes time is waiting for schools to accept your connection requests.

Step 1: Download the App and Create Your Account

ClassCover is free for casual teachers. Download the app (available on iOS and Android), and sign up with your email address.

You’ll be asked for some basic details to start: your name, contact details, and location. Location is important—it’s what the app uses later to suggest nearby schools when you start connecting.

Step 2: Complete Your Profile

This is the step worth spending real time on, because your profile is what schools see when you request a connection or when a coordinator is deciding who to book.

At minimum, fill in:

Registration details: your teacher registration number and state registration body (NESA, VIT, QCT, TRB SA, TRBWA, TRB TAS, TRB NT, or TQI, depending on where you’re registered)
Working With Children Check status: current and valid for your state
Qualifications and experience: your degree, year levels you’re comfortable teaching, and any subject specialisations
A short bio: two or three sentences describing your background and what kind of work you’re looking for
A photo: schools love being able to put a face to the name before they book you for work

A complete profile isn’t just paperwork. Schools reviewing connection requests are more likely to accept a casual whose profile answers their obvious questions upfront, rather than one that’s half-filled and vague.

Step 3: Set Your Availability

Before you start connecting with schools, set up your availability in the app. This is what makes you visible for bookings. A school can’t request you for a day you haven’t indicated you’re free.

You can:

Set recurring availability (for example, every Monday and Wednesday) if your schedule is consistent
Mark block-out dates for days you know you won’t be available—holidays, appointments, other commitments
Update your availability for last-minute changes, so schools always see an accurate picture rather than a stale calendar

Keep this current. An out-of-date availability calendar is one of the most common reasons experienced casuals get overlooked for bookings—schools default to casuals they can see are actually free.

Step 4: Connect With Schools

With your profile and availability set up, it’s time to build your network. Use the Find New Schools feature to search for schools in your area and send connection requests.

A few things worth knowing at this stage:

You don’t need a prior relationship with a school to request a connection—that’s exactly what this feature is for.
Requests aren’t instant. A staff member at the school reviews your profile before accepting, which can take anywhere from a day to a couple of weeks depending on how busy their term is.
Aim to connect with more than a handful of schools early on. Casual work is inconsistent by nature, and a wider network of schools smooths out the quiet weeks. Many experienced casuals build up to 10–15 school connections over their first year.

If you already have relationships with schools from placements, prior work, or personal contacts, ask them to add you directly as well. It’s often the fastest route to your first booking.

Step 5: Wait for (and Respond to) Your First Booking Request

Once a school has accepted your connection and you’re on their casual list, you’ll start receiving booking requests as absences come up. These arrive as push notifications in the app, and are also sent via SMS and email, so you won’t miss one even if you’re not actively checking the app.

Bookings can come through a few different ways:

Individual requests sent directly to you
Broadcast requests sent to several casuals on the school’s list at once, on a first-to-accept basis
Auto-fill bookings, where a school’s system fills the day from their preferred casual list automatically

When a request comes in, respond as promptly as you can. Broadcast requests in particular are usually accepted quickly by whoever responds first.

Step 6: Show Up Prepared for Your First Day

Once you’ve accepted a booking, the fundamentals matter more than anything else on your first day at a new school:

Arrive early enough to sign in at the front office and collect the day plan
Introduce yourself to the teacher next door. (They’re your best resource if something comes up)
Follow the day plan closely, and have a backup activity ready in case there isn’t one
Leave a short handover note at the end of the day covering what was completed and anything the regular teacher should know

How you handle your first booking at a school has an outsized effect on whether you get booked there again. Reliability and a clean handover count for more than almost anything else in the first few weeks.

What to Expect After Your First Booking

Once you’ve completed a booking or two, the process becomes routine: schools you’ve worked at well are more likely to book you again, your network of connected schools grows, and your availability calendar becomes the main thing keeping the requests coming in. Most casuals find that after the first month, the effort shifts from “getting set up” to simply managing incoming requests and keeping availability current.