Reference guide

Your daily tools — Discord & Timesheet

Two things you'll use almost every day at JLK. This page tells you what they are, how they work, and the rules of the road. Bookmark it — come back when you're stuck.

💬 JLK Discord — team chat

Discord is the JLK team's daily chat. Announcements, celebrations, birthdays, weekly wins, quick questions — all live here. It replaces the WhatsApp group approach and keeps work chat out of your personal messages.

💬 Join the JLK team Discord →

The channels — what goes where

📢 #staff-announcements

Formal team updates from management — policy changes, meeting reminders, new starter welcomes, weekly digest.

🌱 #staff-achievements

Celebrations — course completions, moments a colleague did something great, milestones. React with 👏 or 🌱.

🎂 #birthdays-and-anniversaries

Team birthdays + JLK work anniversaries. Auto-posted daily.

🎓 #jlk-academy

Course completions post here as they happen. Cheers each other on.

🔒 #management

Manager + director only. HR, retention, escalations — you won't see this channel unless you're on the team.

📞 #tours-{yoursite}-mgr

Site manager only. Tour bookings, care plans, day-before reminders. Private to you + directors if you're a site manager.

The rules

Never post identifying content about children or families. No photos, no names, no funny stories that a parent could recognise. Same rule as WhatsApp — a Discord server FEELS private but it's still a shared space. If in doubt, ask before posting.

Two reactions to know:

👀 = "I've seen this" — react to launch posts and important announcements so the poster knows you got it
✅ = "I've done the follow-up action" — react when you've completed what the post asked

Celebrating each other is part of the job. When you see a colleague complete a course, hit a milestone, or handle something well — react. A 🌱 emoji costs nothing and makes a difference.

Quick how-tos

Notifications getting noisy?

Right-click a channel → Notification Settings → "Only @mentions" for chatty channels, "All Messages" for #staff-announcements.

Missing a message?

Use the search bar top-right of Discord. Search "from:@person" or "in:#channel" to narrow down.

Using Discord on your phone

Download the free Discord app (iOS / Android), sign in with the same account. Push notifications configurable per-channel.

🕒 JLK Timesheet — your monthly hours

Your JLK Timesheet is where you record every hour you worked in a month, then submit it to the office for payroll. It replaces the old paper timesheet and is pre-filled from your clock-in / clock-out log so you don't retype hours you've already logged.

🕒 Open my timesheet → ⏰ My hours

The rhythm (this is important)

Deadline: submit by the last working day of each month.
Payroll: processed and paid on the 5th of the following month.
Your responsibility: submit on time. Late submissions delay payments for everyone.

What lives on the page

Month picker

Defaults to the current month. Change to a previous month to check what you submitted, or if you're catching up.

Deadline notice + countdown

Coloured banner tells you how long until the deadline. Green = safe. Amber = get it in this week. Red = due today. Dark red = OVERDUE.

Week cards

Every week (Mon-Sun) of the month, one card each. Type in your IN / OUT times per day — hours are worked out for you. Days you clocked in on the nursery tablet are pre-filled with a "⏱ from clock-in" tag.

Day types

Each day has a type dropdown: Worked / Annual leave / Bank holiday / Sickness / Training / Unpaid leave / Not scheduled. Change the type to log leave — hours auto-value from your usual shift.

Bank holidays are auto-tagged

UK bank holidays are paid, and they come out of your annual leave entitlement — they are part of it, not extra on top. BHs are auto-tagged for you when the timesheet loads — you don't need to do anything. If a BH falls on a day you normally work, it's valued at your usual shift hours. If you actually came in to cover a bank holiday (rare), change the day type from Bank holiday to Worked — a manager can then arrange the correct pay for you.

Extra / overtime hours

Enter any extra hours beyond your contracted shift, add a reason. Your manager approves on your device with their code — they don't count toward pay until approved.

Submit + lock

Tick the declaration → Submit. The sheet locks. If you need to correct something after submission, tap "Request a change" — a manager unlocks it and your correction sends as an amendment.

How to fill it in — step by step

Open your timesheet — it defaults to the current month.

Check the pre-filled days from the clock-in log. Any typos or missing minutes — click the field and edit. Corrections are flagged to your manager.

Add any annual leave, sickness, or training days — change the day type, and the hours will value from your usual shift.

If you had extra hours, add them in the "Additional / overtime hours" box for that week, pick a reason, and hand your device to a manager to approve with their staff code.

Check the Month summary at the bottom — this is what payroll will process.

Tick the declaration and press Submit. The office gets an email. The sheet locks.

Common questions

What if I forgot to clock in / out one day?

Type the times manually in the row for that day. The sheet will flag it as a correction — your manager can see this and follow up.

I covered a shift at a different site — how do I record that?

Change the "Site" dropdown on that day to the site you covered. The hours are then reported separately as "Cover" so it can be costed correctly.

I submitted and realised I made a mistake — what now?

On the timesheet, click "Request a change". A manager unlocks the sheet, you fix it, resubmit — it sends as an amendment (v2) with the original marked as superseded.

What happens if I submit late?

Payroll runs on the 5th and needs all submissions before that. Late = your payments could be delayed. It's a shared responsibility — the office is chasing, but the deadline is on you.

Reminder: the JLK Timesheet is where your payments come from. Submit on time — every time — even if the month has been quiet or you were off. A submitted "zero week" is better than a missing one.

❓ FAQ + who to ask

I can't sign into the timesheet — it says I'm not signed in

Go back to welcome.html and sign in with your JLK-XXXX code. Signing into the staff portal signs you into all the tools at once.

The Discord invite link expired

Ask your manager, or email Admin@justlittlekidz.co.uk for a fresh invite.

I don't understand my contract hours on the timesheet

Your contract hours per week come from your employment contract. If the timesheet says "Not set" and you're expecting a specific number — ask your manager to update your staff record. It doesn't stop you submitting, but the auto-value for leave days won't be right.

Something else

Use the Ask a Director page — send a question directly to Kimberley, Maxine or Rowan. Anonymous option available.