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How to get school dates on your Skylight calendar
Debs · 4 October 2026
The short answer
There are three ways to get school dates onto a Skylight Calendar: sync a calendar link (in the Skylight app, add any calendar that has a share URL), forward school emails and PDFs with Magic Import on the Plus plan, or type them in. Many UK schools publish term dates as a PDF or a web page rather than a calendar link, so the most reliable route is a calendar that already has your school's term dates and INSET days and reads the school emails, synced to Skylight by its link.
The Skylight is on the wall. Football is on it. Swimming is on it. Grandma's birthday is on it, in purple. And on Thursday your child walks into school in uniform on the day PE moved to, because the email about PE moving went to an inbox and stayed there. A wall calendar is only as good as what's in it, and in most families the school bit is the bit that's missing.
Three ways to put school dates on a Skylight
Skylight gives you three routes, and a fourth comes from using them cleverly. They suit different schools and different amounts of patience. (New to Skylight? Our Skylight Calendar UK review covers what it does.)
- Sync a calendar link: if the school, or an app, gives you a calendar URL, add it in the Skylight app and it keeps itself up to date.
- Magic Import (Plus): forward a school email or PDF, or upload a photo of a letter, and Skylight turns it into events.
- Type it in: on the screen or in the app, one date at a time.
- Sync a calendar that fills in the school side by itself, such as Debs's live calendar link.
A wall calendar is only as good as the last person who updated it.
Left: the year's dates live on the school website. Right: the changes (PE moved, trip money due, non-uniform day) arrive by email, and those are the ones that catch you out.
How to sync a school calendar link to Skylight
If you have a calendar link (it usually starts https:// or webcal:// and often ends in .ics), open the Skylight app or Skylight's website, choose to sync a calendar, and add it as a calendar with a share link. Give it its own colour, or assign it to the child it's for. From then on Skylight checks the link for changes, so you don't have to. Syncing a link is a free feature: no Plus needed.
The problem in the UK is finding a link worth syncing. Many schools publish term dates as a PDF or a web page, and the things that change week to week (PE days, clubs, trips, non-uniform days) come by email or through the school's app. That's why adding school term dates to your calendar is a good start, but not the whole job.
The term dates are the easy part. It's the Tuesday email that changes Thursday that gets you.
Is Magic Import enough for school emails?
Magic Import is genuinely useful: forward a school email and the dates come out the other side. It does need someone to read the email first, decide it matters and forward it, every time, and it's on the Plus plan (£60 a year in the UK). If you're the parent who reads every school email anyway, that works well. If the reason you bought a Skylight is that nobody reads the school emails, you need something that reads them for you. More in our guide to what Skylight Plus includes.
Ways to get school dates on a Skylight
What each takes, and what it catches.
| What it takes | What it catches | |
|---|---|---|
| Typing dates in | Time, every week | Whatever you remember to type |
| Syncing the school's calendar link | A link, if the school has one | The dates the school publishes there |
| Magic Import (Plus) | Forwarding each email; Plus at £60 a year | The emails you forward |
| Syncing Debs's live calendar link | A Debs plan: £3.49 a month, or £5.49 to read school emails | Term dates, INSET days and what the school's emails say |
Mistakes we've all made
- Syncing the school's link once, in September, and not noticing the school stopped updating it in October.
- Forwarding the email about the trip, but not the one about the trip being moved.
- Putting every school event in your own colour, so the wall says "Year 3 assembly" next to your dentist appointment.
- Typing the INSET days in from the PDF, then the school adds one.
Put Debs on your Skylight
Debs, your own school admin assistant, reads your school's own website for its term dates and INSET days, and it reads new emails from the school senders you choose, letters included. Everything it finds goes on one family calendar, by child. In Debs, go to Settings, Live calendar & wall display, and copy your live calendar link. Add it to your Skylight as a calendar with a share link, and the school side appears on the wall with everything else and keeps itself up to date. No Plus needed for this, and no forwarding. Debs vs Skylight.
Questions parents ask
Can I add my child's school calendar to Skylight?
Yes. If you have a calendar link for it, add it in the Skylight app as a calendar with a share link and it will stay in sync. You can also forward school emails with Magic Import on Plus, or type dates in.
How do I import a school calendar into Skylight?
Sync the school's calendar link if it has one. If the school only publishes a PDF, you can forward or upload it with Magic Import on the Plus plan, or sync a calendar that already has your school's dates instead.
Does Skylight know my school's term dates?
Not by itself. Skylight shows the calendars you sync and the events you add or import, so your school's term dates and INSET days need to come from one of those.
Do I need Skylight Plus to add a school calendar?
No. Syncing a calendar link is a free feature. Plus is needed for Magic Import, which turns forwarded emails and PDFs into events.
Can Debs show school dates on a Skylight?
Yes. Copy Debs's live calendar link from Settings and add it to Skylight as a calendar with a share link. Term dates, INSET days and what the school emails say then show on the wall.