Childcare Center Operations: Centralize Control - brightwheel
#1 software for center management
Easier childcare center management with brightwheel
Upgrade your enrollment process, track attendance, and streamline your staff and student management.
See why brightwheel is the childcare software of choice
4.9 Stars | 160,000+ reviews
Simplify administrative tasks with all-in-one software
Brightwheel keeps my day running smoothly. You know what is happening at your center every single day. It keeps things seamless so you have more time to focus on the things you want to focus on.
Alyssa D.
Executive Director of McNeilly Center for Children in Nashville, TN
Brightwheel makes it easy to manage your childcare center
Save hours every week
Reduce manual work and streamline your check-in, scheduling, and reporting.
Easily scale your program
Oversee student and staff information across multiple schools or locations.
Customize to fit your needs
Tailor reports, schedules, observations, and more to suit your business needs.
Increase enrollment
Manage your admissions process digitally and keep your waitlist organized.
Save time and streamline your operations with brightwheel
Simplify your check-in process
- Replace paper sign-in sheets with digital quick scan check-in and check-out for students and staff
- Track attendance throughout the day, ensuring proper staffing and ratio compliance
- Pull custom attendance reports and organize data in a way that best fits your program
- Integrate attendance data with billing and payroll in one software
Organize forms and documents
- Create fillable PDFs and customize form templates to meet your business needs
- Share critical documents with families directly in brightwheel and collect digital signatures
- Manage form status or request changes from one central dashboard
- Easily distribute handbooks, policies, or calendars to specific rooms or your entire program
- Create sign-up forms for conferences, volunteer events, and tours and track RSVPs
Grow your enrollment
- Increase enrollment by making it easy for families to apply online
- Manage your waitlist with ease by automatically enrolling incoming families to your program
- See your true enrollment with FTE reporting and make informed staffing and enrollment decisions to maximize your revenue
- Message prospective families directly from your admissions dashboard
Enhance your staff experience
- Simplify staff schedule creation and communicate changes quickly
- Manage staff permissions and roles at multiple locations by utilizing brightwheel’s multi-site dashboard
- Access comprehensive profiles for each staff member, including contact information, certifications, and training
- Facilitate clear and direct communication with staff members via integrated messaging, enhancing collaboration
Improve your classroom management
- Track room capacity and staff-to-child ratios in real-time to adhere to licensing requirements
- Record student contact, meal type, billing, and health information in digital student profiles
- Monitor each child’s developmental progress and log observations directly in the app
- Share classroom highlights and milestones instantly, keeping families engaged in their child’s learning
Early education resources
Optimize your childcare billing
Practical tips to streamline your billing processes and save time:
- Access expert billing tips tailored for childcare centers
- Utilize ready-to-use templates for payment policies and reminders
- Learn how to choose the best billing software for your childcare business
Brightwheel has more ways to support your childcare program
Billing & payments
Send automated invoices, accept online payments, and get paid on time. 90% of preschools report that more families pay on time with brightwheel.
Communication
Build quality connections with families and staff. 95% of administrators & staff report brightwheel improves communication with families.
Experience Curriculum
Upgrade to get Experience Curriculum: A complete, easy-to-implement curriculum system with digital lessons in brightwheel and hands-on learning materials mailed to you.
Seamlessly switch to brightwheel from other childcare management software
Easy onboarding trainings
Get access to guided training through brightwheel Academy, a comprehensive learning tool to help you, your staff, and families master using brightwheel.
Speedy support team
Brightwheel has the industry’s largest support team and will ensure that you get quick answers through live chat whenever you need them (response times are less than 1 minute!).
Roster and rate card upload tool
Switching to brightwheel is easy when you upload your student rosters. The brightwheel team will import your roster and tuition rates into your brightwheel account.
One simple, transparent price
You won’t pay more as you use more features on brightwheel. Your price is based on enrollment capacity and you get access to all features on the platform.
Common childcare center tasks that slow you down
Running a childcare center involves dozens of daily tasks: Inefficiencies can add up quickly, whether you’re working manually or juggling multiple tools. If these challenges sound familiar, explore the common pain points below to see how they impact your day-to-day—and how the right software can help you save time, stay organized, and focus more on your staff and families.
- Director Lacks Direct Access to Pull Reports From Current System
- Manually Pulling Student Roster Report
- Emailing Families Individually About Reports
- Manually Updating Reports Across Systems
- Manually Logging Every Meal Served on Paper for CACFP Food Program Reimbursement
- Manually Updating Licensing and Compliance Across Systems
- Printing Licensing and Compliance Instead of Using a Digital System
- Printing Reports Instead of Using a Digital System
- Tracking Licensing and Compliance Manually Instead of an All-in-One System
- Child Immunization and Medical Records Managed in Paper Files
Frequently asked questions about childcare center management
How does brightwheel improve my childcare center management?
Brightwheel offers a comprehensive solution to streamline your center’s operations, improve communication with families and staff, and ensure regulatory compliance. With features such as online enrollment, efficient attendance tracking, simplified staff management, and customizable curriculums, our software is designed to enhance the quality of your childcare center.
How does brightwheel help me grow enrollment at my center?
Brightwheel enables you to create a positive first impression with potential families. It offers a user-friendly experience tailored to modern parents seeking straightforward digital solutions. Brightwheel simplifies the enrollment process, allowing families to easily submit applications online in real-time, from anywhere. This eliminates the need for physical paperwork, making enrollment hassle-free.
Can brightwheel support my childcare center as it expands?
Yes, brightwheel is built to grow with you! We partner with programs of all sizes, from in-home to center-based, single-site and multi-site. Brightwheel’s multi-site solution is designed to help growing programs like yours expand, while keeping operations consolidated and centralized through one app.
Does brightwheel’s center management feature integrate with other features on the platform?
Yes, the center management feature seamlessly integrates with other brightwheel features, such as billing, payroll, and curriculum planning. This integration streamlines administrative tasks, saving you time and ensuring accurate record keeping.
How secure are my center’s and families’ data with brightwheel?
You can trust that your center’s and families’ data is secure with brightwheel. We prioritize data security and adhere to the strictest measures to protect all information in our system. Our platform is also compliant with all applicable data privacy laws.
Where can I find more information about brightwheel pricing?
Brightwheel offers transparent, all-inclusive pricing plans that scale with your program, often proving more cost-effective as you grow, with no hidden fees for essential features.