The Teacher’s Guide to the Staff Portal

The Staff Portal is where your day-to-day admin lives: plans, leave requests, and printing, all in one place, all tracked so you and your approvers can see where things stand. You sign in with your school Office 365 account — there is no separate portal password.

In the sidebar — My requests

In the sidebar — My schedule

You sign in with your school Office 365 account — the same one you use for email. There is no separate staff-portal password to remember or reset.

1. Go to services.saharaschools.com

   This opens the main school sign-in page. It's built for parents by default — a mobile-number field is what you'll see first.

2. Click “Sign in with school account”

   It's below the mobile-number form, under the SCHOOL STAFF divider. This sends you to Microsoft's own sign-in page, not this site.

3. Enter your @saharaschools.com email and password

   The same account you use for Outlook. If the school has multi-factor authentication turned on, you may be asked to approve the sign-in on your phone.

4. You land on your dashboard

   The sidebar's “Waiting on me” section (if you have one) and “My requests” section are the two places to check first.

Long-Term and Annual Plans are tracked per subject and grade — you'll see one row for every combination you teach, each with its own Long-Term Plan, Annual Plan, and weekly Daily Lesson Plans.

1. Open “My Plans”

   In the sidebar, under My schedule.

2. Pick the classes it covers

   Tick which of your classes the plan is for. A class already claimed on another teacher's plan is shown greyed out and can't be selected.

3. Click “Start” under Long-Term or Annual

   Starting one of the two doesn't make you choose classes again for the other — it's one shared selection per subject/grade row.

4. Fill it in and save

   Nothing goes to your Head of Department until you submit — a draft is yours alone to edit.

5. Submit for approval

   Status moves from Draft to With approvers, then to Approved — or Sent back with a reason, if something needs changing first.

6. Daily Lesson Plans

   Once a Long-Term or Annual Plan exists for a row, click “Weeks” in the same row to open a week's worth of daily lessons at a time — handed in and approved as one week, not lesson by lesson.

7. Add a lesson by hand if it isn't there yet

   Use “New lesson” at the top of the week page and pick the date, class, and period — you don't need to wait for the timetable to generate one for you.

8. Write the lesson

   Learning objective, framework codes, subject area, anticipated problems, and the task table (Starter, Main Teaching, Practical Work, Plenary, Homework) all save automatically as you type — there's no save button to remember.

9. Hand in the week

   The button stays greyed out until at least one lesson has a learning objective written, then enables. Handing in sends every lesson in that week to your Head of Department at once.

One request form covers three situations. Pick the right one at the top and the portal works out your paid allowance as you fill in the rest.

1. Open “Leave & Permissions” then “New request”

   In the sidebar, under My requests.

2. Choose the type from the pills at the top

   Late Arrival, Leave Early, or Absence — the form below changes to match.

3. Enter the date/time and a brief reason

   The reason is required, so whoever approves it knows what they're approving.

4. Check the live preview

   Before you submit, a panel below the form shows how much of your allowance this uses and whether any part would be a salary deduction.

5. Submit

   It routes automatically to whoever approves this request type in your line.

Add one or more documents to a draft, then send the whole request for approval in a single go.

1. Open “Printing” then “New printing request”

   In the sidebar, under My requests.

2. Pick a category

   A request can only hold documents from one category at a time — that's what decides who approves it. To send something in another category, submit or discard this draft first.

3. Upload a PDF and describe it

   Choose what kind of document it is, whether it prints in black & white or colour, single- or double-sided, and any instructions for the print room. Save from Word as a PDF so the print room gets exactly what you see — PDF only, up to 25 MB per file.

4. Tick which classes it's for

   Copy counts come from each class's student numbers automatically. You can print fewer copies than suggested, never more.

5. Click “Add to request”

   Repeat for as many documents as the request needs — each one shows its page count and total sheets in the summary panel.

6. Send for approval

   Optionally set a “needed by” date and a note for the approvers, then submit the whole request.

Same pattern as Printing: build a draft item by item, then send the whole request for approval in one go.

1. Open “Purchasing” then “New purchase request”

   In the sidebar, under My requests.

2. Pick a category

   A request can only hold items from one category at a time — same reasoning as Printing, since the category decides who approves it. Submit or discard the current draft first to ask for something in a different one.

3. Choose the item

   Pick it from the catalog list if it's there — that gives it a budget, so it routes to whoever owns that spend. Choose “Something else (not listed)” and type it in if it isn't; that has no budget attached and goes straight to purchasing once the request is approved.

4. Set quantity and add details

   Unit and notes (brand, size, spec) are optional, as is a sample photo — up to 10 MB.

5. Click “Add to request”

   Repeat for as many items as the request needs.

6. Send for approval

   Optionally set a “needed by” date and a note for the approvers, then submit the whole request.