These steps are for the teacher setting up the league, usually the PE lead. Do them in this order, because each step builds on the one before. It's completely free.
Your school email addressYou'll need it to confirm your account.
Your class listsThe easiest option is a pupil export from SIMS, Arbor or your school's MIS (ask your office). A typed list of names for each class works too.
Your teachers' email addressesOnly for the staff who will enter scores.
Fill in your school's details and your Active Partnership. Add your School Games Organiser (SGO) area if you know it; we'll suggest one.
Open the email from the Virtual Skipping League and click Continue. The link lasts 24 hours.
You'll see a short waiting screen while we check your school is real. Approval usually takes less than a day. Once we've approved it, log in again and the teacher area opens.
2
Set up your classes
Classes come first. Pupils, teachers and scores all belong to a class.
Uploading the whole school in Step 3? Skip this step. The upload creates your classes for you.
In the menu, open Your school → Classes & pupils.
Choose Set up classes.
Tick your year groups and say how many classes each year has.
Type your class names if you use them (for example Maple, Willow). A year with one class is simply called "Year 4".
Save. Your classes appear in the list, ready for pupils.
3
Add your pupils
🔒 No full surnames are ever stored. We keep each pupil's first name and just enough letters of their surname to tell two pupils apart, usually one. Other columns, such as UPN and date of birth, are ignored and never leave your computer.
Choose one way:
A. The whole school at once Quickest, about 10 minutes
Ask your office for a pupil export from SIMS, Arbor or your MIS, with first name, surname, class and year, plus gender if you'd like girls' and boys' figures (see below). Or download our template from the page.
On Classes & pupils, drag the file onto the page (or choose Add the whole school at once).
Check the list of classes we found. Rename any class if you need to.
Click Add pupils. Every class and pupil is created in one go. Uploading again later only adds new pupils, never doubles.
B. One class at a time
On Classes & pupils, open a class.
Drag a class list into the box, or paste the names in. "Amy Smith", "Smith, Amy" and "SMITH Amy" all work.
Click Add pupils.
Girls' and boys' figures (optional). To see girls and boys separately in your School Games Mark and PE premium evidence reports, record whether each pupil is a girl or a boy. If your export has a Gender (or Sex) column, it's picked up automatically. Otherwise, set Girl / boy under each pupil's name on Classes & pupils. It's only used in those reports. The SEND and PP (pupil premium) tick boxes under each name work the same way.
Want each class teacher to add their own class instead? Set up the classes, then go straight to Step 4.
4
Invite your teachers
Invite teachers now that their classes are ready. When they log in, their own class opens first.
Open Your school → Teachers and choose Add invite.
Type the teacher's email address and send. They get an email from the Virtual Skipping League.
Link each teacher to their class: open the class on Classes & pupils and pick them as Class teacher.
If a teacher signs up on their own, they can find your school and Ask to join. Their request appears on your Teachers page for you to approve.
5
Watch the teaching videos
The short videos show your class exactly how to do the 30-second speed skip. Watch them before your first session, and show them to the children.
Open Toolbox → Teaching videos.
Watch them with your class on the board.
How to count: count 1 every time the rope passes under the feet, whether the child jumps or steps. If they trip, they start again and carry on counting from the same number.
Free lesson plans. Two ready-to-teach taster lessons from skip-hop: First Turns for Years 1 and 2, and Five Basic Skips for Years 3 to 6. Once you're signed in, they're also in Toolbox → Lesson plans.
The videos are free for every school that's signed in. Please don't copy or share them outside your school.
6
Skip and enter your first scores
Each half term is a league round. Skip as often as you like during the round; every score is saved and each child's best one counts.
Put the Skipping timer on the board (Toolbox → Skipping timer, or vsl.org.uk/timer).
Work in pairs: one child skips for 30 seconds while their partner counts. Then they swap.
Open Enter scores and choose the class.
Type each child's score in the New score box. Had several goes? Type them all with commas, e.g. 45, 52, 48 – every go counts towards activity and the best one counts in the league. Leave absent children blank.
Click Save scores.
You can change or delete a score until the round closes. A very high score gets a quick "are you sure?" check.
Other ways to add scores. On a phone, press 📱 Tap counter: tap once for every skip for 30 seconds and each go saves straight away. Press 🖨 Score sheet to print a class list for the hall. Or press 📊 Spreadsheet to download an Excel sheet with your pupils already listed, fill it in and upload it – handy for several classes at once. You can also paste a column of scores straight from Excel. ❓ How it works on the Enter scores page explains each one.
The class score is the average of its best 80% of pupils, so a few absences or a small class won't hold you back.
7
See the results and print certificates
Results update as soon as you save. Certificates are ready when the round closes at the end of the half term.
Open League tables. It starts with your own class, pupil by pupil. Switch to Whole school to compare your classes, or to your leagues: your SGO area, your Active Partnership and National.
Use Show to class to put a table on the board.
Open School progress to see how each class compares with the expected standard for its year group.
When the round closes, open Toolbox → Awards & certificates, pick a style and click Print all certificates. Your Dashboard also shows any league titles your school has won, with certificates ready to print.
Your school is in all three leagues to start with. Your school admin can change this under Your school → League settings. Class battles are in the Toolbox.
Then start again for the next round.
Invited by a colleague?
Your school is already set up, so you only need four steps.
Open the invite email from the Virtual Skipping League, click Continue, and choose your name and password.
Your class opens first, marked Your class. If it has no pupils yet, drag in your class list or paste the names (Step 3B).
Watch the Teaching videos with your class (Step 5).
