A new year brings new routines—and January is a key moment to kick the year off successfully. This month’s brightwheel newsletter highlights focus on simplifying the everyday workflows that matter most, helping you stay in control as your program moves into the year ahead.
🧑🧑🧒🧒Keep your families connected
✅Simplified payroll in 2026
📁Make enrollment easier
📚Experience Assessments
💗Valentine's Day Celebration Kit
Help families stay connected effortlessly
Make it easier for families to connect at your program by enabling the Parent Directory. With quick access to other families’ contact information, parents can easily coordinate playdates, birthday celebrations, carpools, and more—helping build a stronger, more connected community without extra work for you and staff.
Make your 2026 payroll simple
Brightwheel payroll, powered by Gusto, makes it easy to onboard staff, manage taxes, and run payroll without the usual paperwork. If you track hours in brightwheel, they’ll sync automatically—saving you time every pay period.
Make enrollment easier for families and staff
Enrollment paperwork can slow everyone down. With Digital Forms in brightwheel, you can collect and manage enrollment forms online, helping families complete requirements faster while your program stays organized. Learn how to tackle common enrollment challenges in our latest blog.
[Coming soon] Family-friendly reporting in Experience Assessments
Educators using our Developmental Continuum will be able to share clear, easy-to-read reports that highlight each child’s growth over time, all from the Learning tab. These family-friendly reports help strengthen conversations with families, support more personalized learning, and make it easier to start the year aligned. Learn more about Experience Assessments and see current promotions.
💘Download our free Valentine's Celebration Kit
Put together a lovely Valentine’s Day celebration with families using our free party kit, filled with everything you need.
⭐️[Coming soon] Year-End Statements for tax season
Easy to download, year-end tax statements are coming to family payers’ accounts on January 31st—helping families access important documents quickly during tax season. You can share this resource with families on how to access their statements.
🍎[Coming soon] New and improved Menu experience
We’re designing a new menu experience to allow you to streamline menu creation and simplify menu planning. Take a sneak peek at what’s coming.
🔍[New] Search quickly for features and profiles
You can now quickly find and navigate to profiles & features across brightwheel’s web application. Use keyboard shortcut Command + k to have the search bar instantly pop up for quicker access.
♥️Activities for Black History Month
February is Black History Month! Take a look at our blog on ways you can share this in your classroom through creative and educational activities.
✅Opening & closing checklist
Bring more consistency to your day with a simple checklist that helps save time, support safety, and improve communication.
Have ideas for what we can include in future newsletters?
Additional Resources
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Brightwheel billing: If you are not currently using brightwheel's billing feature, learn more here and join providers who save 5+ hours each week using the platform.
Account Setup: If you are still setting up your brightwheel account, complete our two onboarding trainings today to build quality connections, efficiently run your program, and simplify billing with brightwheel.