Every August, Israeli program coordinators face the same crunch: hundreds of families try to enroll in chugim (חוגים — after-school enrichment classes) for the coming school year, almost all inside the same two-week window. If you run chugim at a studio, an independent program, or a matnas (מתנ״ס, community center), the software you choose to handle registration, payments, and rosters largely decides whether that window feels calm or chaotic. This guide covers what a chugim registration and management system actually needs to do, the Israel-specific capabilities worth checking, and a practical checklist for choosing one — with the תשפ״ז (2026/27) school year in mind.
What a chugim registration system must handle
A chug is not a one-off event. It is a season-long commitment that usually runs across the whole school year, with a weekly meeting, a fixed group size, an age or grade bracket, and often several parallel groups across different days and locations. That shape drives everything the software has to do well:
- Recurring, season-based programs — set the catalog up once for תשפ״ז and reuse it, rather than rebuilding it every term.
- Per-group capacity — each group has its own cap, its minimum to open, and eligibility by age or grade.
- Family accounts — one parent commonly enrolls several children across several chugim in a single sitting, and expects one clear payment.
- A catalog parents can browse — by day, age, location, and availability, from a phone.
Many operators also run one-off events alongside their chugim — recitals, open days, end-of-year performances (הצגות סוף שנה). Keeping recurring programs and one-off events on a single platform means one attendee list and one set of reports instead of two disconnected tools. If you are weighing your options more broadly, our guide to class registration software compares the wider category; this article focuses specifically on the Israeli chugim context.
Registration and payment flows
Registration peaks hard in August and September, so the enrollment flow has to survive a spike of concurrent, mostly mobile sign-ups. Two things matter most here: that the whole experience is in Hebrew and right-to-left, and that it collects payment cleanly at the moment of enrollment.
Payment is where Israeli expectations diverge from generic international tools. Families frequently expect הוראת קבע (a standing order that spreads the year's fee across monthly charges) rather than a single up-front payment, alongside ordinary credit-card payment and, increasingly, Bit (ביט). Support for these varies widely between platforms, so treat them as things to confirm explicitly rather than assume — ask each vendor which billing models and payment methods it actually supports for Israeli accounts.
Receipts are the second local detail. Israeli operators — and especially registered nonprofits (עמותות) — need proper receipts and invoices (קבלות/חשבוניות), and some need סעיף 46 tax-deductible receipts for donations. Before committing, verify that the system issues the documents your bookkeeper and your participants will actually need.
On pricing models, watch the difference between a flat subscription and a per-registration commission. At the volume a busy chugim season generates, a percentage taken from every enrollment adds up quietly. Everlage uses a flat subscription with no per-registration commission, and handles online registration and payment collection in a Hebrew, RTL-native interface — you can see how the plans work on the pricing page.
Waitlists and per-class capacity
Demand for chugim is lumpy: the popular groups fill within hours while others hover near their minimum. Two features handle both ends. A hard per-group capacity stops you from overfilling a room or a supervision ratio you cannot staff. Automatic waitlists then capture the overflow, so when a family drops out mid-year the next child moves up without you chasing anyone by phone.
A waitlist is also a planning signal. A chug with a long, steady waitlist is telling you to open a second group or a second time slot. Systems built around recurring programs make that easy — you duplicate the group, and the waitlist becomes its ready-made enrollment list.
Forms and health declarations
Children's chugim usually require more than a name and a payment. Expect to collect a הצהרת בריאות (health declaration), parental consent, photo and media permission, emergency contacts, and sometimes accessibility or dietary needs. The registration form has to gather these at sign-up and store them where the right instructor can find them — not in a separate spreadsheet that no one updates.
When comparing systems, confirm that you can build custom forms with the exact fields and declarations your program requires, and that responses are attached to each child's enrollment. What you are legally required to collect depends on your program type and regulator — Ministry of Education or municipal rules may apply — so check your own obligations; this guide is general information, not legal or compliance advice.
Matnas and municipality needs
Matnasim and municipal programs add layers a single studio doesn't have. There are usually multiple branches or locations, subsidized or discounted rates for eligible residents, and reporting obligations upward — to the community center's management or to a municipal company (חברה עירונית). Practically, that means you want role-based access so each branch coordinator sees only their own groups, a clean way to apply discounts and scholarships, and exportable reports for reconciliation.
Language is a real consideration here too. Many matnasim serve mixed communities, including large Russian- and English-speaking populations. A platform that can present the same catalog and registration flow in Hebrew, English, and Russian lowers the barrier for those families to enroll themselves rather than calling the front desk. That trilingual (HE/EN/RU) support is a core part of what Everlage does.
Seasonal spike: קייטנות (summer camps)
Chugim aren't the only cycle. Many of the same operators run קייטנות (summer camps) in July and August, which compress a season's worth of registration into a few days and add their own wrinkles: daily rather than weekly schedules, options for meals or transport, and stricter health and consent forms. A system that manages chugim well can usually handle קייטנות too — look specifically for date-range programs, per-day capacity, and camp-specific forms. If summer is a major part of your calendar, test that flow before you commit, not in June.
Choosing a system: a checklist
Use this as a shortlist filter when you compare options for תשפ״ז:
- Handles recurring, season-long programs with per-group capacity, minimums, and age brackets.
- Fully Hebrew and RTL-native for both you and parents, with mobile-first enrollment.
- Supports family accounts — several children and several chugim in one checkout.
- Supports the payment methods your families expect — confirm הוראת קבע, card, and Bit explicitly.
- Issues the receipts your accounting needs (קבלות/חשבוניות, and סעיף 46 if you're an amuta).
- Lets you build custom forms for health declarations and consents.
- Provides automatic waitlists and makes it easy to open new groups on demand.
- Exports the reports your board, municipality, or company requires.
- Has transparent pricing — compare a flat subscription against per-registration commission at your real volume.
- Runs your chugim and your one-off events on one platform if you need both.
If you're setting up for תשפ״ז, Everlage covers the core of this list: Hebrew, RTL-native registration and payment collection, recurring programs with per-group capacity and automatic waitlists, branded pages on your own domain, and a flat subscription with no per-registration commission. Confirm the Israel-specific payment and receipt details for your situation, then start in Hebrew from the pricing page. And if your program is still coordinating enrollment through WhatsApp confirmations, our guide on moving from WhatsApp RSVPs to full registration covers when it's time to graduate.
