4.2 A child's page

What a parent sees about a child: details, timetable, attendance, interviews, calendar and the school's news.

Written forFamiliesFront office

What the page is for

Each child has one page, headed with the child's name under the caption "Family portal". It gathers everything the school shows about that child as a set of sections. If you have more than one child, the chips above the page switch between them.

If you open a child you have no access to, the page says "You don't have access to this child" and links back to "Your children". If the school has switched nothing on, it says "Nothing to show about this child".

The sections you may see

The sections below are the ones the school can switch on. Reports, results, wellbeing, applications and consents have their own chapters.

Student details

The section shows the child's facts as the school keeps them. Under it the caption reads "If a detail is wrong, tell the school's office." You cannot edit these facts yourself. If there is nothing to show, you see "No details to show".

Confirming your contact details

This section is for the parent who holds parental responsibility. Each way the school reaches you has a question, "Is this still right?", with three answers: "Still right", "It has changed" and "No longer used". Choose "It has changed" and a field called "What it is now" opens. You can add another way with "Add a way of reaching ...", change the "Home address" and say "From when" the change applies.

1. Open your child's page and find "Your contact details".
2. Answer "Is this still right?" for each phone number and email address.
3. Fill in the new details where something has changed.
4. Press "Send to the front office".

The office reviews the change. Until then the page says "Waiting on the front office". When it is applied you read "Your last change has been applied", and if it is refused you read "The front office declined your last change on" followed by the date. A contact point marked "From the school" is one the school entered itself.

• 3.1 Students and households

The timetable

The timetable shows one day at a time as a table with the columns Time, Class, Room, Teacher and Changes. Move with "Previous day", "Next day" and "Today". A room or teacher change appears in the Changes column.

Attendance and explaining an absence

Attendance lists the child's absences and late arrivals this term. If every absence has a reason you read "All absences are explained." If there are none you read "No absence or late arrival", and before term starts you read "No term has started yet".

1. Under "Days you can explain", choose the day.
2. A form titled "Explain the absence on" followed by the day opens. Write the reason.
3. Press "Send it to the school", or "Cancel" to leave it.

Kestrel confirms with "Sent to the school office. The roll changes once they approve it." Only a parent with responsibility for the child sees the explaining control. A parent who may only collect the child reads attendance but cannot explain it.

• 3.4 Attendance

Parent-teacher interviews

When the school opens interviews, the section has two parts: "Booked" and "Book a time". Press "Book" on a free time, or "Cancel" on one you have booked. With nothing booked you read "No interview times booked." and with nothing open you read "No interview times are open to book."

The calendar

"Calendar" in the top band opens a page with two parts. "What is on" shows the school's events as an "Agenda" of the next four weeks or a "Month". Move with "Earlier", "Now" and "Later". An empty stretch reads "Nothing on in these four weeks". If a source fails to load, a note says "Part of the calendar did not load, so some entries may be missing".

"Subscribe in your calendar" lets you see the school's events in your own phone or computer calendar. Press "Start a feed" and Kestrel says "Your feed is ready. Copy its address below, because you won't see it again." Under "Your feed's address", copy the "Address" or press "Open in your calendar application". To end it, press "Stop the feed". Its address then stops working. "Get a new address" replaces an old feed.

• Calendar

  /portal/calendar

  What is on at the school, and a feed for your own calendar.

• A child's name

  /portal/children/[id]

  One child's sections.

Training notes

• Tell families the page shows the school's record, so a wrong detail is corrected by the office or through "Your contact details".
• A grandparent with collection rights sees fewer sections than a parent with responsibility. That is by design.
• Check the family's own view by asking them to read out the section titles they see.