Part 3. Modules

3.1 Students and households

Version 1.0 ·Updated 2026-10-07

Next reviewed by 2027-04-07.

Written for a school's staff learning how Kestrel works, the trainers who teach them, and the families using the portal.

The student register and the finder, a person's page and its tabs, adding and merging records, the dated facts a record is made of, households and addresses, who may collect a student, and photographs.

Written forRegistrarFront officePrincipal and executiveBusiness managerTeacherHead of house or year

What it is for

Students and households is where Kestrel keeps who someone is: their names, their numbers, what they are to the school, how to reach them, where they live and who they are to each other. Each other module reads this record, so a student, a parent or a staff member is entered once and then found everywhere.

The record is kept as dated facts. A name that changes is closed and a new one opened, a family that moves keeps its old address with the dates it was lived in, and a student who leaves has an end date on their time at the school. Nothing is overwritten, so the school can answer what was true on any day.

In the console the module is called "Students", because that is the list a school office works from all day. It opens on the current students and can also look up applicants, former students and everyone else on file.

Who uses it

Each member of staff can find a person and read their page. What they see on it depends on their role, because the page shows only the sections the reader may open. A teacher opens "Students" on the students they teach and searches for anyone else. The registrar, front office, head of house or year, principal and business manager work down the whole register.

Who	What they do here	Capability
Registrar	Adds records, edits names and numbers, records roles and who may collect a student, and merges duplicates.	person.record.write, person.affiliation.write, person.standing.write and person.merge.write
Front office	Adds records, corrects names and records who may collect a student. Cannot change a role or approve a merge.	person.record.write and person.standing.write
Principal and executive	Does the same as the registrar except merging. Also reads orders and address protections, and records a protection.	person.restricted.read and person.protection.write
Business manager	Reads the whole register and the fees section of a person.	person.register.read and person.billing.read
Teacher, head of house, wellbeing, counsellor, nurse and others	Read a person's page and who may collect a student.	person.record.read and person.standing.read

Key ideas

Person: Anyone the school has a record of: a student, applicant, parent, staff member, volunteer or former student. A person is created with a name and nothing else required.
Here as: What someone is to the school. Each role is a dated fact, so a person can hold several at once. A parent who is also a staff member has two.
Role pill: The small label under a name on the finder and on a person's page that says what they are here as, such as a student, a parent of a named child or a former student.
Dated fact: A name, number, address or role with the dates it covered. A correction closes the old fact and opens a new one, and a former name stays on the page with its dates.
Household: A family home: an address with the residents living there. A student can belong to more than one household when their time is split.
Authorised contact: An adult the school has recorded for a student, with what they may do: collect, receive reports, receive communications, hold parental responsibility and live with them. Being a relative gives none of these.
As at: A day you ask the record about. The finder and a household's page can be read as they were on another day.

Screens

Students
/app/people
The register of current students, with a search over everyone on file. Choose "Students", "Applicants", "Former students" or "Everyone" under "Among", and ask about another day with the date control.
Needs person.record.read
Add a student
/app/people/new
A short form that starts a record with a name. It opens the new person's page when you press "Add them".
Needs person.record.write
A person's name
/app/people/[id]
One person's record, in tabs: Overview, Identity, Family and contact, Education, Health and wellbeing, Activities and Administration.
Needs person.record.read
Compare
/app/people/[id]/merge
Two records proposed as the same person, side by side, with what a merge would move and the place to approve it.
Needs person.merge.write
Households
/app/people/households
Finds a family home by its address, the name the office gives it, or someone who lives there.
Needs person.record.read
A household's name
/app/people/households/[id]
One household's addresses over time, and who lived there on a day you choose.
Needs person.record.read
Photographs
/app/people/photos
Adds a folder of photographs to the records that contain the numbers in the file names.
Needs person.record.write

Finding records and reading the register

"Students" opens on the current students, 25 rows at a time. Each row shows the student's number, photograph and name with surname first, then their year level, home group and attendance rate, then the day's run for each source of attendance marks, the house and any alerts. A column appears only when the school has something to put in it, so a school with no houses has no "House" column.

Type in "Name or number" to narrow the list as you type. A former name matches too, and the row says which name it matched on.
Under "Among", choose "Students", "Applicants", "Former students" or "Everyone". Over the students you can also narrow by year level, home group and kind of alert.
Use the date control to see the register as it was on another day. The question you have asked is in the page address, so you can send the answer to a colleague.
Press the preview control at the end of a row to read a student beside the list. The name in the row opens their full page.
Tick students and press "Message parents" to open the message composer with those students already chosen.

Find a person. Find a person
Read a person's page. Read a person's page
Read a person's day. Read a person's day

1.4 Finding things

A person's page

A person's page opens on an Overview tab, with a card for each band that has something to say, and then one tab for each band the reader may see. A band with nothing for you has no tab, so a parent's page has no Education tab. The open tab is in the page address, so a link can point at "Family and contact". Under the name are the role pills, the date of birth, and any marks and alerts other modules have set. A section with nothing in it folds to a single line.

Tab	What it shows
Identity	"Names", "Numbers other systems know them by", "Here as", "Photograph", "ID card" and "Possible duplicates".
Family and contact	"How to reach them", "Who to call", "Where they live", "Family", "Authorised contacts", "Orders" and "Address protection".
Administration	"Census" for a student, "Fees" and "The school's own fields".
Education, Health and wellbeing, Activities	Sections the other modules add: enrolment, classes and attendance, medical and wellbeing records, and awards.

A person who may correct the record sees an "Edit student details" button at the top, with the word changing to suit the person. It fixes a mistake in the date of birth or gender. A name that has genuinely changed is recorded separately, with its dates.

Adding a person and keeping the record right

In "Students", press "Add a student". Under "Applicants", "Former students" or "Everyone" the button reads "Add a person".
Under "Who they are", fill "Given names" and "Family name". The "Script" and "Name order" controls matter for names written in other scripts, such as Han characters.
Add "Date of birth" and "Gender" if you have them, and under "Contact" an "Email", "Mobile" and "Default language".
Press "Add them". Their page opens so you can record their roles and the rest.

A new person has no role. A role such as applicant or student is recorded afterwards, in "Here as" on the "Identity" tab: press "Add a role", choose "Their role at the school" and "Here from". When someone leaves, press "Record them leaving" on the row, which sets "Ended on" and an optional "Why it ended". The reason is stored securely and read only by staff who can see restricted details.

Names and numbers work the same way. Under "Names", "Record a name" adds a preferred or former name and "Edit" corrects one. Under "Numbers other systems know them by", "Record a number" adds a state or old-system number. "Close" ends a name or number from a date and keeps it on the page.

Add a new person. Add a new person
Edit or add a name. Edit or add a name

Merging two records

Kestrel proposes that two records might be the same person, for example because they share a number or a former name. A registrar decides. The proposals are under "Possible duplicates" on the "Identity" tab, each with the reason it was suggested.

On the person's page, press "Compare" beside the other record.
Under "Which record is kept", choose the one to keep. The plan updates, because a fact that stays behind on one side may move from the other.
Read "The two records" and "What moves". Each kind of fact shows how many rows move to the kept record and how many stay because the kept record already has the same fact for the same dates.
Under "Why these are one person", write the reason and press "Approve the merge". The reason is saved in the audit trail under your name.
Press "Open the kept record" to see the result.

If both records have an open student role, they are two children. The screen says so as a warning and offers no approval until that is settled. A merge can be reversed until the date the kept record shows, with "Reverse the merge" and a reason.

Merge two records for one person. Merge two records for one person

Families, authorised contacts and addresses

On the "Family and contact" tab, "Family" records who each person is to another with "Record a relationship". Kestrel works out more distant family from those relationships, so a grandparent is found through the parent. A relationship alone does not let someone collect a child or hear from the school. That is what "Authorised contacts" is for.

Open the student's page and choose "Family and contact".
Under "Authorised contacts", press "Add an authorised contact" and choose the adult.
Set "Place on the call list", where 1 is rung first.
Tick what they may do: "May collect", "Receives reports", "Receives communications", "Holds parental responsibility" and "Lives with them".
Press "Record it". Later, use "Edit what they may do" or "Record them no longer an authorised contact".

"Who to call" shows the call list in order for any reader who can open the student, so whoever is on duty at the gate can answer who may collect a child. "How to reach them" has phone numbers and emails, added with "Record a contact point". "Where they live" lists the addresses a person has had. From there "Record a move" or "Add them to a household" moves them. A new household is started by naming it, for example "The W. family", with the "Share of their time" the person spends there.

Record who may collect a student and who hears from the school. Record who may collect a student and who hears from the school

Households

"Households" finds a family home. Type an address, the name the office gives the home, or the name of someone who lives there, and each row says what it matched. Each resident is a face and a name that opens their record. A household has no way in of its own, because a home with no-one in it is not a fact the school keeps, so you start one from the page of someone who lives there.

Open "Households" under "Students" and search for the home.
Open the household. "Where it is" lists each address with the dates it was lived in.
Press "Edit the address" to correct a mistake. The old text stays in the list with its dates.
Press "Record a move" when the family has moved, fill "Moved on" and press "Record it". The old address keeps its dates.
Under "Who lives there", fill "As at" with a day to see who lived there then, and press "Open their page" on a row to go to that person.

Photographs

A single photograph is added on the "Identity" tab under "Photograph" with "Add a photograph", changed with "Change photograph" and taken off with "Remove". Kestrel checks the file before sending it, so a very large phone photo or a PDF is refused straight away. It stores its own square copy.

Open "Photographs" under "Students".
Under "Number scheme", choose the scheme the file names use, for example 31000007.jpg.
Press "Choose photographs" and pick the files the photographer sent.
Review the list, then press "Add to records".
Read the result beside each file. A file whose number matches no record is refused and named, and the others are still added. Rename a refused file and choose it again.

Journeys

Students and households appears in four journeys. The first records and households are checked while the school is set up. An enquiry becomes a student whose record the other modules read. Photographs and households are checked before the first day. When a student leaves, their time at the school is closed.

Settings

An administrator shapes this module in Settings. "Year levels" sets the levels the school teaches, "Fields" adds the school's own fields to a person's page, "Vocabularies" contains the school's lists of choices, and "Boarding houses" lists the houses a boarding student is placed in.

5.4 The student record

Training notes

The registrar and the front office need this chapter. Allow 30 minutes, and use it with the "Keeping the record right" session for the registrar and "The counter in the morning" for the front office. Everyone else needs only the finder and a person's page, which "Finding your way" covers in 20 minutes.

Practise on real records. Open the "Authorised contacts" section for five students you know and check it against what the family told you, then make each change for the next real case that arrives.