4.1 Signing in to the portal

How a parent, carer or student reaches the family portal, what they see first, and how the office gives them access.

Written forFamiliesStudentsFront office

What the portal is for

The family portal is where the school shows you what it keeps about your child and asks you for what it needs. It is a separate, quieter space from the staff console. You read your child's details, reports, timetable and news, you answer consents and forms, and you tell the school about a change of address or an absence.

The portal shows only what the school has chosen to show you. The school can switch each section on or off for families and for students, so a friend's school may show more or less than yours does.

Getting access

You cannot sign up for the portal yourself. The school's office gives an email address access to the portal, and that address is the one you sign in with. Until the office does, signing in leads to a page headed "No access at" followed by the school's name, which says the address "is signed in, but the school hasn't given it staff or family access yet". The page has one button, "Sign out and use another account".

The office gives access from the parent's own page on the console. Under "Family portal" it chooses one of the parent's email addresses under "Address to invite" and presses "Give family access". Kestrel creates a sign-in account for that address, or uses the one it already has, and emails the parent an invitation, and the page says which happened. A parent the school may not contact is not invited, and the page says why. To end access, the office presses "Take family access away". A person with none shows "No family access".

A student is given access from the student's page. Under "Student portal" the office presses "Let the student sign in", and later "Stop the student signing in". A student who has none shows "Does not sign in".

• 3.1 Students and households

Signing in

1. Open the school's Kestrel address and go to the sign-in page.
2. Type your email address. Kestrel emails you a code, or you can use a passkey if you have added one.
3. Type the code. You land in the portal.

• Sign in to the family portal for the first time. Sign in to the family portal
• Add a passkey so you do not wait for a code. Add a passkey for another device

Where you land

A parent lands on "Your children", under the caption "Family portal". If you have one child at the school, Kestrel opens that child's page straight away. If you have more, you choose one and can switch between them with the chips above the child's page. A student lands on "Your record", under the caption "Student portal".

If the account has the portal but no child yet, you see "No portal access at this school" and the line "This account doesn't have access to anything here yet. The school's office can give it access." If there is a child but nothing to show today, you see "No child to show today".

• Sign in

  /login

  Where an email address and a code or passkey open the portal.

• Your children

  /portal

  The portal's home. A family with one child is sent on to that child's page.

• No access

  /no-access

  What an account sees when the school has not yet given it access.

The band at the top

The band has a link to "Calendar" and an "Account menu". The menu shows the email address you are signed in with and "Sign out". Sign out when you use a shared computer.

• 1.6 Staff who are also parents

What the school controls

An administrator chooses which sections families and students see on the screen "Portal" in settings. It is described as "Which sections the portal shows families and students." The groups are "Families", "Students" and "School links", and the acceptable use policy for students. Family sections are on by default and student sections are off until the school switches them on.

• Portal

  /app/settings/portal

  Choose which sections families and students see, and the school's links.

Training notes

• Ask families to try signing in before the first day of term, so the office can fix an address that does not match.
• Show the "Calendar" link and the account menu, because they are the only controls outside the child's page.
• A family that sees "No access at" has a different address from the one on file. Check the address under "Family portal" on the parent's page.