Kestrel

Part 1. Getting started

1.1 Signing in

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.

How you get into Kestrel with a passkey or an emailed code, what happens when your school requires a passkey, and what the no access page means.

Written forRegistrarFront officeTeacherHead of house or yearWellbeingCounsellorLearning supportChild safety officerCase managerDeputy case managerNursePrincipal and executiveBusiness managerITFamiliesStudents

What signing in is for

Kestrel keeps children's records, so you sign in before you see anything. Your school issues your account against your work address. There is no sign-up form, and a code sent to an address the school has not set up signs no-one in.

You sign in at the same page whether you are a member of staff, a parent or a student. Kestrel sends you to the right place afterwards: staff to the console, a family to the family portal, and an account that has neither to the no access page.

The ways in

Passkey
A secure key kept on your device and unlocked by your fingerprint, face or PIN. There is nothing to remember, and it cannot be tricked out of you the way a password can.
Emailed code
A six-digit code Kestrel sends to your school address. It expires after 10 minutes. It is how you sign in the first time, before you have a passkey.
School directory
If your school signs in through its own directory, the sign-in page shows a button for it above the email field. You use the credentials you already hold for everything else at school.

  • Sign in

    /login

    The one sign-in page for staff, families and students. It leads with a passkey and falls back to an emailed code.

  • No account? How to get one

    /signup

    A page that says your school issues your account, and sends you on to sign-in. It has no form.

Sign in for the first time

  1. Open the sign-in page and type your work address into "School email".
  2. Press "Email me a 6-digit code". The page changes to "Check your email".
  3. Open the email and type the six digits into the boxes. Kestrel checks them as you finish typing, or you can press "Verify and continue".
  4. If the code has not arrived, press "Resend code". The button counts down before it works again. If you typed the wrong address, press "Use a different email".
  5. When the page says "You're in", press "Add a passkey" and confirm on your device, so the next sign-in needs only the device. Press "Not now" to carry on without one.

Sign in with a passkey

  1. Open the sign-in page. Your browser may offer your passkey as soon as you click into "School email". If it does, choose it.
  2. Otherwise press "Sign in with a passkey" and confirm on your device with your fingerprint, face or PIN.
  3. Kestrel takes you to the page you were heading for, or to your home page.

If you opened a link to a page in Kestrel before you signed in, the sign-in page remembers where you were going and takes you there afterwards.

Sign in through the school's directory

A school that has connected its own directory shows a button for it at the top of the sign-in page, above the email field. Press it and sign in at the directory. The groups you belong to there decide which roles you hold in Kestrel. If the directory sends you back to Kestrel with a refusal, the page shows a sentence saying why.

When your school requires a passkey

An administrator can switch off emailed codes, or require a passkey of all staff. An emailed code is one factor, so at a school that requires a passkey it can still get you into Kestrel, but only to the page headed "Sign in with your passkey".

  1. If you already hold a passkey on this device, press "Sign in with a passkey" and confirm.
  2. If you hold none on this device, press "Add a passkey to this device" and confirm. The page then says your passkey is added.
  3. Press "Sign in with a passkey" again to finish signing in. Your passkey makes a new session, and Kestrel takes you to the console.
  4. Press "Sign out" if you opened this page by mistake.

  • Sign in with your passkey

    /passkey-required

    Where a member of staff is sent when the school requires a passkey and they signed in with a code.

When Kestrel says you have no access

Signing in proves who you are. What you can open is up to your school. The page headed "No access at" and your school's name appears when your account is signed in but the school has given it neither staff access nor family access.

  • Check the address shown on the page. If it is not the one you meant to use, press "Sign out and use another account" and sign in with the right one.
  • If it is the right address, ask the school's office to give your account access.

  • No access

    /no-access

    Tells a signed-in account that the school has not given it staff or family access, and offers the way out.

Journeys

A family signs in at the same page. Their first steps, and a student's, are in the family portal part.

Settings

An administrator chooses the ways in under Settings, on the "Sign-in" page. "How staff sign in here" is either "Code and passkey" or "Passkeys only", and "Whether staff must sign in with a passkey" is either "Passkey or code" or "Passkey required". A school cannot close the emailed code while a member of staff still holds no passkey.

Training notes

Everyone who signs in needs this chapter, and it takes about five minutes with a device in hand. Ask each person to add a passkey during the session, so the second sign-in is the one they practise.