Accessibility

What this covers

Kestrel is used by a school's office and staff, by the families the school gives access to, and by students and visitors at the office kiosk. This statement covers the four parts of it listed under "Where the tests run", all served at app.kestrel.hoverpoint.io.

The standard

Kestrel is built and tested to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at Level AA.

AS EN 301 549, the Australian standard for accessible ICT, takes its requirements for web content from WCAG 2.1 at Level AA. WCAG 2.2 includes each Level A and Level AA success criterion of WCAG 2.1, apart from 4.1.1 Parsing, which the W3C removed.

Conformance status

The tests check each screen they reach against WCAG 2.2 Level AA, and a release is deployed only once they pass.

Automated testing decides the success criteria a machine can decide. Some criteria need a person's judgement, such as whether a heading describes the section under it. No-one has audited Kestrel by hand against each success criterion, so this statement makes no claim of full conformance. The tests and checks below are what it rests on.

How it is tested

The tests open each screen listed under "Where the tests run" in a real browser and run axe, an open-source accessibility engine, with its rules for WCAG 2.2 Levels A and AA. A single violation on a single screen fails the release. No rule is switched off, and no screen has an allowance. The browser asks for reduced motion before each run, so contrast is measured on the finished page.

Some criteria are beyond what axe can decide, so the tests walk them directly. Each line below is a test that runs with each release.

1.3.1 Info and Relationships

A filter is announced as one choice among several, with the chosen option marked.

1.4.1 Use of Color

Each status mark shows its status in words beside its colour.

1.4.10 Reflow

The published documents and sign-in fit a window 320 pixels wide without scrolling sideways.

1.4.10 Reflow

The console's home screen fits a window 320 pixels wide without scrolling sideways.

1.4.10 Reflow

The family portal's list of children and a child's page fit a window 320 pixels wide without scrolling sideways.

2.1.1 Keyboard

The arrow keys move between a filter's options and choose as they go.

2.4.1 Bypass Blocks

On a published document, the first press of Tab reaches a link that moves focus past the header.

2.4.1 Bypass Blocks

In the console, the first press of Tab reaches a link past the band.

2.4.1 Bypass Blocks

In the family portal, the first press of Tab reaches a link past the band.

2.4.2 Page Titled

Each page sets a title, which is also what a screen reader hears on a change of page.

2.4.3 Focus Order

A filter costs one press of Tab, however many options it has.

3.3.1 Error Identification

A field with an error describes it in words, and a screen reader announces it.

3.3.2 Labels or Instructions

A required field says so in words.

The browser tests run in Chromium, and no screen reader is part of them.

Where the tests run

The published documents and sign-in

The Privacy Policy, the Terms of Service, the Acceptable Use Policy, the documentation index and each document under it, sign-in and the page for a person with no account.

Used by anyone, with or without an account

The staff console

Home, the account page, the enrolment board, enquiries, intakes, waitlists, entrance assessments, continuations and the funnel, the PRISMS worklist, students, households, the photograph import and a person's record, staff, the seasons, each activity's roster with its season comments, the activity selection rounds and a round's places, attendance and its rates, the unsubmitted rolls, the day's one-to-one sessions, movements and evacuation list, the timetable with its variations, room and resource bookings, interview rounds and class build, the markbook, its department review and its subject selection rounds, messages, action plans and the camp pack, a wellbeing case, detentions, house points and awards, the intervention programs and the measures of wellbeing, the fee schedule, the standard report library, the screen where a reader asks the record a question, a role's dashboards, a student's printed transcript, and the settings section.

Used by the school's staff and administrators

The family portal

The list of a family's children, each child's page with its applications, its school news, its attendance, its wellbeing, its reports, its released results and the consents the school asks a parent to answer, an agent's applications, the calendar with its feed, and the page for an account with no access at the school.

Used by parents and carers the school has given family access

The student portal

A student's own record, with the school's acceptable use policy in front of it until they agree to it, and the sections the school shows students, subject selection and forms and requests among them.

Used by students the school has given an account of their own

The attendance kiosk

The pairing screen and the kiosk itself.

Used by students signing in late and visitors signing in and out at the office

How it is built

• Keyboard. On each page with a header or a band above its content, a skip link is the first tab stop and moves focus to the main content. The focus ring is an outline, and the page leaves room above a focused control so the band across the top does not cover it.
• Colour. A status is shown in words beside its colour. A school that sets its own palette has it checked for contrast and colour-vision distinguishability before it is saved, and a palette that fails either is refused.
• High contrast. On a Windows desktop set to high contrast, the focus ring is drawn in the system's own highlight colour.
• Motion. A reader whose system asks for reduced motion sees no transitions and no animation.
• Type. The console is set in IBM Plex Sans, with figures that line up in a column, and no text a person reads in it is smaller than 14 pixels.
• Screen readers. Each page has a title, and a change of page reads the new title out. A field's label, hint and error are tied to the field, and an error is announced as it appears. A filter is one group with the chosen option marked.
• Language. Each page states the language it is written in, so a screen reader pronounces it correctly.

Report a barrier

If something in Kestrel stops you doing what you came to do, write to hello@seraco.io. Tell us the page and what happened. We answer in writing.

If you are a parent, a student or a member of staff, you can also tell your school, which decides how Kestrel is set up there.

If our answer does not resolve it, you can complain to the Australian Human Rights Commission under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992.