Documentation

Guides by role

Version 1.0 ·Updated 2026-09-17

Next reviewed by 2027-03-17.

Written for each member of a school's staff, from the registrar to IT, and the families using the portal.

How the guides work

Each guide is written for one of the roles a school starts with, and lists the tasks that role does in Kestrel, in the order of a working day. Each task says where it happens, what you need to have, and which buttons to press in the order you press them. Inside the console, the account menu under your initials links here as "Guides".

A school can change what a role grants, or compose roles of its own, on the Roles screen. Each task names the capability it needs, so whoever administers the school can check a person's roles against it. You see only the areas, tabs and buttons your roles allow.

The training course takes each guide in short sessions a school runs itself.

The guide for your role

Registrar
For the registrar, who keeps the roll, runs enrolment from enquiry to start, and decides when two records are one person.
Front office
For the front office, which answers the counter and the phone, records who arrives late and leaves early, and follows up absences.
Teacher
For a teacher, who marks the roll, keeps the markbook, records what happened in class and reads the plans for the students in front of them.
Head of house or year
For a head of house or year, who follows a cohort's wellbeing, sets the notices staff read, issues sanctions and runs cases.
Wellbeing
For the wellbeing team, which keeps the pastoral record, runs cases and schedules the detention sittings.
Learning support
For the teacher who keeps the school's NCCD register: each adjustment, its evidence and the consultations behind it.
Child safety officer
For the child safety officer named in the school's policy, who records a concern and the reports made about it against the statutory clock.
Nurse
For the nurse, who holds the medical record, gives medication, runs sick bay and approves the details families confirm.
Principal and executive
For the principal and the executive, who answer for the school: the restricted record, the audit trail and the privacy register.
Business manager
For the business manager, who holds who pays, the school's configuration and the staff compliance register.
IT
For IT, who administers the system without reading the record: who holds which role, sign-in, integrations and devices.
Families
For a parent or carer the school has given access to the family portal, and the office that helps them in.

First steps for each member of staff

Whatever your role, these come first.

Sign in

The sign-in page

  1. Type your school address into "School email".
  2. Press "Sign in with a passkey" and confirm on your device, or press "Email me a 6-digit code" and type the six digits from the email.
  3. After a code, press "Add a passkey" when Kestrel offers one, so the next sign-in needs only your device.
  4. If your school signs in through its own directory, press the button above the email field instead.

Add a passkey for another device

Your initials at the top right, then "Account"

  1. Open the account menu from your initials and choose "Account".
  2. Under "Passkeys", press "Add a passkey" and confirm on the device.
  3. To stop a lost device signing in, press "Remove" beside it.

Find a person

The search button on the band, or "Students"

Needs person.record.read.

  1. Press "Find a record or page" on the band, or Ctrl+K (⌘K on a Mac).
  2. Type at least two letters of any name they have held, or a number exactly as printed, into "Name, address, number or page".
  3. Choose them from the results to open their record.

Read a record

A person's record

Needs person.record.read.

  1. The record opens on "Overview", a card for each part of the record you can read.
  2. The tabs under the name are "Identity", "Family and contact", "Education", "Health and wellbeing", "Activities" and "Administration". You see only the tabs that have something you can read.
  3. A line beside the name is a notice staff must see, such as a medical alert or a court order limiting who may collect.
  4. A section with nothing in it folds to a single line.

Read a person's day

The "Timetable" area, "Today"

Needs timetable.record.read.

  1. Type a name into "Find a person" and press "Search".
  2. Choose the person. Their lessons show with the day's reliefs and room changes applied.
  3. Move with "Previous day", "Next day" or "Today", or type a "Date".