Appearance
Link parents to children
School AdminLinking connects a guardian to a student. It decides who is called about the child and which children a parent sees after signing in.
Before you start
- The student exists. See Add a student.
- Your role can link guardians. Otherwise the Link button and the unlink icons are hidden on the student profile.
- The guardian record can already exist or be created during linking.
Where to find it
Linking is done only on the student profile: Students & Admissions → Students → click the student → Guardians section → Link.
The Parents & Guardians page shows each guardian's children, but it cannot create or remove links.
Link a guardian
Example: link Sunita Mehta to Rohan Mehta.
Open Rohan's profile and click Link in Guardians.
The dialog Link a guardian asks "Who should be contacted about Rohan?"
Type in Search by name, phone, or another child's name….
- Each result shows the phone (or email) and the guardian's other children, so you can tell people with the same name apart.
- Guardians already linked to this student are greyed out and marked Already linked.
- If nobody matches, you see Nobody matches that ("Add them as a new guardian below.").
Click the right person, or click This person isn't on file and fill in First name (required), Last name, Phone ("Usually the only contact detail on file.") and Email ("Needed only to give them a sign-in."). Search the existing list instead switches back.
Set the link details:
Field Default Notes Relationship Mother Mother, Father, Guardian, Grandparent, Other How are they related? — Shown only for Other, e.g. "Aunt, elder brother, legal guardian…" Primary contact Off "The one called first, and whose consent counts. Only one per student." May collect the student On Whether this person may pick the child up Click Link (or Add and link for a new person). The message is "Guardian linked."
Messages:
| Message | Fix |
|---|---|
| "Choose somebody from the list, or add a new guardian." | Select a search result, or use This person isn't on file. |
| "A first name is needed." | Enter the new guardian's first name. |
| "Say how this person is related to the student." | With Other, fill in How are they related? |
| "{name} is already on file with those details — link that record instead." | The phone or email matches an existing guardian. The dialog selects that record; click Link. |
| "The guardian couldn't be linked." | Try again. |
Siblings: one parent, several children
Repeat Link on each child's profile and select the existing guardian from the search each time. Do not add the parent again. Their dashboard then lists every linked child.
With bulk import, add one row per child using the same phone or email; the existing guardian is reused. See Bulk import.
Change the primary contact
- To make another guardian primary: unlink them and link them again with Primary contact ticked. Linking someone as primary automatically removes the primary mark from the student's other guardians.
- To change the relationship or "May collect the student": unlink and link again with the new values. You cannot edit a link in place.
Bulk import and primary contacts
Rows imported with Primary Contact set to yes do not remove existing primary marks, so a child can end up with two Primary badges. Fix this on the student profile by unlinking and re-linking.
Unlink a guardian
- On the student profile, click the bin icon next to the guardian.
- Confirm Unlink this guardian?: "They lose access to this child in their own app. The guardian record itself is kept."
- Click Unlink. The message is "Guardian unlinked."
A guardian left with no linked children shows Not linked to a student on Parents & Guardians. Only institution-wide roles can still see them.
What the parent sees
If the guardian has a sign-in (Has an account):
- Dashboard → Your children ("Attendance and timetables, per child.") lists every linked child with their current division.
- My Timetable shows Whose timetable, My Attendance shows Child, and Progress shows a child picker. The pickers appear only when two or more children are linked.
- A newly linked child appears after the parent reloads the page. An unlinked child disappears the same way.
- A parent with no linked children sees No children linked to you ("Ask the office to link your children to your account.").
Children stay visible to their parents regardless of whether the student is withdrawn. See Parent portal.
Who can do this
- School Admin: link and unlink.
- Teacher: can see linked guardians on profiles of students they teach; cannot link.