Part 6. Privacy and safety in practice
6.4 Consent
What the school asks families to agree to, how an answer is recorded, and what happens when a family withdraws.
Written forFront officeRegistrarTeacherHead of house or yearNursePrincipal and executive
What consent is for
The school asks for consent when it wants to do something with a child that the family may decline, such as a photograph, an excursion or a medical treatment. Kestrel keeps each answer with the child, the person who gave it and the day, so the school can show later what it was told.
What the school asks for
An administrator sets the purposes on the settings screen "Consents". The lede reads "Manage consent requests for families and how long their responses are kept." The groups are "Purposes", "Reminders" and "Add or change a purpose". Each purpose has a name the office uses, a code, a "Note kept at" level and an "Asked for" count. "What a family is agreeing to" is the sentence a parent reads.
A purpose is retired and never deleted. "Stop asking" retires it and "Ask again" brings it back. Consents given under a retired purpose stay where they are, because the school may still need to answer what it was given. "Days before the deadline" sets when reminders go out, and shortening it changes no request already sent.
Consents
/app/settings/consentsThe purposes the school asks consent for and the reminder days.
Needs
comms.consent.write
Who may answer
Only a parent with responsibility for the child can answer in the portal. A grandparent with collection rights reads the child's page and does not see "Consents". Staff can record an answer at the counter for a family that cannot use the portal, and the family sees it marked "Recorded by the school".
Reading a consent's standing
| Standing | Meaning |
|---|---|
| In force | The family has said yes and has not taken it back. |
| Withdrawn | The family said yes and later took it back. |
| Ended | The consent ran its course. |
A consent that is withdrawn tells the office and the staff running the activity. A parent reads this in the portal: "If you withdraw a consent, the school's office is told, and so are the staff running whatever it was for."
Consent and an excursion
An excursion organiser sees which children's consent is still needed and which are in question. A child whose consent is in question is reviewed by the organiser, who records a decision. The family reads "Consent given" or "Consent still needed" under "Trips" in the portal.
Training notes
- Tell staff that a family can change its mind at any time, so check the standing on the day.
- When recording a consent at the counter, confirm the person is a parent with responsibility.
- Retire a purpose instead of deleting it. The old answers are still the school's to keep.