This section highlights the key areas that the school administration staff need to consider prior to setting up the Sentral Parent Portal module.
2.1 Legacy Portal 1 vs Parent Portal 2
Sentral created a new Parent Portal that works with the Sentral Parents App. The Original parent Portal (legacy or Portal 1) will come to end of life so we encourage all schools to move to Parent Portal 2 and the new Portal Console module.
What do I do?
Go to the Sentral Admin Cog > Student & Parent Portal > Portal Version.
For schools that are new to the portal, select Use Portal 2. This enables the Module Portal Console to appear as one of the listed modules. This configuration guide discusses the Portal Console and thus do not recommend introducing the Portal 1 to parents.
For schools that have been using Portal 1, we recommend Default to Portal 2. Portal 2 will be the default for Parent Portal users. Parents can switch back to Portal 1.
New Portal Console module will be available in the module menu for staff.
5 | P a g e
2.2 Household and Student Details
The success of implementing this module relies on the accuracy of data from your data layer source/enrolments module. Parents/Caregiver details and family relations needs to be addressed and reviewed to ensure Parent/caregivers have access to their children and be considerate of complex households.
2.3 Students, Staff and Roll Classes
For the Parent Portal module to operate, you must have user accounts created for staff members at the school, as well as roll classes with students in them. This may be entered within Sentral
Enrolments or synchronised from the school enrolments system.
2.4 Parent Registration
It is important to decide on the parent registration process to manage self-registration or put in place an authorisation process via the Administrator of Portal Console. This is highly dependent on how the school wish to manage this.
2.5 Sentral Modules & Communication
The school will need to decide on which modules will be made available to Parents and Student within their Portal account. Further detail will be discussed in the next section, however this in an opportunity for staff to determine the modules that will be made visible and hence, those modules that will require actionable items to be managed by the school.
Schools must also consider and share with the parent & student community the purpose of the Portal, its part in the school communication and parent engagement process. It is worthwhile for all schools to consider a rollout plan, parent forum and future support for the Portal as a stream of work for administration staff to process and manage.
General staff also need to be made aware of their contribution and management of the Portal daily and to adhere to schools’ policies and compliance.
2.6 Access Keys
Consideration around complex households and custody issues is a mandatory requirement for the success of the Portal rollout. Key generation is defined by creating:
1. Family Keys - all families that are not listed in the school’s admin system as having custody issues
2. Single Keys - all parents that are listed in the school’s admin system as having custody issues
2.7 Roles and Responsibilities Setup
The Portal Console module is a powerful module with many features and functions that can address the school’s communication and engagement needs. Administration of the Portal Console module is usually assigned to a select group of staff with access to all the functionality in the module. As such, the school will be responsible for applying access levels for staff which will determine what actions they can perform in the module.
2.8 Sentral Modules to consider
Whilst schools contemplate the actual setup of the Portal, there are additional steps to consider when choosing to implement certain modules. This section of the guide highlights additional configuration steps to for these modules. Some modules will not require any configuration to work in the portal.
6 | P a g e
Module Configuration
Academic Reports Additional steps need to be completed in Academic Reports to publish to the Portal. There is a whole section devoted to this within the module
Activities 1. Student Portal in Activities Setup - switch on
self-registration for activities 2. Each Activity on setup needs to Show in Student
Portal switched on & switch on allow Self
registration 3. Each Activity then needs to be published to Parent Portal for Information only, permissions only, payment only, permission & Payment
Activity Timeline no additional config required
Attendance Access to explain absences, allow future absences and view absences
Calendar Select the calendar to display to portal users
Classes Detail no additional config required
Conferences Notify portal parents needs to be switched on.
Teacher’s also need to select Publish to Student Portal for each conference
Continuous Assessment no additional config required
Daily Notices Daily Notices widget needs to be added to school dashboard
Homework no additional config required
Markbook Within each Faculty Markbook, you must select
which columns to Publish to Markbook
Messaging Allow parents to message teachers
Newsletter Newsletter widget needs to be added to school
dashboard
Parent/Teacher Interviews Registration window needs to be setup
Payments Financial Settings and enabling portal Payments
needs to be configured.
Plans no additional config required
School Forms These are online forms that can be downloaded, completed and uploaded by parents. These are uploaded via Online Forms not Documents School Resources Documents need to be uploaded to Portal
Documents
Timetable no additional config required except to display daily variations
7 | P a g e
Wellbeing Each Category needs to be configured to display in Parent & Student Portal. Schools can decide to hide, show tally, show summary or show all details of incidents within a category
8 | P a g e