Who Kestrel is for
Several people choose a student record. Each asks something different.
Find your role, read the short answers, and watch the film that shows it on real screens. Each film is captioned, and what each one shows is written out beside it.
Start here.
The shortest way in, for anyone: one night’s read, one question asked of the record, and one roll marked the next morning.
The principal or head
Is this the right shape of thing to buy?
Asked early, often with the board, before anyone has seen a screen in detail.
Is it one record, or several systems joined together?
One record. A parent who is also a staff member and an old scholar is one record with three roles, and every part of the school reads the same record.
When can we switch?
Whenever suits your school. Rehearsals run as often as you need, each import recognises what it has already brought in, and the final run lands on the date you choose, planned around your reports and census days.
Who checks the migrated data?
Your own people. Your registrar, business manager and a head of house check their records against the old system using a checklist we provide, and nothing is committed until you sign it off.
One record for the whole school day
This film follows a single school day, from twenty to eight in the morning through to the alarm that afternoon. It shows what one record needs to hold it together. Real screens, invented data.
Read more: What the record covers · Moving to Kestrel · Why Kestrel.
The business manager
Will the returns come out of it, and stand up afterwards?
Asked by whoever signs the census and answers for it eighteen months later.
Which returns does Kestrel produce?
The census with NCCD in the same file, the Address Collection, and STATS attendance, as SchoolsHUB files.
What happens when data is missing?
The run stops and names the student and the field, so the gap is fixed before the file is produced.
How does Kestrel help with post-enumeration?
Each run can produce a substantiation pack: the run record, the file’s checksum and, for each person, the rows behind their figures, as a PDF.
Census and returns, from the record
Every return the school owes, each read as at its own collection day, checked against the record before a file is made, and every run recorded with the file’s checksum. Real screens, invented data.
Read more: Statutory returns · Moving to Kestrel.
The IT manager
Can we trust it with the record?
Asked by an IT manager, often before anyone else has seen a screen.
How do people at the school sign in?
With the account your school already runs: SAML 2.0 or OpenID Connect against Microsoft Entra ID or Google Workspace, with your directory’s groups deciding each person’s standing.
Are passkeys and single sign-on an extra cost?
No extra cost. Passkeys and single sign-on against Microsoft Entra ID and Google Workspace are included for every role, and a school can require a passkey for its people, which counts as two factors.
Can we connect our own systems?
Yes. Your school issues its own API tokens, each scoped and each with an expiry, with endpoints for people and the roles they hold, alumni, class rosters for OneRoster and School Data Sync, staff import, website enquiries and tour bookings, and nightly exports. The full reference is published at app.kestrel.hoverpoint.io/docs/api.
How Kestrel is built
Passkeys or the school’s own directory, each school’s records kept apart under its own key, access by role and by kind of record, an audit trail kept for seven years, scoped tokens for other systems, and records and backups in Australia. Real screens, invented data.
Read more: Architecture and security · Integrations.
The registrar
Does admissions run on the record, from the first enquiry?
Asked by the person who answers the phone to a family in March and enrols their child in January.
Is an applicant re-entered when they enrol?
Nothing is retyped. The applicant record becomes the student record when the family accepts.
How does a family accept an offer?
In the parent portal. An offer waits on a signature from each of two guardians, then a parent with responsibility for the child accepts or declines it.
Can we see conversion by source?
Yes. The funnel shows how many applications reached each rung, as at a day, cut by source, campaign, intake or year level.
Admissions, from enquiry to enrolment
Every enquiry in one list, the tour and the application recorded from it, the school’s own ladder with how long each application has waited, offers with the day each lapses, the family’s view, and the funnel. Real screens, invented data.
Read more: Admissions · The person record.
The deputy or head of wellbeing
Does it do the thing I do every day?
Asked by a deputy, a head of house or the front office, usually with a spreadsheet open. Answered by watching one job done end to end.
How are unmarked rolls followed up?
A job runs every five minutes. It tells the lesson’s teachers a set number of minutes after the period, then whoever holds the role the school named, by email.
Who can give consent for an excursion?
A person with parental responsibility for the child, as recorded on the day the consent was given.
How does Kestrel respect parenting orders when messaging?
The send path asks who may be contacted about this child, for this purpose, at the moment of sending.
One excursion, from the ask to a parent’s yes
One Year 4 trip, followed the whole way: proposed and approved, one ask to every family, who may answer worked out from the record, a parent’s yes in the family portal, and the trip page knowing at once. Real screens, invented data.
The front desk, from the office
A late arrival and a sick departure recorded once at reception, both rolls already showing them as explained, a correction made with its reason, and the unexplained-absences list. Real screens, invented data.
Away tomorrow
A parent asks for an afternoon away for two children in the family portal, the front office approves it once, and tomorrow’s roll already shows it as explained. Real screens, invented data.
Read more: Attendance · Co-curricularAlumni · Wellbeing · Communications.
All films.
- The tour · 1:22
- One school day · 1:03
- Census and returns · 0:38
- How Kestrel is built · 1:03
- Admissions, from enquiry to enrolment · 0:44
- One excursion, from the ask to a parent’s yes · 1:12
- The front desk, from the office · 1:07
- Away tomorrow · 0:48
SIS Health Check
How healthy is your current student information system?
Twenty-one quick questions across seven areas, from one record to security. You get a score for each, your strongest area, your top priority, and a personalised report by email.
Take the 5-minute Health Check
Free · No phone number needed · No obligation
Bring the question you most need answered.
Start with the eight-minute film. Then, if you’d like, forty minutes with us on your questions.