Guidance & Clinic Playbook
You hold the school's most sensitive records — guidance cases, child-protection reports, and learner health information. ERPat School treats these differently from everything else: ordinary support cases live on one screen, confidential safeguarding cases live on a separate, segregated screen that never mixes with them, and every time you open a confidential or health record it is written to the audit trail. This playbook shows you how to work each surface responsibly.
school_child_protection and school_health permissions are
restricted and segregated for a reason. Every read of a safeguarding case is logged
(view_safeguarding, critical) and every health-record view is logged
(view_health, critical) — with your name. Open these records only when your
role requires it, and never discuss them outside the people who must know. The legal basis
is RA 7610, RA 10627 and RA 10173; see
Data Privacy & Safeguarding.
Who you are
You are the guidance counselor, clinic/nurse, or child-protection focal person. You work three related surfaces:
Everyday guidance, behavioral and attendance cases — the ordinary, non-confidential surface at school/support.
Confidential child-protection / anti-bullying cases at school/safeguarding — segregated and audited on every read.
Restricted learner medical information — viewing is gated by school_health and audited.
The restricted permits you need
| Permission | What it unlocks |
|---|---|
school | The School menu and Dashboard. |
school_support + _create / _update | The Student Support page; create cases, add progress notes, change status. |
school_child_protection + _create / _update | The confidential Safeguarding surface; create/manage child-protection cases. Restricted — every case read is audited. |
school_health | View learner health / medical records. Restricted — every view is audited. |
school_child_protection is what makes the Safeguarding surface visible to you
at all — and it is what puts a guarded link to Safeguarding on the ordinary Support page.
If a colleague can't see Safeguarding, that is correct: they don't hold the permit. Ask
your administrator to assign these deliberately.
The two surfaces — how they differ
Support and Safeguarding share the same case tools (create, notes, status), but they are completely separated data sets. A confidential case created on Safeguarding never appears on the ordinary Support list, and its notes are restricted.
| Student Support | Safeguarding | |
|---|---|---|
| Route | school/support | school/safeguarding |
| Permit | school_support (+ create/update) | school_child_protection (+ create/update) |
| Default case type | guidance | child_protection |
| Confidential? | No | Yes — segregated from Support |
| Notes | Progress notes | Restricted notes |
| Read auditing | Base activity log | view_safeguarding on every open (critical) |
| Cross-link | Shows a guarded link into Safeguarding only to permit holders | — |
SOP — Open and work a support case
Use this for ordinary guidance, behavioral, and attendance concerns.
Create the case
On
school/support, click Add Case (needsschool_support_create). Set the fields: learner (optional — leave blank and the case shows as anonymous), case type (defaults to guidance), severity, assigned to (a staff member), title (required), and a summary.Let the case number generate
On save, ERPat auto-generates a case number in the form
SC-yymmdd-XXXXand sets the status to open.Add progress notes
Open the case's view and add progress notes as the situation develops (needs
school_support_update). Notes are timestamped and attributed to you.Move the status forward
Update the case status as you work it — see the lifecycle below.
Severity & status vocabulary
The five statuses are open, investigating, resolved, referred and closed. Change status from the case view; use referred when the matter passes to an external party or a colleague, and resolved/closed when it concludes.
SOP — Open a confidential safeguarding case
Use this for child-protection and anti-bullying matters. It behaves like a support case but is confidential, segregated, and audited on read.
Reach the Safeguarding surface
Go directly to
school/safeguarding, or use the guarded link that appears on the Student Support page (it is shown only to holders ofschool_child_protection). Opening this surface requires that permit.Create the case
Click Add Case (needs
school_child_protection_create). The fields are the same as a support case, but the case type defaults to child_protection and the case is flagged confidential. Fill in learner (or leave anonymous), severity, assigned to, title (required) and summary. ASC-yymmdd-XXXXnumber is generated and the status starts open.Add restricted notes
Progress notes on a confidential case are stored as restricted notes (needs
school_child_protection_update). Record facts, dates, and actions taken — not opinions.Work the status the same way
The same open → investigating → resolved / referred / closed lifecycle applies. Use referred when the case is escalated to the proper authority.
view_safeguarding (critical) with your identity. This is a feature, not
surveillance of you — it is the child's protection and your professional record that the
case was accessed appropriately. Confidential cases never appear on the ordinary
Support list, so a colleague without the permit cannot even see that the case exists.
SOP — Handle learner health records
Learner health / medical information is a separate restricted domain, gated by
school_health.
Confirm you hold the health permit
Only holders of
school_healthcan view learner health/medical records. This is granted separately from support and safeguarding — a nurse might hold health but not child-protection, and vice versa.Open a record only when needed
Every view of a health record is audited as
view_health(critical severity). Access it strictly for a legitimate care or safety purpose.Keep it need-to-know
Do not export, forward, or discuss health details beyond the people responsible for that learner's care. Treat the record as you would a clinical file.
Your data-privacy responsibilities
- Classify correctly. Sensitive matters go on Safeguarding, not Support — the classification is what keeps them confidential and audited.
- Open records only with cause. Assume every safeguarding and health read is logged — because it is.
- Write facts, not judgments in notes. Restricted notes may be reviewed as part of a formal process.
- Assign and refer appropriately. Use referred to escalate; assign a case to the staff member responsible for follow-through.
- Respect segregation. Do not ask for the child-protection or health permit unless your role genuinely requires it, and never share the surface with someone who lacks it.
Common mistakes
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| “I can't find a confidential case on the Support list.” | By design — confidential cases are segregated and never appear on Support. | Open it on school/safeguarding instead. |
| “I don't see the Safeguarding link.” | You don't hold school_child_protection. | The permit is restricted; request it from the admin only if your role requires it. |
| A sensitive matter was logged as a Support case. | It was opened on the wrong surface. | Handle sensitive matters on Safeguarding so they're confidential and audited from the start. |
| “Why is my access being recorded?” | Safeguarding and health reads are audited for the child's protection. | This is expected; access records appropriately — see privacy.html. |
| Case shows as “anonymous”. | No learner was linked on the case. | Leave anonymous intentionally, or edit the case to attach the learner. |
Where to next
The full audit model, segregated domains, and the RA 10173 / 7610 / 10627 basis.
Every permission, status vocabulary and audited action at a glance.
The recommended permission preset for guidance and clinic staff.
Where a learner's identity, contacts, and emergency information live.
Who can see health and safeguarding, and other real answers.