Skulbase user guide

Boarding and discipline guide

For matrons, patrons and house masters, and discipline masters

Dorms and beds, roll calls, exeats with gate passes, dorm inspections, and discipline incidents from report to action.

Other guides: Administrator guide · Class teacher guide · Subject teacher guide · Staff guide · Learner guide · Parent guide · Academic leadership guide · Bursar and finance guide · School nurse guide · Transport guide · Library, stores and HR guide

Chapter 1

Getting started

Matrons, patrons and discipline masters sign in with their own account like everyone else. The administrator then assigns the duty under Settings → Roles & duties, and its pages appear in the menu the next time you open Skulbase. You only see a page if your school has switched its module on and your role or duty uses it. If something here is missing from your menu, ask your administrator.

1.1Who this guide is for

The duties this guide covers, and what each one can do.

Matron: runs boarding: dorms, roll calls, exeats and inspections, and can see health records.
Patron / House master: takes roll calls for their own dorm and records discipline incidents.
Discipline Master: manages every incident and the action taken, and informs parents.

1.2Activate your account with an invite code

Teachers, staff and learners do not sign up on their own. Your school adds you, and you get a personal invite code (or a link that has the code in it) to set up your login.

The account activation page with a box for the invite code — Activating an account: type the invite code from your school, or open the link they sent you.

Get your code
Your school administrator gives you a six-character invite code, for example A7X3K9, by SMS, WhatsApp, on paper, or as a link. The code only works for your account.
Open the activation page
Tap the link you were sent, or go to skulbase.com, choose Sign in and then “Activate your account”. If you opened a link, the code is already filled in.
Check it is you
Press Continue. Skulbase shows the name the school registered. If it is not you, choose “Not you?” and ask the school for the right code.
Choose how you will sign in
Pick a username (one is suggested for you) and a password of at least 8 characters, or continue with Google. Adding an email address lets you reset your password yourself later.
You are in
You are signed in straight away and land on the home page for your role.

Good to know: Each code can be used once. If yours says it has expired or was already used, ask your administrator to reset your account; they get a fresh code in seconds.

1.3Sign in

Once your account is active, sign in with your email address or username and your password, or with Google if you activated with Google.

The Skulbase sign-in page — The sign-in page. “Forgot password?” sends you a code by email.

Go to the sign-in page
Open skulbase.com and choose Sign in.
Enter your details
Type your email address or username, then your password, and press Sign In. Or press “Sign in with Google”.
Forgot your password?
Choose “Forgot password?”, enter your email address, and type the six-digit code we email you along with a new password. This also works if you have only ever used Google, and afterwards both ways work.

Tip: Save skulbase.com to your phone’s home screen. It opens like an app and remembers you are signed in.

1.4Finding your way around

The menu only shows the pages your role can use. On a computer it runs down the left-hand side; on a phone the main pages sit in a bar along the bottom.

On a computer, the arrow at the top of the menu makes it narrower (icons only) or wider (icons and names). Skulbase remembers your choice.
Press the / key, or tap “Search menu”, to jump to any page by typing part of its name.
Your name at the bottom of the menu opens your account menu: switch between light and dark appearance, or sign out.
If you hold more than one role (for example an administrator who is also a class teacher), use “View as” in the account menu to switch views.
On a phone, the bottom bar shows your four most-used pages. Everything else is under More.

Chapter 2

Boarding

Everything about boarders: where they sleep, whether they are in, and when they are allowed out.

2.1Take a roll call

Roll call is a register for a dorm, taken morning, evening or at night.

The Roll call tab — Boarding → Roll call: choose the dorm, session and date, then open the roll.

Open the roll
Choose the dorm, the session (morning, evening or night) and the date, and press “Open roll”.
Mark each boarder
Present, absent, late, out on exeat or in the sick bay. “Rest present” marks everyone not yet marked as present.
Save
If the roll was already taken, saving updates it.

Patrons can only take roll calls for their own dorm.

2.2Exeats and the gate check

An exeat is permission for a boarder to leave school. Once approved it has a pass code that the gate checks.

Exeats with their status and pass codes, and the gate check box — Boarding → Exeats.

Request
Press “Request exeat”: the learner, the type (weekend, medical, family, official or other), when they leave, when they must be back, and the reason.
Approve
Approve or reject it. An approved exeat gets a short pass code, which the parent or learner shows at the gate.
At the gate
Type the pass code into “Gate check” and press Check to confirm the exeat is genuine and current before the learner leaves. The exeat then shows Out.
Back
When the learner returns, press Back.

2.3Dorms and beds

The “Dorms & beds” tab lists each dorm with its house, whether it is for boys or girls, the number of beds and its patron. Allocate each boarder a bed; “Move out” frees it.

Dorms with house, beds and patron — Boarding → Dorms & beds.

2.4Dorm inspections

Record each inspection with the dorm, the date, a score out of 100 and remarks, to track standards over the term.

Chapter 3

Discipline

Teachers report incidents; the discipline master decides the action and informs the parent.

3.1Report a discipline incident

Any teacher can report an incident on the Discipline page. You see the incidents you reported; the discipline master decides the action and tells the parent.

The Discipline page with incidents, severity and status — Discipline: each incident with its category, severity, action and status.

Report it
Press “Report incident”. Choose the learner, the date, the category (for example lateness or fighting), how serious it is (minor, major or critical) and describe what happened.
What happens next
The discipline master records the action taken (for example a warning, counselling or calling the parent in), marks it resolved, and can text the parent with “Tell parent”.

3.2Record the action (Discipline Master)

Open an incident to record the action taken: none, warning, counselling, punishment, parent called in, suspension or expulsion. Mark it resolved when it is dealt with.

“Tell parent” texts the learner’s guardian about the incident.
Discipline records are sensitive: teachers see the incidents they reported; administrators, the discipline master, deputy and principal see them all.

Chapter 4

Getting help

Most questions are answered on the page itself: many pages have a “How to” panel at the bottom. For anything else, these are the places to go.

4.1Where to get help

This guide is always available from Help in the menu, and as a PDF you can download and print.

Your school administrator can add or reset accounts, fix classes and subjects, and change school settings.
For problems with Skulbase itself, use the contact page at skulbase.com/contact, or call 0740 129 444.
When you report a problem, say which page you were on, what you pressed and what you expected. A screenshot helps.