Generating the Learning Journal PDF

How to export a child's complete Learning Journal as a professionally formatted PDF, a lasting record of their observations, photos, assessments, and developmental progress that families can keep and treasure.

Before you begin

  • The student has at least some observations or checklist assessments recorded.
  • You are logged in as Class Teacher, Key Person, Curriculum Lead, or School Admin.

What the Learning Journal PDF contains

The Learning Journal PDF is a formatted document that brings together everything recorded for a child:

  • Cover page, child's photo, name, class, school name and logo, and the date range of the journal
  • Curriculum progress summary, a visual overview of the child's progress across all assessed domains
  • Observations timeline, all observations in chronological order, each with its linked curriculum indicators, photos, and any notes
  • Checklist summary (if applicable), a colour-coded view of all checklist items and their current status
  • Milestones page, physical, cognitive, language, and social milestones achieved during the period
  • Teacher's summary note (optional), a free-text comment field you can fill in before generating the PDF

Downloading the observation summary PDF

  1. Go to Students from the sidebar and click the student's name to open their profile.
  2. Click the Observations tab.
  3. Click Download summary (top-right of the Observations panel). The button only appears once at least one observation has been recorded.
  4. The PDF is compiled immediately and downloads to your device. It includes all observations recorded for the student, with photos, dates, and linked curriculum indicators.
Student profile Observations tab showing the list of recorded observations and a Download summary button in the top-right corner
Download at the end of each term. A term-by-term observation summary builds a meaningful record of a child's early development. Many families treasure these documents. Download one at the end of every term while the observations are fresh.

Downloading summaries for a whole class

There is no one-click class-wide export. To download summaries for all students in a class, open each student's profile in turn and click Download summary. For a class of 15–20 children this typically takes around five minutes. If you need a bulk export, contact support@schoolvault.ng with your school name and class section.

Plan time for end-of-term downloads. Build this into your end-of-term routine alongside report cards. Downloading one student's summary takes under a minute once you are in the student's profile.

What parents see

Parents with portal access see their child's observations in real time. They do not need you to generate or share anything — observations appear in the parent portal automatically as you record them. If a parent wants a PDF copy for their own records, they can ask you to download and share the summary, or you can print it during a parent meeting.

Common mistakes

  • Downloading the summary before all observations for the term have been recorded, the PDF captures whatever is recorded at the moment of download. Wait until you have completed the term's observations.
  • Sharing a summary that contains another child's photo, if you recorded a group observation and tagged multiple students, the photo appears in each child's summary. Double-check photos before sharing with families.
  • Not recording observations in School Vault and then being surprised the summary PDF is sparse, the PDF reflects what is in the system. Timely observation entry means a richer summary at term end.
  • Expecting to find a "Generate all" button — it does not exist. Per-student download is the current workflow; plan 5–10 minutes at term end to download one by one.
Version history
v1.0 23 Jul 2026 Article published for Academy v1.0.
v1.1 13 Aug 2026 Major rewrite to match actual UI. Corrected tab name: "Observations" not "Learning Journal". Corrected button: "Download summary" not "Generate Journal PDF". Removed non-existent options panel, date range selector, Generate PDF, Download PDF, and Share with Parent buttons. Replaced fabricated "Class View → Learning Journals" / "Generate All Journals" section with accurate note that per-student download is the current workflow. Rewrote parent-sharing section to reflect that parents see observations in real time via the portal.