Writing and publishing a daily report

What a daily report is for

A daily report tells a parent exactly how their child spent the day. For many parents, particularly those of very young children who cannot tell them about their day, the daily report is the most read thing School Vault produces. A well-written report builds trust, reduces parent anxiety, and strengthens the home-school relationship.

Opening the daily report form

1. Go to Creche Daily Reports from the sidebar. On the Overview tab find the child and click Create Report, or go to the Create Report tab and select the child from the dropdown.
2. Select the child's name from your class list.
3. The date defaults to today. Reports can be started in the morning and completed throughout the day, or written at the end of the day.

Meals section

1. Expand the Meals section.
2. For each meal (Breakfast, Morning Snack, Lunch, Afternoon Snack), tap the portion indicator: None / Little / Some / Most / All.
3. In the notes field, write what was served: "Rice, stew, and fried plantain. Ate most of the rice but left the plantain."
4. If the child had a good or poor meal, note it, parents take notice of feeding patterns, especially for babies and toddlers.

Naps section (early years)

1. For each nap, record the start time, end time, and total duration (auto-calculated).
2. Add a brief note if the nap was disrupted or if the child was unusually tired.

Activities section

1. Click Add Activity and type or select from your school's activity list.
2. Add a brief description of what the child did during the activity.
3. Add as many activities as relevant. A typical nursery day might have 4–6 activities recorded.

Mood and Behaviour

1. Select a mood indicator: Happy, Settled, Mixed, Unsettled, Upset.
2. Write a short note: "Had a great morning but became unsettled after lunch, we think she may be teething as she was chewing on everything."

Photos

1. Click Add Photos and upload 1–6 photos from the day. Photos taken on your school phone can be uploaded directly.
2. Each photo should show the child engaged in an activity, not posed, not sleeping, and never in an undressed or compromised state.
3. If two children appear in a photo, check that both children's parents have consented to photos being shared. If unsure, crop or choose a different photo.

Publishing the report

1. Review all sections, make sure meals are filled in, there is at least one activity, and the mood section is complete.
2. Click Save Draft at any point during the day to save your progress without notifying the parent.
3. When ready to share, click Publish Report. The report appears in the parent's portal immediately and a notification is sent (SMS or WhatsApp, depending on school settings).

Common mistakes

• Writing identical reports for siblings or copying one child's report to another, parents notice, and it significantly damages trust.
• Skipping the mood/behaviour section, this is often the section parents check first because it tells them how their child felt during the day.
• Publishing reports with typos or abbreviations that parents will not understand (e.g. "AFT SNK – refused" instead of "Afternoon snack: refused watermelon slices").
• Uploading low-quality or blurry photos, a blurry photo is worse than no photo.