What is covered in this article?
- Why is this important?
- What is Contact Privacy?
- The privacy questions on the form
- Who sets privacy, and when does it take effect?
- What each person sees after a form is submitted
- The "Can the school contact this person?" question
- How privacy carries forward to new applications
- Where do I see privacy signals as a school user?
- Turning on the privacy icons for your school
- Frequently asked questions
Why is this important?
Schools regularly deal with situations where the contacts on an enrolment form must not see each other's personal information — for example, cases involving domestic abuse, restraining orders, or contested custody. Previously, every contact on a form could see all the other contacts' full details (address, phone and email) when they opened the form to sign or view it. Contact Privacy gives families a way to keep specific details private from other people on the same form, which helps your school avoid accidentally disclosing sensitive information.
What is Contact Privacy?
Contact Privacy lets the person filling out an enrolment form choose whether each contact's details are shared with the other people on that form. It also lets a contact protect their own details when they sign. School administrators always see the full, unfiltered information — privacy only affects what contacts see of each other.
The privacy questions on the form
The application form includes three privacy questions, all phrased as a simple "share or keep private" choice:
| Question | Applies to | What "keep private" does |
|---|---|---|
| Share these details? | Each parent / guardian contact | Other contacts see only the contact's first and last name. Address, phone, email and other details are hidden. |
| Share these details? | The emergency contact | The whole emergency contact section is hidden from other contacts. |
| Share this address? | Student residency | Only the student's residential address is hidden. Who the student lives with and their geographic status stay visible. |
When a contact's details are hidden, the form shows that contact's name and relationship (for example, "Sarah Smith — Mother") in a notice card with a shield icon and the message "Certain information has been hidden for privacy reasons." Sections that are entirely hidden show the same notice card without a name. The signature section always stays visible, as signatures don't reveal personal contact details.
Who sets privacy, and when does it take effect?
- The first contact (the person who fills out the form) sets the privacy choice for every contact, the emergency contact, and the student residency section.
- A signing contact can change their own privacy choice when they check and correct their details during signing — even if the first contact didn't set it. They cannot change anyone else's privacy, or the emergency contact and student residency settings.
What each person sees after a form is submitted
Once a form is submitted and privacy is active, what someone sees depends on who they are:
| Viewer | Their own details | A contact with privacy off | A contact with privacy on | Emergency contact (private) | Student address (private) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First contact | Full | Full | Name only | Full | Full |
| Other contact | Full | Full | Name only | Hidden | Address hidden; rest visible |
| School admin | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full |
A few things to note from the table:
- Everyone always sees their own details in full, regardless of their privacy choice.
- If a contact sets their details to private, they are shown as name only to everyone else — including the first contact. This matters when a signing contact replaces placeholder details with their real address and then chooses to keep it private.
- The first contact can always see the emergency contact and the student's address, because they are the only person who can enter those details and no one else can change them before submission.
- School admins always see everything. Privacy never hides data from your staff.
The "Can the school contact this person?" question
Each contact on the form also has a contactability question: "Can the school contact this person about the student on this form?" If the answer is No, do not contact them, a Reason field appears so the family can explain why (for example, legal restrictions or custody arrangements).
A contact marked as not contactable cannot access the form at all — they can't sign it and can't view it through the contact portal. Their presence on the form is also surfaced to your staff as a "not contactable" signal (see below).
How privacy carries forward to new applications
When a contact starts a new application (through the contact portal or by accepting an invitation), the parent/guardian list is pre-filled from the student's existing related contacts. To avoid leaking details this way, two rules apply at pre-fill:
- If the person filling out the form has ever been marked "do not contact" on any past form, only their own details are pre-filled and the student's residential address is left blank for them to re-enter.
- Otherwise, any contact who has ever been marked private or "do not contact" on a past form is silently left off the pre-filled list.
These rules look across all of the student's forms, including those of siblings, because related contacts are often shared. They apply only when a contact fills out the form — they don't affect a staff member recording an application on the school's behalf.
Where do I see privacy signals as a school user?
So that staff are aware of restrictions before acting on a record, privacy and "do not contact" signals appear in several places:
Application list
An ALERTS column appears before the Actions column. When a form has one or more privacy or "do not contact" signals, an alert indicator appears on its row, with a count if more than one signal applies.
Click it to open a popover that lists each signal in plain language (private contacts, hidden emergency contact, hidden residential address, non-contactable contacts). For forms still being filled out, the indicator is dimmed and the popover notes "Form not yet submitted — values may change." The column is hidden when no form in the list has any restriction.
Student and contact detail screens
Each of these screens shows the same signals in three places: an alert indicator in the action bar at the top (visible as you scroll), a Privacy column on the related-contacts table (student screen) or related-students table (contact screen), and a Privacy column on the Forms tab in the history log.
These detail screens show signals from submitted forms only. Restrictions on forms that are still being filled out appear only on the application list. Emergency contact and student-residency privacy are shown in the application-list popover but not on the detail screens, as they are details you only need when you actually open the form.
Turning on the privacy icons for your school
Display of the privacy and contactability icons is controlled by a per-school setting. The underlying privacy protection — hiding details between contacts on the form and filtering pre-filled data — runs for every school regardless of this setting. If you'd like the icons switched on (or off) for your school, contact the Enquiry Tracker support team.
Frequently asked questions
Will my staff ever be blocked from seeing a contact's details?
No. School administrators always see the full, unfiltered form. Privacy only affects what contacts see of each other.
Does this change existing forms?
No. The privacy questions apply to new applications. Forms already in progress or already signed are not changed.
Can a contact hide their details from the first contact?
Yes. If a contact sets their own details to private during signing, they are shown as name only to everyone else, including the first contact. School admins still see the full details.
What stays visible when student residency is kept private?
Only the residential address is hidden. Who the student lives with and their geographic status remain visible to other contacts.
Does "do not contact" stop all emails and messages to that person?
Not yet. It prevents that contact from accessing the form and alerts your staff, but it does not currently block outbound marketing or messaging channels. Take care with bulk communications until that follow-up is delivered.