Linking siblings to each other, linking a guardian to a child or removing the link

To mark two students as siblings, you must link them to the same guardian. This lets the system know that they are related, as automatically works out how. Both siblings must be linked to the guardian with the relationship of Natural or Adoptive Mother or Father, Step Mother or Father or Adoptive Parent.

Permissions

You will need the Student profile: Guardians: Administer All/My Students permission to link students and guardians. If you don't have permission, you'll need to ask your admin team to give you permission using these instructions.

How to link students and guardians

Step 1 - Add the students

Make sure you have created all the student profiles you would like to link together. In your search box, search for the child's name.

If you need to add new students, click here to see how.

Make a note of their details to make sure you link the right students and guardians later.

Step 2 - Add the guardian to one student

If the guardian already exists, type into your search box the guardian's name you want to link both students to. If they already exist, skip to step 3.

If the guardian does not already exist, go to the first student's student profile and scroll down to the Family, Guardians and Contacts section. Click +Add. 

Add their details then click to add the guardian.

Step 3 - Add the other student to the guardian

In your search box, search for the guardian's name.

You will see that on their profile, in the Linked Students section, they may already have a student linked to them. You can then click +Add to link another.

In the slide over, add in the details of the relationship with the new student, then click Link Student.

The two students will then be linked as siblings in the background.

Step 4 - Remove any duplicates

If you originally had one guardian profile linked to each student, you'll need to remove the duplicate - guardians should only have one profile to prevent login issues.

You can see how to remove the duplicates here: Resolve duplicates or delete guardian profiles

Foster siblings

For two students to be linked as siblings, they must both be linked to the same guardian as their  Natural or Adoptive Mother or Father, Step Mother or Father or Adoptive Parent.

For siblings that have foster parents, or primary guardians that are not their parents, the students will not automatically show as linked siblings.

You can set up a 'dummy' profile for a parent - this will then link them together.

Unlinking siblings

As students are linked together by having one or more parents in common, to unlink students as siblings, you'll need to remove these links. Remove the links to the parent guardian and this will stop the students showing as being linked.

To remove the link between a student and guardian, go to the student's profile and click on the guardian in the Family, Guardians and Contacts section.

In the slide over, click the Edit button.

Click on the grey Remove Relationship button.

If the guardian is only currently linked to one student, you'll see a tick box for Permanently remove Guardian details from Arbor.

• Ticking this box will delete the guardian profile. Top Tip: This cannot be reversed.
• Not ticking this box will only unlink them from the student. You can find and delete this guardian later if needed: See guardians with no linked students.

Click Remove guardian relationship.