Troubleshooting login issues for parents - why can’t parents log in?

There's a number of reasons why parents may be struggling to log in to the Parent App or Parent Portal. Use the tips below first before raising an issue with the Arbor Support Team if supported by Arbor, or your Support Partner if not supported by Arbor.

Take a look at these other articles if you're looking for information and troubleshooting tips on:

Permissions

You'll need the School: General Admin: Administer permission to reset passwords and manage user access. If you don't have permission, you'll need to ask an administrator to give you permission following these instructions.

 

Before trying these tips

Most common reasons for login issues

The most common reason for any logging in and access issues is that at some point, your school recorded a duplicate profile, or their email address is used on another user's profile (student, guardian or staff member).

Please see this article on how to resolve this: Check for duplicate email addresses and stop users being logged into the wrong account

 

Account checks

Make sure they are trying to log in using their email address username.

Password resets

The guardian hasn't received a login or reset password email

Go to the guardian’s profile and check the email address is the one the guardian is using to log in with. The email address will have been used for the welcome email.

You can see how to edit this here: Email isn't being sent, or is sent to the wrong email address

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If they are using the right email the reset password email is still not arriving, you can manually send them a reset password, or set a new password that they can change when they log in from the User Details section of their profile.

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If their email address is used on more than one school site they may not be able to get a reset password email for the most current site themselves. They would need to get in contact with the old school to remove or change the email address from that account to prevent further issues in the future.

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They can't log in with the link in their email

If the guardian has been sent a link to reset their password, make sure it was sent less than 96 hours ago.

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If it was sent more than 96 hours ago, the password creation link will have expired.

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Send them the URL link address to the login page.

Ask the guardian to click the Forgotten your Password option when logging in to reset their password.

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If the reset password email doesn't come through, you can send them a reset password link manually from the User Details section of their profile.

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Issues with access

The account details aren't recognised

First, make sure there is a guardian profile created for the user with an email address: Creating a new guardian, family member or contact for a student

Link the child to the guardian by clicking +Add in the Linked Students section on the guardian profile.

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Only people who are Primary Guardians of a child can access the Parent App or Parent Portal for their children, so you'll need to link them to each of their children as a primary guardian. You can check this by going to their Guardian Profile and clicking the link to their child.

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They don't have permission to access Arbor

If they are getting a message that their account is suspended, they won't be able to log in.

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You can toggle whether an account is suspended from the User details section on their profile.

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The Parent Portal is not enabled

Make sure you have enabled the Parent Portal. Parents can only log into the Parent App if you already have the Parent Portal enabled.

To enable Parent Portal, follow the instructions in this guide to prepare to switch it on then switch it on using these instructions: Enabling access to Parent Portal

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The guardian is not linked to students and sees a blank screen

A guardian will see a blank screen if their profile has not been linked to any students.

Guardians of future students may also get this message. To use the Parent Portal to collect information for new students, you'll need to have either:

  • switched the Parent Portal on for guardians of applicants - you can see how to do this here.
  • completed step 3 of the new school year setup process - you can see how to do this here.

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Only people who are Primary Guardians of a child can access the Parent App or Parent Portal for their children, so you'll need to link them to each of their children as a primary guardian. You can check this by going to their Guardian Profile and clicking the link to their child.

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If the child is not linked to the guardian you can click +Add in the Linked Students section on the guardian profile to link them.

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The guardian can't see their child or can't switch between their children

Make sure they have agreed to the Terms & Conditions the first time they have accessed the App or Parent Portal.

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Make sure they have input the birthday of the child they are linked to.

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If the child is not linked to the guardian you can click +Add in the Linked Students section on the guardian profile to link them.

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If they are linked to a child, it might be the case that a duplicate guardian profile has been created. You'll need to merge the profiles together so the guardian can see all of their children. Take a look at this article to see how. 

Top Tip: Not sure which guardian profile is most recent? Any students linked to the guardian who are currently enrolled will have their registration form next to their name.

The guardian is being logged into the wrong account

Top Tip: can't find the account? Try using the Global search.

Check the email address the guardian is using has not also been used on a student, staff or duplicate guardian's profile. If it has, you'll need to change the email on one of the profiles so the system will know which account to log into.

For example, if a guardian and a child have the same email address, you'll need to change or delete the email of the child.

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If they are also a staff member at the school trying to log into their guardian account, you'll also need to make sure the email address on both profiles are different. Follow the instructions in this article

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If they are being logged into an old guardian account, you'll need to merge these together so the guardian can see all of their children. Take a look at this article to see how. 

Top Tip: Not sure which guardian profile is most recent? Any students linked to the guardian who are currently enrolled will have their registration form next to their name.

Parent App error - Email or password incorrect

If they are receiving a message on the Parent App login screen that the email or password are incorrect, ask them to try to log in to login.arbor.sc on a web browser.

If they can login via login.arbor.sc but not into the Parent App, check they are using the latest version of the app - if they are, they'll see the version number on the login screen.

  • If they can't see the version number, they need to download the latest version.
  • If they can see the version number but can't log in, see the None of these steps worked section below.

If they can't login via login.arbor.sc:

  • Try resetting their password.
  • If they don't receive a password reset email or still can't login after you have reset their password, see the None of these steps worked section below.
 

 

System checks

Parents can use either the Parent App or Parent Portal on mobile, although the Parent App may provide a more optimised user experience.

They are using Parent Portal

  • Ensure they are using one of our supported browsers.
  • Get them to try refreshing their browser by clearing the cache and cookies related to Arbor.

They are using the Parent App

  • They must be using at least Android 5.0 or iOS 13.0 in order for the App to function properly.
  • If they don't see the version number on the Parent App login screen, they are using an old app version - get them to download the latest version.

 

None of these steps worked

If none of these steps resulted in the parent or guardian being able to log in, schools can raise an issue with the Arbor Support Team if supported by Arbor, or your Support Partner if not supported by Arbor.

Please follow the instructions here: Can Arbor Support help parents and guardians directly?

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Comments

4 comments
  • I was unable to book for parents meeting or book for covid test for my daughter year9A 

    0
  • Hi Theclar, if you're having issues booking a slot or for anything else, please contact your school directly - they will be able to check the settings to resolve any issues.

    0
  • I am Aaliyah Salami and Abdultawab Oki's mum,they are both in year 10.I am unable to login to abbor app.
    Thank you

    0
  • Hi there, if you're having difficulty logging in, please contact your school to help resolve the issue.

    0

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