What Is the Discipline & Behaviour Management Module?

The Discipline & Behaviour Management Module is a structured incident tracking system built into SSMS that gives school administrators a centralised, searchable record of every student conduct issue – from minor classroom disruptions through to serious offences requiring suspension or escalation.

Rather than relying on paper incident books, scattered emails, or verbal records, this module captures every disciplinary event in a consistent, auditable format. Each incident is linked to a student, categorised by offence type and severity, assigned an action, tracked for parental notification, and followed through to resolution.

Access Path: Admin → Discipline | Route: /admin/discipline

Permissions: School Admin · Principal · Vice-Principal · Teacher (view & create only)

Why It Exists

Schools deal with student behaviour incidents daily. Without a proper system:

• Records get lost or forgotten between terms

• Parents dispute incidents because there is no documented evidence

• Repeat offenders are not easily identified

• Suspension decisions cannot be justified with a full history

• Regulators and accreditation bodies cannot audit conduct management

The Discipline Module solves all of these by creating a permanent, school-scoped audit trail for every reported incident.

Core Concepts

Concept	Description
Incident	A recorded event of student misconduct – the core unit of the module
Category	The offence type (e.g., Bullying, Late to Class, Fighting) with a preset severity level
Severity	A four-tier scale: Minor → Moderate → Serious → Severe
Action Taken	What was done in response (detention, written warning, suspension, etc.)
Suspension Days	How many school days the student was suspended (0 = no suspension)
Parent Notification	Whether the parent/guardian was informed and their response
Resolution Status	The current state of the case: Open, Under Review, Resolved, Escalated, or Appealed
Student Profile	A dedicated page showing a student's complete discipline history in chronological order

Severity Scale

Resolution Statuses

Module Pages

Permissions

Note: Teachers can view and create incidents but cannot edit, delete, or manage categories.

Step-by-Step Guide for Administrators

Step 1 – Access the Module

1. Log in as School Admin, Principal, or Vice-Principal

2. In the left sidebar, click Discipline (usually under the Academic section)

3. The Discipline Dashboard opens at /admin/discipline

Step 2 – Read the Dashboard

The dashboard gives an instant school-wide conduct overview.

Stat Cards (top row):

• Total Incidents – all recorded incidents in the school's history

• Open Cases – incidents with status = Open that need attention

• With Suspension – incidents where suspension days > 0

• This Month – incidents recorded in the current calendar month

Recent Incidents table – the 10 most recent incidents with student name, category, severity badge, date, and resolution status. Click the eye icon to view any incident in full detail.

By Severity chart – horizontal bar chart showing the distribution of Minor / Moderate / Serious / Severe incidents.

Top Offence Types – the 5 most frequently recorded categories, ranked by count.

Step 3 – Set Up Offence Categories First

Before recording incidents, configure the categories that fit your school's discipline policy.

1. Click Manage Categories on the dashboard, or go to /admin/discipline/categories

2. The right panel shows the Add Category form

3. Fill in:

4. Click Add Category

The category appears immediately in the left panel as a card, colour-coded by severity with usage count shown.

To edit a category: Click the pencil icon → update fields → click Update Category

To delete a category: The trash icon only appears if the category has zero incident records attached. Categories in use cannot be deleted to preserve historical data integrity.

Recommended starter categories:

Step 4 – Report a New Incident

1. Click Report Incident from the dashboard, the records list, or go to /admin/discipline/create

2. The form is organised in 3 steps:

Step 1 – Select Student:

• Choose the Class from the dropdown

• The Student dropdown automatically loads all active students in that class (via AJAX)

• Select the student involved

Step 2 – Incident Details:

• Offence Category – choose from the grouped list (grouped by severity: Severe → Serious → Moderate → Minor)

  • Displays the severity level with a colour-coded badge

  • Auto-fills the Action Taken field with the category's default action (if set)

  • Shows a warning flag if the category requires parent notification

  • Shows a suspension prompt if the category typically requires suspension

• Incident Date – defaults to today; can be backdated

• Time – optional, records the time of the incident

• Location – optional (Classroom, Playground, Cafeteria, etc.)

• Description – required; write a clear, factual account of what happened

Step 3 – Action & Resolution:

• Action Taken – what was done (pre-filled from category default if set)

• Suspension Days – enter the number of days suspended; leave 0 if none

• Initial Status – usually Open; change to Under Review if already being investigated

Right panel – Parent Notification:

• If the selected category requires parent notification, the checkbox is auto-ticked

• Tick Parent has been notified to record that contact was made

• Enter the Date Notified

• Record any Parent Response (verbal agreement, dispute, etc.)

3. Click Save Incident Record – the record is saved and you are redirected to the records list with a success confirmation

   
   

Step 5 – View an Incident in Detail

1. From the records list or dashboard, click the eye icon on any incident row, or click the incident title

2. The detail page shows:

Step 6 – Edit an Incident

1. From the detail page, click Edit (yellow button)

2. The edit form pre-fills all existing values

3. You can update any field:

   • Change the category, date, description, or location

   • Update the action taken or add suspension days

   • Change the resolution status – if changed to Resolved, the system automatically records who resolved it and the timestamp

   • Update parent notification details and response

4. Click Update Record

Step 7 – View a Student's Full Discipline History

Every student has a dedicated discipline profile:

1. From any incident detail page, click Student Profile (blue button)

2. Or from the records list, click the student's name

3. Or navigate directly to /admin/discipline/student/{student_id}

The profile page shows:

• Student header with photo, name, admission number, class/section, and status

• Summary stats – total incidents, open cases, total suspension days accumulated

• Chronological incident timeline – every incident colour-coded by severity, showing category, date, reporter, and resolution status

• Each row has a View button to open that specific incident detail

This page is the primary tool for identifying repeat offenders and compiling evidence for serious decisions.

Step 8 – Filter and Search Incident Records

The Records List (/admin/discipline/records) has a full filter bar:

• To apply filters: fill in one or more fields and click Filter

• To reset: click Clear

The total record count updates to show how many records match the current filter. Pagination handles large result sets (20 records per page).

Step 9 – Delete an Incident Record

1. From the records list, click the red trash icon on the row

2. Or from the detail page, click the trash icon (top right)

3. Confirm when prompted – deletion is permanent

Important: Only delete records if the incident was logged in error. For dismissed cases or pardoned incidents, change the Resolution Status to Resolved instead of deleting – this preserves the audit trail.

Role Summary

Teachers can report incidents, which are then followed up by the school admin.

Tips & Best Practices

On recording incidents:

• Record incidents as soon as possible after they occur – details fade quickly

• Use the Description field for objective facts only, not opinion or judgement

• If multiple students are involved in the same incident, create a separate record for each student

• Always record what action was taken, even if just "verbal warning issued"

On categories:

• Keep category names short and specific – avoid overlapping categories

• Use the Default Action field to create consistent school-wide responses

• Review categories at the start of each academic year and deactivate any that are no longer relevant

On parent notification:

• Always tick "Parent notified" when contact has been made – this creates a legal record

• Record the parent's response even if it was verbal, so there is a written account

• For Serious and Severe incidents, ensure notification is done before the end of the school day

On resolution:

• Move cases from Open → Under Review → Resolved systematically

• Never leave Severe incidents in Open status for more than 24 hours

• Use Escalated status when the matter goes to the school board or external authority

• Use Appealed status when a parent formally disputes the outcome

For reporting purposes:

• Use date range filters to pull all incidents for a given term or academic year

• The dashboard's severity chart and top categories panel are useful for governor/trustee reports

• A student's discipline profile provides everything needed for a parent meeting

Troubleshooting

Closing

The Discipline & Behaviour Management Module transforms conduct tracking from a chaotic, paper-based process into a structured, auditable, and searchable system. With clear severity tiers, resolution statuses, and student history profiles, administrators can make informed decisions, identify repeat offenders, and maintain transparent communication with parents – all while building a permanent record that stands up to scrutiny.