Browse help docs
Asking the School Copilot a question
A permission-aware analyst rather than a chatbot. It answers from your own records, names the data it used, and cannot see anything you could not see yourself.
For School leaders, coordinators and teachers · reviewed 23 August 2026
The 1 points where someone must decide
Everything else can be worked on in any order. These cannot move without a person.
- Permission checkA question → An answer from data you may see
Ask in plain language
/teacher/school-copilot
Mrs. Johnson
Teacher
Ask a question
It reads records and reasons about them
“Which Year 7 students need attention this week?”
Asked by A. Iyer · just now
Questions like which students need attention this week, or why attainment in Year 9 Sciences dipped, are the shape it is built for. It is not a search box — it reads records and reasons about them.
Understand what it can reach
/teacher/school-copilot
Mrs. Johnson
Teacher
What it may reach
Whatever your account may see, and nothing more
Attendance · Years 7–9
Permitted for this account
Tutor transcripts
Permitted, and the read is audited
Students outside your programmes
Refused
A refused lookup is recorded as a refusal, not worked around.
It reads through permission-checked tools rather than the database. Whatever your account may see, it may see; nothing more. A PYP teacher's answers are built from PYP children.
That boundary is enforced where the data is fetched, so the copilot cannot be talked into widening it by how a question is phrased.
Gate · Permission check
A question → An answer from data you may see
Every lookup runs through the same permission checks as the rest of the platform. A refused tool call is recorded as a refusal rather than silently producing a thinner answer.
Read the citation, not just the answer
/teacher/school-copilot
Mrs. Johnson
Teacher
The answer
Cited, so you can check it
Navya Patel
4 Monday absences · 2 late submissions
Ishaan Verma
Grade movement in Sciences
Engagement data
Not recorded at this school
Where the data is thin the answer says so instead of filling the gap.
Every reply names the records behind it. That is the part worth reading — an answer you cannot trace is an opinion, and this one is traceable on purpose.
Where the data is thin the answer says so instead of filling the gap. A school with no attendance recorded gets told that, not an estimate.
Know that it is all recorded
/admin/security
Mrs. Johnson
Teacher
Audit
Asking about a child is an act with a record
a.iyer@ · copilot query
23 Aug 09:14 · 3 lookups
Tutor transcript read
23 Aug 09:15
Questions and the lookups behind them are written to the audit trail. Asking about a child is an act with a record, which is what makes the tool safe to give to staff.
Who can approve what
Designations are assigned in IB roles and are separate from the account role somebody signs in with.
| Designation | Sees | Approves |
|---|---|---|
| Teacher | Answers built from their own students | Nothing — it answers, it does not act |
| Coordinator and leadership | Answers built from their scope | Nothing |
If something looks empty
It says it cannot answer
Usually there is no data behind the question yet, and it will say which. That is preferable to an invented figure.
Two staff get different answers to the same question
Correct. Answers are built from what each person may see.
Still stuck?
Bring the unit you are working on. Thirty minutes with someone who has taught the programme.