The tablet at the door — what it does, and what it doesn't

What it's for: you type your attendance code, and it checks your children in or out. That's the whole job.

It's signed out, always. Nothing about the centre, the rooms, or any family is on the screen until a correct code is entered — and the screen clears itself afterwards, so the next person in the queue sees nothing of yours.

It does not unlock any door. This is worth being clear about, because the tablet sits by a door and looks like it might. KinderBee never releases a lock — not as a setting, not as an option your centre can turn on. If the door at your centre has an electronic lock, it's a separate system that has nothing to do with the tablet or your attendance code. We've kept it that way on purpose: an eight-digit code typed at a doorway is the right strength for recording attendance and the wrong strength for opening a door.

Every attempt is recorded, whether it worked or not. If somebody is trying codes at your centre's tablet, that's visible to your centre.

Every failure says the same thing. Wrong suffix, locked-out code, an unrecognised number — one message for all of them. It means the keypad can't be used to work out which families are enrolled there. It also means the message won't tell you which thing went wrong, so if you're sure of your code, check whether you've been locked out (see your attendance code) and then ask staff.

If it says it couldn't reach the system — "Could not reach the system. Please ask a member of staff" — do that rather than retrying. Staff can check your child in by hand, and your child's arrival gets recorded either way.

It's not a sign-in page. To see your child's day, use the KinderBee app on your own phone. The tablet is for arriving and leaving.