Getting started with Rock: a guide for parents and carers

The home screen

Home shows how many requests are open and how many are due this week. Below the two big buttons, Log something and Scan a diary page or letter, are pages waiting for you to check and anything due soon. The tabs along the bottom are Home, Timeline, Requests, People and More. Referrals, the profile, next steps, evidence packs and settings are in More.

Log something

Use it for anything you may want to refer back to: a hard pick-up, a good day, a call from nursery, a new word.

1. Tap Log something. The time is filled in, and you can change it.
2. Choose where it happened: Home, your nursery or school, Out and about or Somewhere else.
3. Answer the prompts you can: What happened just before?, what your child did, what helped and how long it took to settle. Short is fine.
4. Add tags, and under Anything to flag? mark an injury, or your child being held, stopped or sent home. You can attach a photo, video, voice note or file.
5. To say what you think or worry about, tap + Add your view. It is kept apart from the record and labelled as your view. Then tap Save to the file.

With no signal, Rock says Saved on this phone. It will sync when you have signal. You can edit an entry later, and Rock keeps the earlier version in its history.

Scan a diary page, letter or form

1. Tap Scan a diary page or letter. Under What is it?, choose Diary page, Letter or Report or form.
2. Tap Take a photo, or Choose a photo or PDF you already have.
3. Tap Save and read it. Rock stores the original first, exactly as it is, with a fingerprint. Then the AI reads it, which can take up to a minute.
4. Under Check the text, compare the words with the photo and fix anything misread. Words the AI was unsure of look like [this?].
5. Check the date on the page and who wrote it. If the page has no date, Rock puts in today's date, so change it if that's wrong.
6. Under Incidents on this page, untick anything you don't want as a separate entry, and check the flags.
7. Under Things you might ask for, keep any ask you want to track, and choose who to ask.
8. Tap I've checked it, save to the file.

Nothing the AI read becomes an entry or a request until you tap that button. Rock keeps its first reading with the original, so you can compare. Diary pages wait under To check on the home screen. Letters and forms are in Timeline, under Originals. If the AI can't read a page, the original is still kept: log what it says with Log something.

If the AI thinks a scanned page may describe a risk to a child, Rock also shows where to get help. It can miss things, so if you are worried about a child, don't wait for Rock: call 999 in an emergency, or talk to the NSPCC or your local children's services.

Requests

A request is anything you ask someone for: a copy of an accident form, a meeting, a referral letter, a reply about support. Tracking it means you know who owes you a reply and since when.

• Start one from Requests, then New, from a suggestion on a scanned page, or from Write a chaser on a referral.
• Fill in what you are asking for (one clear ask), who you are asking, when you asked, Reply wanted by and when to remind you. You can add background, and the rule behind it in plain words with a link to the guide that explains it.
• On the request, use Link more to link the evidence it is about, such as a diary page or log entries.

Requests are sorted into Waiting, Not sent and Answered. When someone replies, open the request and tap Log a reply, or Mark answered if that settles it.

Draft and send an email

1. Open a request and tap Draft the email, or Draft a chaser if you asked before and are still waiting.
2. Under Include in the same email, tick any other requests to the same person. In Anything to add?, note any points you want made or the tone you want. Then tap Write the draft.
3. Read the draft and the Check before sending list. Change anything you like: it is your email.
4. Tap Open in my email to send it from your own email app, or Copy to paste it somewhere else.
5. Once you have sent it, tap I've sent it, start tracking (or I've sent the chaser).

Rock never sends anything itself. Drafts are told to use only what is in your file, so the more you log, the better they are. After 10pm, Rock suggests the email may read better in the morning, and keeps the draft on your phone.

Reminders

1. Open More and find Reminders.
2. Tap Turn on reminders and allow notifications when your phone asks.
3. Tap Send a test to check one arrives.

Rock sends a calm notification in the morning from the day you chose in Remind me until the reply is due, then every third morning while it is overdue. Referrals due a chase are included, and everything due that morning comes in one notification. Reminders are only for requests you have marked as sent, and they go to everyone in the file who has turned them on. Turn them on for each phone or browser you use. On an iPhone, Rock must be on your Home Screen first.

Timeline and People

Timeline shows everything in the file, newest first. Show Everything, or only Logs, Originals or Requests, and filter by tag, place or person.

People lists who is who: the key person and SENCO, health visitor, therapists, paediatrician and council staff, grouped by where they work. Tap Add to add someone. Each person shows how many of your requests they have open.

Referrals

Open More, then Referrals. Tap Add the usual referrals to add a starting list for your stage, then remove any that don't apply. Or tap New to add your own.

For each one, record who referred your child and when, a contact, where it is up to and a date to chase. When it is time, tap Write a chaser. Rock fills in a new request for you: tap Track this request, then Write the draft. Rock keeps a dated history of each referral's status changes.

Next steps

Open More, then Next steps. You will see a short list for your stage, such as checking an assessment referral has arrived. Each item links to the part of our guides that explains it. Tap Done or Not for us as you go. If a guide is written for a different part of the UK from yours, Rock tells you.

One-page profile

Open More, then One-page profile. It has the same eight boxes as our free one-page profile printable, from how your child communicates to who to contact.

1. Fill in the boxes yourself, or tap Suggest from the log.
2. For each suggestion, check the entries it used, then tap Use this, Add to mine, or leave it.
3. Add a photo if you want one, tap Save profile, then Print.

Evidence packs

An evidence pack is a document for one reader, such as a paediatrician, the nursery or school, or an EHC needs assessment panel, so they can read your record in one sitting.

1. Open More, then Evidence pack.
2. Choose who it is for, the dates, and a title if you want one.
3. Choose the log entries and originals to include. Under Also include, choose requests, referrals and a summary. The summary box is ticked to start with: untick it if you don't want the AI to read these entries.
4. Tap Make the pack, read it through, then tap Print or save as PDF. On an iPhone, tap Print, then Share, then Save to Files.

The summary is saved with the pack, and you can rewrite it before you print. Before you share a pack, check it doesn't name other children, and that you are happy for this reader to see everything in it. Rock keeps a list of the packs you have made.

Share your file

1. Open More and find Who can see this file.
2. Under Invite a partner or carer, type their email address in Their email.
3. Under They can, choose Add and edit (editor) or Read only (viewer), then tap Invite.
4. Send them the link to Rock. When they sign in with that email address, they see your invitation and choose to join.

The person who set up the file is its owner. Only owners can invite people, change roles, and delete log entries, originals, requests, referrals and packs. Editors can remove people from People. An owner can make someone else an owner too, so only do that for someone you trust completely: an owner can remove others from the file. Anyone you invited can leave the file at any time from More.

Your data

In More, Your data, tap Download everything (JSON) for a copy of your logs, requests, people and a list of your originals, in one file. Referrals, the profile and evidence packs aren't in it yet, so print or save those as PDFs. Originals open from their own pages. If you are the file's owner and want the whole file deleted, email us from the address you sign in with. Our page on Rock and your data explains what is kept, where, and who handles it.

The printable guide

This guide is also a printable A4 PDF, with screenshots of each screen, a list of questions and fixes, and where to find each setting. Download Rock: a guide for parents and carers (PDF).