These Terms of Service explain the rules for accessing and using CareJournal, including our website, school platform, mobile app, demo materials and related services.
CareJournal is provided by Special Pathways.
By accessing or using CareJournal, you agree to these Terms. If you are using CareJournal on behalf of a school or organisation, you must only use it if you are authorised to do so.
1. About CareJournal
CareJournal is a progress journal for SEN and SEND schools and specialist settings.
The platform helps authorised school staff record observations, attach evidence, review progress and support school-led reporting and review processes.
CareJournal is not a replacement for a school's safeguarding system, medical record system, emergency communication process, statutory assessment process or professional judgement.
2. School agreements
Schools use CareJournal under a separate written agreement with Special Pathways.
That written agreement may include commercial terms, service levels, data protection terms, support arrangements, pricing, pilot terms and any school-specific commitments.
If there is a conflict between these public Terms and the written agreement with a school, the written agreement will take priority for that school.
These public Terms apply to general use of the CareJournal website, demo requests, marketing materials, pilot access and platform access unless a written agreement says otherwise.
3. Accounts and access
CareJournal does not allow public self-signup.
Accounts are created or approved by the school, or by Special Pathways on the school's behalf.
You must:
- use your own account only
- keep your login details secure
- not share your password or access token
- tell your school administrator if you think your account has been accessed without permission
- only access records you are authorised to view
- use CareJournal only for your professional role or authorised purpose
We may suspend or restrict an account if we believe it has been misused, compromised, used in breach of these Terms, or presents a security risk.
4. School responsibilities
Schools are responsible for deciding:
- who should have access to CareJournal
- which pupils, staff, parents or carers are added
- what information should be recorded
- what media can be uploaded
- which staff can view, edit or export information
- whether family access is enabled
- how CareJournal fits with the school's safeguarding, data protection, consent, media and acceptable-use policies
Schools are also responsible for making sure their users are trained to use CareJournal appropriately.
5. User responsibilities
Users must use CareJournal professionally and within the scope of their authorised role.
You must not:
- access pupil, staff or family records unless authorised
- upload information that is false, misleading, excessive or unrelated to your role
- upload photos or videos unless permitted by your school's policy
- upload content that infringes someone else's rights
- use CareJournal to harass, monitor, target or unfairly profile any person
- share screenshots, exports or records outside authorised school processes
- attempt to bypass permissions or security controls
- probe, scan, load-test or attack the platform without written permission
- introduce malware, scripts, automated scraping or harmful code
- use CareJournal for unlawful, abusive or unsafe purposes
6. Pupil records and content
Schools and their authorised users remain responsible for the content they enter into CareJournal. Pupil information, photos or videos may only be uploaded where this is allowed by the school's own policies and the user's professional role.
CareJournal is designed to support school-led progress recording. It does not decide a child's progress, needs, provision, placement or outcome. Any interpretation of records remains the responsibility of authorised school staff.
7. Safeguarding
CareJournal may contain information that is relevant to safeguarding or child protection, but it is not a safeguarding case management system.
If you see or record something that raises a safeguarding concern, you must follow your school's safeguarding policy and report it through the correct school process.
Do not rely on CareJournal as the only route for urgent safeguarding, medical, welfare or emergency communication.
8. Family access
Family access may be enabled as part of the platform or introduced in phases.
Where family access is available, the school controls:
- which parents or carers are invited
- which child or children they are linked to
- what information they can see
- whether observations, photos or videos are shared
- when access is changed or removed
Parents and carers must only access information they are authorised to view and must not copy, publish or share pupil records outside appropriate family and school contexts.
9. Acceptable use of the website
You may use the CareJournal website to learn about the product, contact us, request a walkthrough, access legal information and sign in to the platform.
You must not use the website to:
- submit false or misleading enquiries
- attempt to access restricted systems
- interfere with the operation of the website
- copy website content for competing products
- misuse contact forms or email addresses
- send spam, malware or harmful content
10. Intellectual property
CareJournal, including its software, design, interface, branding, structure, documentation, website content and underlying code, belongs to Special Pathways or its licensors.
You may not copy, modify, reverse engineer, resell, reproduce or create derivative works from CareJournal unless we give written permission or the law allows it.
Schools and their users retain their rights in the data and content they enter into CareJournal, including observations, reports, photos and videos.
By entering content into CareJournal, schools and users give us the limited permission needed to store, process, display, back up and transmit that content for the purpose of providing the service.
11. Privacy and data protection
Personal information is handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy and any Data Processing Agreement agreed with the school.
For pupil, parent, carer and school staff records inside CareJournal, the school is normally the data controller and Special Pathways normally acts as data processor.
Schools are responsible for ensuring they have the appropriate lawful basis, notices, consents where required, and internal policies for using CareJournal.
More information is available in our Privacy Policy and Data Protection information.
12. Security
We use reasonable technical and organisational measures designed to protect CareJournal and the information held within it.
Users and schools must also help keep the platform secure by protecting accounts, managing access appropriately and telling us promptly about suspected misuse or security issues.
No online service can be guaranteed to be completely secure or uninterrupted.
13. Availability and changes to the service
We aim to keep CareJournal reliable and available, but we do not guarantee that the website or platform will always be uninterrupted, error-free or available at all times.
We may update, improve, change, suspend or remove parts of the service where needed for security, maintenance, legal, operational or product reasons.
For subscribing schools, any agreed service levels or support commitments will be set out in the school's written agreement.
14. Pilots, demos and walkthroughs
We may offer demos, walkthroughs, pilots or trial access.
Unless agreed otherwise in writing:
- demo materials are provided for evaluation only
- pilot access may be limited, changed or withdrawn
- example or anonymised data may be used for walkthroughs
- pilot feedback may be used to improve the product
- commercial use requires a written agreement
Schools should not upload live pupil data into a demo or pilot environment unless this has been agreed with us and appropriate data protection arrangements are in place.
15. Support
Support is provided through the contact routes we make available, such as email or agreed school support channels.
We may need information about your account, school, device, browser, app version or issue to investigate a support request.
Users should not send pupil information by email except where necessary to investigate an issue. Any such information will be handled solely for the support purpose.
16. Suspension and termination
We may suspend or restrict access to CareJournal if:
- an account appears compromised
- there is suspected misuse
- there is a security risk
- a user breaches these Terms
- a school agreement ends
- continued access could create legal, safeguarding, privacy or operational risk
Schools may stop using CareJournal according to the terms of their written agreement.
On termination, export, deletion and retention of school records will be handled according to the school agreement and applicable data protection terms.
17. Third-party services
CareJournal may rely on trusted third-party providers for hosting, email delivery, storage, monitoring, backups or similar operational services.
We are not responsible for third-party websites or services that are not controlled by us, even if linked from our website.
18. Limitation of liability
Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes liability where it would be unlawful to do so, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.
To the maximum extent permitted by law, CareJournal is provided without any guarantee that it will be uninterrupted, error-free or suitable for every school process.
Where a school has a written agreement with Special Pathways, liability will be governed by that agreement.
Where there is no written agreement, our total liability for claims relating to CareJournal will be limited to the amount paid to us for the service in the 12 months before the claim arose, or £100 if no fees were paid.
We will not be liable for indirect loss, loss of profit, loss of business, loss of goodwill, loss of anticipated savings, or loss caused by misuse of the platform, except where the law does not allow such exclusions.
19. Indemnity
Where permitted by law, schools and users are responsible for losses, claims or costs arising from:
- misuse of CareJournal
- unauthorised access caused by failure to protect login details
- content uploaded in breach of school policy or these Terms
- unlawful sharing of pupil, staff or family information
- use of CareJournal outside agreed purposes
For subscribing schools, any indemnity terms will be set out in the written agreement.
20. Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time.
If we make material changes that affect subscribing schools, we will notify them in writing or through the platform.
The latest version will be available on the CareJournal website.
Continued use of CareJournal after changes take effect means you accept the updated Terms.
21. Governing law
These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales.
The courts of England and Wales will have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute relating to these Terms, unless a written agreement with a school says otherwise.
22. Contact
Questions about these Terms can be sent to:
Special Pathways
Email: hello@carejournal.uk