Tracking each child’s progress means keeping a short, dated record for every learner, answering the same few questions each time, so you can see who is moving forward and who needs help. Over a year those records become the evidence funders ask for, the update parents want, and a history of the child that doesn’t disappear when a staff member leaves. It works best as a small, regular routine, kept private and shared only with consent.
Why track progress child by child, not just by programme?
A programme total tells you how the group did. It can’t tell you that one child stopped coming in March, or that another has moved up two reading levels since the start of the year. Individual records do five jobs at once.
- Monitoring. Staff can see, for each child, whether things are going as planned.
- Early warning. A falling score or a run of missed sessions shows up while there is still time to do something about it.
- Evidence for funders. Outcomes need a starting point. If each child has a first record and a latest one, you can show how far the group has come without guessing.
- Updates for parents and guardians. A clear, dated record makes a conversation with a parent easier and fairer.
- The child’s own story. Over time, the records become a picture of that child’s journey, and it stays with the organisation when a volunteer or staff member moves on.
Measuring results is now common in the sector. Trialogue’s 2025 research found that 77% of the non-profits it surveyed “reported measuring outcomes for all projects.” Records per child are what make that measurement possible.
What should you record for each child?
Fewer questions, asked consistently, are more useful than a long form that nobody finishes. A good template has four to six fields, for example:
- Attendance this term, as a percentage
- Reading or maths level, chosen from a short list
- Confidence, on a scale of 1 to 5
- Did they complete the term’s work? Yes or no
- One highlight, in a sentence
- Private notes for staff
Choose measures you can record the same way every time. A number or a choice from a list can be added up and compared; a paragraph can’t. Keep free text for the things only words can say.
How often should you record progress?
Match it to how you report. If your funders ask for quarterly updates, record quarterly. If a programme is short and intensive, monthly may make more sense. What matters most is that the first record is taken near the start, so every later one has something to compare with.
How do you keep children’s information private?
South Africa’s data protection law, POPIA, defines a child as “a natural person under the age of 18 years” who can’t act for themselves without help. Section 35 allows children’s personal information to be processed “with the prior consent of a competent person”, meaning someone legally able to consent for the child, such as a parent or guardian, or on a few other limited grounds.
In practice, a few habits go a long way:
- Give each child a public alias. Use it in anything that leaves the organisation, and keep real names for internal records.
- Decide who sees what. Not everyone who helps with a programme needs to see a child’s full details or private notes.
- Keep notes internal by default. Only share the fields you have chosen, deliberately, as suitable for stories and reports.
- Check consent every time you share, not just once. Consent can be withdrawn or expire.
- Don’t report on tiny groups. “The one 17-year-old in the Saturday class” can be identified without a name.
Your board’s data protection and safeguarding policies should set these rules, so staff aren’t left to decide on the spot.
How does Kaycie track each student’s progress?
Kaycie is a back-office system for South African non-profits. It doesn’t assess children or decide what progress means; your programme staff do that. It takes the repetitive parts off their desks: remembering what’s due, keeping the history, and turning records into reports.
Your own report templates
You write the questions once and choose which programmes they apply to. Fields can be numbers, drop-down choices, yes or no, a 1 to 5 scale, dates, short or long text, or a photo. Photos are stored privately and shown only to staff, and in story reports once consent clears them. Attendance has its own register: staff mark each student present, absent, late or excused for every session, and attendance shows on their progress report.
A report for each student, or a whole class at once
From a student’s row, staff open their progress report: every report on record, dated, newest first, with a button to add a new one and to print or save the whole thing as a PDF. For a whole programme, one screen lists every enrolled student with the template’s fields beside their name, so a teacher can complete the term’s reports in one sitting. If you already keep marks in a spreadsheet, you can import them instead. Kaycie matches each row to a student by name or alias, and any row it can’t read is skipped and listed back with the reason, never guessed.
Reminders when an update is due
When a student is enrolled, you choose monthly or quarterly progress updates. Two weeks before one is due, it appears on Needs attention, and it can only be given to a team member who is able to do it. Saving that student’s report ticks it off, whether the report was written on its own, with the class, or imported.
Reports by student or by programme
Each student’s report is their own dated history. The students-by-programme summary turns the same records into averages and counts per programme, and can compare them with the previous period of the same length. Free text is never added up, and names never appear.
For donors and funders, a story report uses only the fields you have marked as suitable for stories, shows starting figures against current ones, and includes only students whose photo and story consent is current on the day it’s generated. It uses aliases throughout. The staff member who generated it can see who was left out, with a link to request consent.
You set a smallest group size once, five by default. Below it, Kaycie shows no figures at all, in the summary, the story report and the funder evidence pack.
Who sees what
Access follows the jobs you give each team member. Students’ sensitive details are a separate permission, so a volunteer who writes reports doesn’t need to see everything on file.
Parents and guardians
The guardian portal shows a parent or guardian their own child’s programmes and enrolment status, and lets them give consent and see what is on record. To share a report with a parent, staff can print it or save it as a PDF from the student’s page.
Does this work for adult skills programmes too?
Yes. The same templates, reports and reminders work for adults. You can choose what Kaycie calls the people you serve: students, learners, members or beneficiaries. Enrolments can record outcomes such as graduated, employed or started a business. Adults give their own consent, and when a student turns 18, consent given earlier by a guardian no longer counts for stories, and Kaycie asks you to record the student’s own.
Student records, progress and story reports are part of the Plus package. You can see how they connect to programmes, consent and funder reporting on the features page.
Frequently asked questions
Why should an NPO track each child’s progress individually?
Individual records show who is doing well and who is slipping, give funders outcomes with a real starting point, make parent conversations easier, and keep the child’s history when staff change.
How often should we record progress?
As often as you report, usually monthly or quarterly. Take the first record near the start of the programme so later ones have something to compare with.
Do we need consent to keep progress records on children?
POPIA allows children’s personal information to be processed with the prior consent of a competent person, such as a parent or guardian, or on a few other limited grounds. Consent to share photos and stories publicly is a separate question, and should be recorded separately.
What is a public alias?
A name used for a child in anything that leaves the organisation, such as a story report, so their real name is never shared.
Can parents see their child’s progress reports in Kaycie?
Yes, if you choose. When a report template is marked to share with guardians, parents see their own child’s reports in the guardian portal. Fields marked staff-only stay hidden, and photos show only once consent clears them. Staff can also print a report or save it as a PDF.
Does Kaycie work for adult learners?
Yes. The same progress reports work for adults, you can call them learners, members or beneficiaries, and adults give their own consent.
Sources
- Trialogue, R13bn CSI spend signals stability in a tough economy in 2025 (2026).
- Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013, section 1, definitions (2013).
- Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013, section 35, general authorisation concerning personal information of children (2013).