Read this first when a parent says, "we could still sign up the wrong way online," and you need a factual answer. It explains where Classia enforces consent and visibility controls in public enrolment journeys. These controls are meant to prevent unsafe shortcuts, not create admin friction. For child-focused programmes, this is core operational safety.
Start with this practical pre-check
Before sharing public enrolment links this term, confirm:
- Account public enrolment setting is intentional.
- Each published class is also marked publicly visible.
- Age limits on child classes are current.
- Staff understand under-18 self-enrolment is blocked.
This takes around 15 minutes and prevents long support threads later.
Under-18 consent gate in the public step flow
Public enrolment runs in stages. The key child-safety gate appears after relationship and date-of-birth checks.
If someone chooses self and the entered date of birth indicates under 18:
- the flow marks the underage condition,
- continuation is blocked,
- parental consent guidance is shown.
This is enforced before details and attendance completion, so studios do not receive child self-submissions that bypass guardian participation.
Example: teen tries self path from shared class link
A 16-year-old opens a public link and chooses self. After entering date of birth, they are blocked and told a parent or guardian must complete enrolment. Staff do not need to manually intervene to catch this.
Child enrolment data integrity beyond the public form
Consent gates in public flow are only one part of child safety. Core record validations also apply in admin operations.
For under-18 participants:
- participant records must be linked to at least one family,
- enrolments require a responsible adult,
- responsible adult must be in the same account,
- responsible adult cannot be archived,
- responsible adult must belong to the participant’s family.
These checks prevent unsafe responsibility links when records are edited after initial submission.
Example: archived adult still referenced
A responsible adult record is archived during a family update. Later, enrolment changes fail because archived adults cannot remain responsible adults on under-18 enrolments. The fix is to relink to an active, correctly linked adult.
Public visibility gates for classes and account
Public enrolment does not depend on link sharing alone. Visibility gates must pass.
Required conditions include:
- account is publicly available for public pages,
- class is published,
- class public visibility is enabled,
- class is not archived.
If any condition fails, public routes do not expose the class as enrolment-ready.
This protects studios from accidentally leaving draft or withdrawn classes live.
Example: class hidden after staff review
A class was live last week but marked non-visible after staffing changes. Parents using old links now see it unavailable. That behaviour is correct and safer than accepting requests for a class you cannot deliver.
Public data exposure is intentionally limited
Public pages are rendered through dedicated public public page field filters, not full internal response fields. That means public responses are curated for public use and constrained by visibility logic.
This matters for safeguarding because it reduces accidental leakage of internal-only details through public public form checks.
Anti-abuse controls in public flow
Public enrolment steps are rate-limited. That helps prevent repeated automated or excessive submissions that can stress moderation queues.
When families hit limits, support should guide them to retry calmly rather than resubmitting rapidly.
Pitfalls to avoid
- Treating under-18 self-enrolment block as a bug to workaround.
- Publishing child classes without reviewing age limits and booking notes.
- Forgetting that account public state and class visible state are separate gates.
- Fixing child-link errors by overwriting records instead of repairing family/adult relationships.
- Leaving old links in messages after class visibility has changed.
Related feature
Pitfalls to avoid
- Treating under-18 self-enrolment block as a bug to workaround.
- Publishing child classes without reviewing age limits and booking notes.
- Forgetting that account public state and class visible state are separate gates.
- Fixing child-link errors by overwriting records instead of repairing family/adult relationships.
- Leaving old links in messages after class visibility has changed.
Related guides
- Trust, verification, and safeguarding
- Public enrolment step by step
- Publish public class pages safely