Synapse — documentation

Synapse is an AI-powered learning companion for New Zealand primary school children (NZ Curriculum, Years 1–8). It pairs an AI tutor, Aria, with tools that let a parent see what their child is actually working on.

These pages are the Synapse knowledge repository, rendered as plain HTML. They are the same documents the agent on the front page is grounded in, read out of the same database — so an answer there and a page here cannot drift apart.

They are written to be accurate rather than persuasive, which means they say plainly what is built, what is only designed, and what is still unresolved. Public communication currently leads with Family Synapse, the direct-to-parent product; the school product is real, but its pilot's future is undecided and it is not the emphasis.

The repository is larger than what is published here. A cross-reference that appears as plain text rather than a link points at a document held back — generally because it names a third party, or details a security audit. Ask the agent if you need something one of those covers.

Topics

Synapse — Product Overview

What Synapse is, the two products that share its engine, and an honest account of where it actually stands today.

Mission and Philosophy

Why Synapse exists, the convictions behind its design, and the principles that govern how it is talked about.

Aria — The AI Tutor

Aria, the AI tutor: the persona, how each answer is grounded in the NZ Curriculum, and what keeps her answers accurate and safe.

Curriculum Alignment

How New Zealand Curriculum grounding works — what is injected into each turn, and what alignment does and does not guarantee.

Family Features

What a parent gets: per-child pseudonym profiles, progress visibility, observations, and the controls over what a child can use.

Student / Child Experience

What using Synapse is actually like for a child.

Social Resilience

The social-confidence practice space, and the deliberate rule that a parent cannot read what a child says inside it.

Director Tab (AI Literacy)

The AI-literacy feature: teaching children to recognise, direct and understand AI rather than simply consume it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Direct answers to the questions parents, teachers and reviewers ask most.

For AI agents

How to read and query this site programmatically, including the endpoint that checks a claim against the source documents.