Help

Launchpad is where your career counselling lives: your meetings, your university list, your applications, your letters and the opportunities your counsellors suggest.

1. Open launchpad.fountainheadschools.org on your phone or computer.
2. Press "Continue with Google" and choose your school account, the address the school gave you.
3. Use the menu to move around. On a phone it sits behind the menu button at the top.

• If Launchpad says you have no access, your school account may not be linked to your record yet. Tell your counsellor.
• If a banner on your journey says consent is not in place, your counsellor cannot add new records for you until it is. Speak to them.

For parents: sign in with the parent account the school gave you. You see the same pages as your child, to read; the buttons that change things are theirs.

Your home page. It opens your journey, points you to Fit-search, and asks about anything waiting on you.

• For each opportunity your counsellor has suggested, it asks "Did you register?". Press "Yes, I registered!" once you have, or "Not yet" to put the question away for now.
• "Upcoming deadlines" lists the opportunities open to your grade that close in the next 30 days.
• "Book time with your counsellor" opens your counsellor’s booking page, when they have added one.

For parents: you are not asked "Did you register?". Your child answers it.

Your record in one place, from your first meeting to where you go after school. Each tab is one part of it.

• Overview: where you are, your academics and your consents. It also asks whether you are continuing here next year; your answer goes to your counsellor.
• Meetings: book or request time with your counsellor, and see your meetings and goals (next section).
• Psychometrics: the test results your counsellor has shared with you, with the original report. If you have none yet, it points you to a free career-interest test.
• Profile Builder: the tasks your counsellor has set you and how far along you are.
• Resume: your record laid out as a resume (see Resume below).
• Portfolio: the universities and courses on your list, each with a Reach, Match or Safety label and the numbers it is worked out from.
• Applications: each application, where it is up to and what came back. Your counsellor records these. Under the essay row are guides to writing essays and personal statements, when your counsellors have added some.
• Recommendations: your letters (see Recommendation letters below).
• Ideas for me: options to consider, drawn from your record.
• Lakshya: for Lakshya members only. Press "claim" on an activity you have done, write a short note on what the activity was and what you won (the note is required), add a link as evidence if you have one, then "submit claim"; your counsellor confirms it. A counsellor may later change the points on a claim or reject it; the row then shows the new points, what they were, and the reason.
• Final Report: everything above, gathered into one report.

For parents: you do not see "Ideas for me", or the reflections your child writes on their tasks, in Profile Builder or the Final Report.

The Meetings tab on your journey.

• Lakshya members press "Request a meeting", say what they want to talk about, then "Send request". Your counsellor confirms it, offers you another time, or tells you why not.
• When your counsellor offers another time, it appears under the request: press "Accept this time" and it becomes a meeting, or "Ask for another time" and it goes back to your counsellor.
• "Book a slot with …" opens your counsellor’s own booking page, where you pick a free time yourself; it goes on your school calendar. The same button is on Home.
• Everyone else presses "Book with" and your grade counsellor’s name. It opens their booking page, where you pick a time that suits you.
• A session your counsellor books for you appears under "Upcoming sessions with your counsellor", and the invite comes to your school calendar.
• Your past meetings are listed with what was agreed, and so are the goals you set together. A goal linked to an opportunity, a Lakshya activity or a scholarship shows where it is up to.

For parents: you see the meetings and goals, not the booking or request buttons.

A resume built from your record: completed opportunities, confirmed Lakshya activities, goals you achieved, your Profile Builder tasks and your grades.

1. Press "Edit lines" to reword a line or hide one. "Save wording" keeps your words, and "Reset to the record" undoes them.
2. Add what no record holds: your details, your own activities, leadership, projects and achievements, and your grades while the school has none on the record.
3. Add a photo if you want one: "Use my school photo", or upload your own (JPEG, PNG or WebP, up to 2MB). "Remove photo" takes it off.
4. Press "Print or save as PDF" for an A4 copy.

• "Writing tips and the blank template" opens the tips and the three sample resumes, each as a PDF and a Word file.

Ask for a letter from the Recommendations tab. The counselling team checks every request before any teacher hears about it.

1. Fill in "My self-assessment — the basics" and press "Save basics". It helps whoever writes for you.
2. Under "Ask a teacher for a letter", choose the writer (a teacher, or your counsellor), whether it is for a university or a summer school, and what it is for. Then press "Send to counselling team".
3. Once the team approves it, your teacher is told. You see who is writing and where the letter is up to, never the letter itself. If the team declines a request, its card says so.
4. Add "Your reflection" for each writer and press "Save reflection". You can change it until the letter is signed.

• Ask at least 30 working days before your university’s deadline.
• You can ask two teachers for university letters, three for summer school letters, and one for a UK reference.
• Universities in India do not need a letter.

For parents: you see who is writing and the status, and cannot send a request.

Find universities and courses that suit you, and see where you stand for each.

• Each result shows a Reach, Match or Safety label with the numbers behind it: your grades or scores next to the published requirement. It is arithmetic, not a prediction.
• Press "Add to portfolio" to put one on your list.
• If nothing matches, the page says why: no course data for that country yet, or which filter to lift to see results. Universities from the Institutions list whose name matches your search are listed below the results.
• Research guides your counsellors recommend sit beside the search form (below it on a phone).

For parents: you can search, but not add to the portfolio.

The universities the school knows about, grouped by country. Search them or filter the list, and open one for its essentials, campuses and courses.

Competitions, olympiads, summer schools, research programmes, internships, university events, awards and grants. Your counsellors suggest the ones that suit you, and each has a registration deadline.

1. When your counsellor suggests one, you get an email, and the next time you open Opportunities a note says how many are new.
2. Under "My opportunities", open the website with "Visit website ↗" and read about it.
3. Once you have registered, press "I registered" (or answer "Yes, I registered" after visiting the website). Your counsellor sees it, and the reminders stop.
4. After you have taken part, press "I completed it". Your counsellor confirms it, and it counts on your record and your resume.

• Each one shows where it is up to: suggested, registered, completed claimed or completed. It also shows the date it closes.
• Reminders come by email six, four, two and one weeks before the deadline, three days before, and on the last day, for as long as it still says suggested.
• "Turn them off" stops every opportunity email, new suggestions included. "Turn them back on" whenever you like.
• "Suggested for you" lists opportunities that match the interests you have shared with your counsellor, and says why each one matched.
• Below that is the whole list open to your grade, newest first. Each lists its details in the same order the newsletter uses (registration opens, last day, dates, grades, fee, eligibility), and a one-time opportunity leaves the list once its last day has passed. Search it, filter it by type or by when it closes, or sort it by closing date. Always check the dates on the organiser’s website.

For parents: you see the list, without the buttons or the email switch.

Careers grouped into 17 clusters. Each card says what the work is, how students in India usually get there, how that differs abroad, and the words to search to find out more.

1. Open a cluster, or type a career, a degree or an exam into "Search careers" and press "Search".
2. Open a career to read its card. Each word under "Words to search" opens a Google search in a new tab, grouped into degrees, entrance exams, job titles, specialisations and IB subjects.
3. Press "Add to my interests" to add the career to the interests your counsellor keeps for you. Your opportunity suggestions are matched against them.
4. Can’t find a career? Under "Suggest a career", type its name and press "Suggest". It shows "Waiting for a counsellor" until a counsellor decides; if they add it, its card is written, and if not, it shows "Not added" with their reason.

• Claude, an AI, writes the cards, and your counsellors correct them. Each card says so at the foot. Check what matters on the official sources it links to; the domain beside each link shows where it goes.
• Cards leave out salaries, cutoffs and rankings, because those change every year. Look them up on the official sites.
• A card also lists opportunities from the catalogue that match it, and resources your counsellors recommend.
• If something on a card looks wrong, press "Flag this card" at the foot, choose what is wrong, add a note if you like, and press "Send flag". Your note goes to the counsellors only.

For parents: you can read every card and flag one, but cannot add interests or suggest careers.

The SAT dates the school has chosen, and yours if your counsellor has assigned one.

• Your date is marked in the table. If none is assigned and you plan to take the SAT, talk to your counsellor.
• Where the team has added a registration link, "Register ↗" appears beside the date until its late deadline passes. Where there is none, register on the College Board’s website.
• The page also lists preparation resources your counsellors keep up to date.

The merit scholarships Fountainhead students have won, by university and year.

The school’s catalogue of US universities, with the figures they publish. It opens in a new tab.

What you have done on Launchpad and when, for today, the last 7 days or the last 30 days. Only you see yours.

Ask your counsellor. You can also reply to an email from Launchpad.