Mission and background is where admins tell Sparky about their school: what kind of place it is, what it values, and what it is trying to do for its students. Sparky keeps that in mind whenever it replies to anyone at your school.
Where to find it
You need school ownership and access to full school settings to save this field. Teacher-labelled school owners can configure it too; student owners cannot open Sparky customizations. If you cannot access the page or save changes, ask your school admin. See Roles in Flint.
- Click Admin in the left sidebar.
- Click Settings, then Sparky customizations.
- Mission and background is the first field on the page.
- Write your context, then click Save in the top right.
You have up to 5,000 characters.
If Flint set your school up with you, this field may already hold a draft Sparky wrote from your website during setup. Read it through and edit anything that isn't right rather than starting over.
Writing a good one
- Give high-level context, not rules for every situation. Religious affiliation, pedagogical approach, the student body, the things you'd tell a new member of staff on day one.
- Be concise. Like a person, Sparky gets confused by vague or contradictory instructions. Trim anything that fights with something else in the field.
- Let Sparky help. Paste your draft into a chat and ask it to tighten it up and point out anything contradictory.
- Iterate. Try it, see how Sparky answers your students, and adjust.
If you belong to a district, your district can set its own mission and background that applies across every school in it — see how to manage Flint for districts. Individual classes can add their own context too: see inputting class context.
Add your school's AI policy as supporting material
Mission and background is a short summary, not the place for a whole policy document. If you have school or term ownership and access to full school settings, open Admin › Settings › AI policy, click Import, select your policy files, and click Add (n) in the import window. Then click Save on the AI policy page. Wait for processing to finish; failed files can be retried.
A school can keep up to 20 AI-policy documents. Remove an existing document before adding another at the limit.
Processed policy documents are available for Sparky to retrieve as context. Uploading one does not guarantee that every response follows every rule, and it does not replace your moderation, access or activity settings. For rollout guidance, see Rolling out Flint at your school.
Two examples
A faith-based school
A Christian independent school wants Sparky to reflect a Christian worldview, especially in matters of faith. Its Mission and background reads:
We are Grace Hill Academy, a Christian K–12 independent school in North Carolina. Sparky should respond in ways that reflect our faith-based values, including kindness, honesty, and a Biblical view of the world. When students ask moral, ethical, or philosophical questions, answers should align with Christian teachings and avoid promoting relativism or secular ideologies that contradict scripture.
Avoid references to astrology, karma, or practices from other religions unless asked for comparison or historical context. When discussing science, affirm that faith and science can coexist — for example, our students learn about evolution but also discuss it in light of Christian beliefs.
Where relevant, encourage character development (patience, humility, generosity) and support a respectful, Christ-centered tone in all interactions.
An IB school
An IB school wants Sparky to take the IB level, the course name and its pedagogical practices into account when teachers plan lessons. Its Mission and background reads:
We are Pacific Grove International School, an IB World School in Singapore offering MYP and DP programs. When helping teachers or admins plan lessons, always ask for the learning objective and the IB level and course name.
Each lesson plan should include a clear Learning Intention and Success Criteria, logical steps with scaffolding for mixed abilities, explanations that build on prior knowledge, and two hinge questions to assess understanding.
Support constructivist learning, inquiry, and ATL (Approaches to Learning) skills. Prioritize student voice, critical thinking, and real-world relevance.