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Create a group

5 steps 2 min Updated 15 July 2026

Add a new group (cohort or teaching set) to the current school. Once created, you can add members to it and it will sync to connected platforms.

Before you start

  • You must be an admin for the current school.
  • Group names must be unique within the school. Letters, numbers, dashes, and underscores only.
  • If you need to create many groups at once, use Cohort import.

Steps

Step 1: Open the Groups page

Select Groups in the left sidebar.

The list of groups for the current school opens.

Step 2: Start a new group

Select Add group in the top-right corner of the page.

The "Add group" form opens.

Step 3: Enter the group name

Enter a Group name.

Rules:

  • Letters, numbers, dashes (-), and underscores (_) only
  • Must be unique within this school
  • No spaces

Examples: Year-7, 10_Maths_1, 6thForm-English

Step 4: Set the status

Choose a Status:

  • Protected — the group is preserved even when it has no members; will not be deleted by sync
  • Active — normal working group
  • Suspended — group exists but is not actively synced

The form starts with Protected already selected — that's the safer default for a brand-new group, since it won't be automatically removed the moment it's created (before you've had a chance to add members). Leave it as Protected if you're not sure, or switch to Active once the group has members and you want it to behave as a normal working group.

Create group form showing the Status field defaulting to Protected

Step 5: Create the group

Select Create group.

Result

The new group appears in the Groups list. It has no members yet. See Add a user to a group to add people.

Troubleshooting

  • "Group name already exists" — the name must be unique within the school. Try a different name.
  • "Invalid characters" — remove any spaces or special characters from the name.
  • "I need to create many groups at once" — use Cohort import to upload a CSV.
  • "Users keep being removed from a group I created manually" — group membership generally follows the MIS import: anyone the MIS sync doesn't list for that group can be removed at the next sync, unless their membership is locked or the group itself is Protected — see "Lock (the padlock)" in Group membership options. In practice you rarely need to lock members by hand: adding someone through Add a user to a group, from the user's own Memberships tab, or via the Add to group bulk action already locks that membership immediately (the padlock shows closed on their row), so a manually-added member shouldn't be swept out by the next sync unless the padlock is later reopened.
Groups Add a user to a group Groups Bulk actions on groups Groups Bulk add users to a group Groups Group membership options — lock, Classroom, Google role