Create a group
Create a group
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 {#step-1}
Select Groups in the left sidebar.
The list of groups for the current school opens.
Step 2 — Start a new group {#step-2}
Select Add group in the top-right corner of the page.
The "Add group" form opens.
Step 3 — Enter the group name {#step-3}
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 {#step-4}
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.
Step 5 — Create the group {#step-5}
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.