Group membership options — lock, Classroom, Google role
Group membership options
On a group's Members tab, each member row has up to three per-member controls. Two of them only appear when the relevant service is switched on for your school.
The list is ordered staff first — mentors, admins and other non-learners lead, then the learner cohort — alphabetical within each band.
Lock (the padlock)
The padlock pins a membership in place. Normally group membership follows the MIS — if a pupil isn't in the group in the MIS, the sync removes them. A locked membership is kept regardless, so the person stays in the group even when the MIS doesn't list them there.
- Open padlock = unlocked (follows the MIS). Click it to lock.
- Closed padlock = locked (kept in place). Click it to unlock.
Locking overrides the MIS, so each lock/unlock is recorded in the logs. Use it for the odd person who needs to stay in a group that the MIS won't put them in.
Lock all memberships (at the top of the Members list) does the same thing to every current member in one go — useful for a group you want to freeze as it stands today.
Classroom indicator (only when Google Classroom is on)
When the group is linked to a Google Classroom and Classroom is enabled for your school, members who are in that Classroom show a small icon — a group icon for a member/student, or a board icon for a teacher. It reflects the real Classroom roster (from the synced Classroom data). No icon means the person isn't in the Classroom. The indicator is hidden entirely for schools not using Classroom.
Google group role (only when Google sync is on)
For staff members (not learners), a small dropdown sets that person's role in the Google group:
- Group default — the usual behaviour (the group/school default decides).
- Member, Owner, Manager — override the role for this person in this group.
The sync applies the chosen role to their Google group membership. Role changes are recorded in the logs. The dropdown is hidden for schools not using Google sync.
Main teacher (Details tab)
On the group's Details card — just under the group name — you can view and set the group's Main teacher: its lead teacher, and the owner of the linked Google Classroom. Choose from the group's own teachers and staff (its non-learner members), or None.
The main teacher normally follows the MIS (Wonde) during sync. Setting it here overrides that pick. Tick Lock main teacher to pin your choice so a later sync can't change it; while locked the dropdown is disabled — untick the lock to change the teacher again.
Classroom ownership and missing users (Classroom tab)
The group's Classroom tab shows who owns the linked Google Classroom. The owner comes from the group's Main teacher (set on the Details tab, above). If the main teacher is missing or no longer active, the tab flags it: an inactive owner is exactly what leaves classrooms orphaned (the "inactive course owner" problem), so this is your early warning — with a shortcut to the orphaned-classrooms review.
The tab also lists members missing from the Classroom roster — people in the group whose Google account isn't in the Classroom yet (they normally join on the next Classroom sync), and members who have no linked Google account at all.
Where "preserve the group" lives
Preserve the group even when it has no members is a general group behaviour (it applies across all platforms), so it sits on the group's Details card — not in the Google settings area, which holds only genuinely-Google options.
Sync to Google / Sync to Entra (per-group)
On the group's Details tab, each platform's settings card has its own sync toggle — independent of the other platform:
- Sync to Google — in the Google settings card (visible only when Google sync is on for your school). Turn it off and this group is no longer created or updated in Google Workspace; it is left as-is there.
- Sync to Entra — in the Entra settings card (visible only when Microsoft Entra sync is on for your school). Turn it off and this group is no longer created or updated in Microsoft Entra.
The two toggles are independent — a group can sync to Google only, Entra only, both, or neither. Turning a toggle off does not remove the group from that platform or delete existing members there; it simply stops further updates flowing to it. Saving the group re-runs provisioning immediately, so a toggle change takes effect on the next sync rather than waiting for the schedule.
Checking what reached the platform
To see who Realsmart last recorded in the real Google or Entra group — including whether a toggle change or a lock actually took effect — open the group's Cloud tab. See See who is actually in the group on Google or Entra.