Severed classrooms

4 steps 4 min Updated 4 November 2026

A severed classroom is a Google Classroom that is still alive in Google but has lost its link to its group in Realsmart. A past end-of-term fault disconnected some classrooms that were meant to stay active. Teachers can still use them, but the sync stopped managing them — no student updates, no renaming for the new year, no end-of-term tidy-up.

This page finds those classrooms, checks each one against Google, and lets you reconnect them. Nothing happens until you choose, and reconnecting is safe: the classroom keeps all its content, students and history.

Before you start

You need to be an admin with sync settings permission, with the school picked in the switcher. In MAT overview the page asks you to switch to a school first.
Most schools have nothing here. The page is empty unless a check has found a classroom that needs a decision. Only schools with Provision Google Classroom switched on are checked.

Steps

Step 1: Open Severed classrooms

In the sidebar open Google Workspace → Classroom, then on the Severed classrooms card select Review. (There is no sidebar item for this page; Classroom settings at the top of the page takes you back.)

Step 2: Read what is listed

The top of the page explains why a classroom becomes severed. Below it, each classroom found falls into one of three lists, depending on what Google says about it now:

Ready to reconnect — the classroom is live in Google and unlinked here. The table shows the Group, the Classroom in Google (Live (course …)) and when it was Last checked.
No longer live in Google — the classroom turned out to be archived, declined or deleted in Google, so there is nothing to reconnect. What Google says shows the state.
Could not be checked yet — Google didn't give a clear answer when the classroom was checked (usually a temporary connection problem). You can't act on these here, and they are not checked again on their own — contact Realsmart support and ask for them to be re-checked.

If nothing is listed you'll see "No severed classrooms — No group at this school is waiting on a reconnect decision. The check runs weekly."

Step 3: Reconnect the live classrooms

In Ready to reconnect, tick the groups you want and select Reconnect selected (N), or select Reconnect all N. Confirm "Reconnect N classroom(s)?" — each classroom is checked against Google once more, then reconnected to its group, with all content, students and history kept. You'll see "N classroom(s) queued to relink — each is checked against Google again and reconnected on the next sync."

Step 4: Record the ones that are gone

In No longer live in Google, tick the groups and select Record selected (N), or Record all N, and confirm. This changes nothing in Google — it just notes that the classroom is no longer live so the group stops appearing here. You'll see "N group(s) will have their classroom's true state recorded on the next sync — nothing changes in Google."

What happens next

A weekly check (Mondays) looks for severed classrooms it hasn't looked at before and verifies each one with Google; the page shows what that check found, and when (Last checked). Your decisions are applied by the sync once a day, at about 11:45 (Sunday to Friday), not on the spot — so a classroom you reconnect before then is done that day, and one you reconnect later waits for the next day's run. The group then shows as reconnected on its Classroom tab.

Google is checked again before anything is changed, so a decision made on an old result can't do harm:

a reconnect only goes ahead if the classroom is still live. If it has been archived, declined or deleted since the check, it is recorded instead of reconnected;
a record for a classroom that a teacher has since un-archived is left alone and put back on this page for you to decide again.

Once reconnected, the group manages the classroom normally from the next sync: its student and teacher lists are kept up to date, it is renamed for the current year, and it is included in end-of-term handling like every other classroom. See Find and link a group's Google Classroom.

Troubleshooting

A classroom I expected isn't listed — only classrooms the weekly check has verified are shown, and only for schools with Provision Google Classroom on. If a group's Classroom tab says it isn't linked to a classroom course but the class exists in Google, link it yourself — see Find and link a group's Google Classroom.
I reconnected a classroom but the group still looks unlinked — the change is applied once a day, at about 11:45 (Sunday to Friday). Check again after the next run; if it is still wrong, look at the Logs for the group.
A classroom has been under Could not be checked yet for weeks — it won't clear itself. Run the connection test (Sync status → Test connection, see Test connection / Test permissions) and contact support to have it re-checked.

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