NB This info is not for schools which have integrated Classlist with the school MIS. If your school is integrated please consult the information you have been sent about the Sync Wizard and rollover.
In the summer most pupils move into new classes, and need to be re-arranged into those on Classlist. This can be done easily in single session by a Staff Admin or Ambassador on the School Structure page. (Other admins do not have access to do this).
Many schools do this before the summer holidays, so that new joiners can be in the class and start making friends. If not, it's best to try to get it done just before the start of the new academic year, or failing that very early in the term to avoid confusion.
TIP: You can enable new joiners to join Classlist before you do your Move Up at the end of term. Details on creating groups for new joiners to join before the end of term can be found here.
The moving up procedure can be broken down into distinct stages.
We recommend you do this on a computer not phone so that you can view all the columns without scrolling. You can ask the school for pupil lists for the new classes, or book a session with the school secretary so you can go through this process together: schools can do either under data protection legislation.
These are the main steps for most schools (information for split year groups is further down the page)
- Edit the year names, (eg rename Year5 as Year 6) and create a fresh bottom year for the new intake.
- Create new classes in each year.
- Move pupils into their new classes.
- Remove any leavers who aren't joining a Leavers group.
- Re-appoint class reps.
- Remove any invited parents who haven't signed up and are no longer at the school
- Invite all your parents
Tip: you should always try to re-name your year groups. You should not move the pupils up into another year group on the school structure. For more detail see below.
In many cases you would not however re-name classes or re-use class groups on the school structure. You add new classes and delete the old ones.
Getting the lists from the school
The great news is that since new GDPR legislation came into effect in May 2018, schools can lawfully give the PTA (as data controller) a list of which class pupils have moved into, so that you can put them in the right class on Classlist. They can also give you a list of pupils who have left, for the purpose of keeping the data on your Classlist site up to date.
NB You must only use that pupil data to update which class on Classlist pupils are in, and delete leavers. In addition, any personal data sent from the school to the PTA digitally must be transmitted using a secure, encrypted form of communication. Alternatively, your school could have a Staff Admin on Classlist to assist with approvals and move up pupils directly. Our lawyers Veale Wasbrough Vizards have approved these processes for GDPR. Please contact our Help Team if your school would like further clarification.
Add and Edit Years
Creating a Leavers and Joiners Year
Many schools keep the top year group on Classlist as part of a ‘Leavers' year group. This means they can stay in touch with each other and can be invited to your PTA events etc.
To do this, rename the top year as something like 'Leavers 2021' or '2021 Alumni'.
Those parents who won't have another child at the school may change their notification preferences if they don't want to get PTA announcements for instance, but wish to continue getting posts in their groups and events. Parents can delete their own account in their profile should they wish to.
If you decide leaving families should leave your Classlist site then delete the pupils and deactivate the parent members if they don't have any other children in the school. The parents can then fully delete their own accounts at any time, but can also join another school on Classlist after you have de-activated them, which they often want to do.
Joiners - The next thing you need to do is create a new year in the school structure for the new intake into the lowest year in your school. When newbie parents are invited to join your Classlist site they need to see their child's class ready and waiting for them! NB You can add this group before you move the other classes around if you are welcoming new joiners onto Classlist earlier eg during the summer term. Eg 'All Reception Joiners 2021'.
During the summer term we suggest you add another year for 'All other joiners 2021', with classes in for each joiner intake 'Year 3 joiners 2021' etc, and then move those members into the correct class during Move Up. Some parents will be eager to register early after getting a place at the school.
It is helpful to add the academic year into the year group name for the joining phase, as new parents sometimes get confused and put their children in the wrong year. eg Reception 2019-20.
Tip: remember that to add a new year or class, you need to type the name in where it says 'type year name' in grey text before you can activate the Add button.
Year groups with lots of new entrants
If there are a lot of people joining your school at a certain point you should create a new 'year' to start with a fresh chat group even if you have a year group moving up from within the school too.
Eg If you re-named Year 6 as Year 7 then the new joiners will be able to see the history of the year 6 group from before they were in it, so it is better to create a completely new year group for 'Year 7 Sept 24 joiners' rather than renaming Year 6. You can then delete the Year 6 group in the summer holidays.
Editing the other Year groups
Now you need to rename all your other school years in the school structure by clicking on the little pencil icon next to each year name. eg Year 5 is renamed as Year 6. Do not move the current Year 5 pupils into the Year 6 on your school structure...
This is because each year group cohort should remain linked to all its own posts and content, rather than inheriting the previous year group's content, which is what would happen if you simply moved all this year's Year 5 children into the year named 'Year 6' in the structure. i.e. they would see the year above's messages from last year.
What was Year 5 in 2017/18 therefore becomes Year 6 in 2018/19 and so on down through the school. It can really help to add the academic year to the name while you are doing this so that you can keep track (you can always delete the '2018/19' bit later if you want).
Split or Mixed year group classes
If your school has multiple year groups in a class, you should add completely new year groups (and/or classes) and then delete the old years, rather than re-naming years. Again, this is because you shouldn't move pupils into a year previously used by others, as it shows them the previous content in that group.
You should now have a ‘new’ year group structure in which to organise your classes! Don't move any pupils until you have added your new classes.
Create new Classes
If classes remain the same as the children move up through the school then you can simply rename each class without moving pupils (eg some schools use a 'house' class system where there is no pupil migration between classes from year to year).
However, if your school moves children around into new class groups every year you will need to add new classes.
Create your new classes alongside the old ones in each year group.
Eg At this stage Year 3 21-22 may contain 2A (20-21), 2B (20-21) (old classes) and 3A (21-22) and 3B (21-22) (new classes)
(We'll say it again, don't move children into any old classes or the parents will see messages sent to the previous year's parents).
If you don't know what class pupils are going to be in yet, but want to add the classes ready, you could add an extra class in the year called 'Year 5 - Class unassigned' as a temporary holding class within the right year group and move everyone there.
Tip: If your school only has one class per year (single form entry) you don't need to create classes within your year groups at all - you can simply use year groups and name them what you like.
We can help!
If your school structure is complicated and you need help do contact us! You can create a help ticket at the top right of this article.
Move pupils into their new Class
Now select a year group to start moving children to their new classes. This year will be highlighted yellow in the left column and it will display all the children in that year in the right hand pupils column.
By selecting the year group in the left column you can now go through the process of selecting all the children moving to one class, and then move them in one batch to their new class. You do not have to move children individually.
Refer to the school's MIS list of pupils in a new class (say 7A). It can be helpful to have this printed or open in a separate window. Then on Classlist click to select each of the pupils in the year group who will be in class 7A.
[By selecting from the whole year group list it is quicker to find all the pupils for a whole class in one go.]
After selecting all the pupils that you want to move to one destination class, look for a drop down menu above the selected pupils column labelled 'select year/class to move pupil'. Find the class that you want to move your selected pupils to eg 7A, and then click the red 'Move' button (see screenshot).
In the example above the old year 2 children are being moved into their new year 3 classes - the children currently selected green from the whole year group will be moved to a new class ('Mrs Neville's') using the drop down class selector visible near the move button.
After you have moved pupils into 7A, click on the year group again to show the whole year again, and repeat for each new class, selecting everyone moving to 7B and then 7C.
Now repeat for other year groups.
Tip: If your pupils are directly in the 'year' with no class (single form entry) but you now need to add some classes because it is becoming two forms per year, you can do this by
- selecting all the pupils in the year, moving them to 'Unassigned' (bottom of list of years)
- add the classes to the empty year
- Go back to Unassigned. Select all the children moving to one class.
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move them back into their new class within the original year group by selecting the class in the Move section at the top of the pupils column.
- Go back to Unassigned and select all the children moving to the other class and use the Move button to move them there.
View School Structure without parents
You can toggle between displaying pupils with their parents on the School Structure, or displaying just the pupils. You can display pupils with or without their parents by ticking the filter 'Show parents' at the top of the Pupils column.
Seeing just the pupils can be helpful at times during the Move Up, when comparing to an alphabetical list from the school for instance.
Display deactivated users.
You can display deactivated pupils by ticking the filter 'Include deactivated' at the top of the Pupils column.
Delete empty old classes
Once you have moved everyone to their new classes, you can delete the old, empty classes from each year group.
TIP: If you try to delete what looks like an empty class, and the system tells you it is not empty, it will mean there are deactivated pupils in it.
You can display deactivated pupils by ticking the filter 'Include deactivated' at the top of the Pupils column. That will enable you to delete the pupils and then delete the empty classes.
Previous posts
When a year or class is deleted on the school structure the group is deleted. Previous posts sent to the group will still show on the Activity Feed, and parents can comment on it, but obviously the group will no longer show in a parent's list of groups so no new posts can be created to that group.
Removing any children who have left during the year
When you have finished moving pupils into their new classes, some pupils who recently left the school may be found left behind in the old classes. This is because they were not in the lists for the new classes.
Whilst you are in the process of moving everyone else, you could move these former pupils to the 'Unassigned' year group for you to check afterwards (Unassigned is at the bottom of the list of years).
Then check if these pupils have definitely left the school. If so, you should delete the pupil and deactivate the associated parent accounts, if the parent has no other children left at the school.
It is always good to double check you haven't simply missed the pupils out when when moving pupils around however! Deleted pupils cannot be reinstated by Admins and so it is better to cautious before deleting any. If you do make a mistake and delete a child who has not left the school, the parent will need to add the pupil back to their profile themselves.
Ambassadors can delete a pupil on the school structure page and can then also deactivate the parent on the All Parents page. These are two separate actions, as the parent may still have another child at the school. Deleting a pupil does not deactivate their parent's account for this reason.
Assign admins to your new classes
Reps are great for welcoming parents, arranging class events, and getting the parents talking on Classlist. Make a parent in each class into an admin, which gives them access to some extra features such as announcements. Ask them to put a post on Classlist every couple of days - asking questions is often a good start, as parents like to help others by answering. Admins can also try to ensure that all parents in the class join Classlist - being methodical about checking who has joined is a successful strategy for getting all your parents on Classlist quickly.
Please note, when a class is deleted then class rep status will automatically be removed from any Class Reps for that class. However, Class Reps will be given Community Rep status automatically when their class is removed, to avoid them losing admin status at that time. You can then tidy up your admins afterwards and remove Community Rep status if it is not needed.
For more info on assigning admins see here.
Invite all the parents again
Now you can invite all your new parents to join Classlist, but we recommend inviting existing parents who haven't joined yet too.
The easiest way to do this is for the school to upload a csv file with the emails of all current parents to invite and pre-approve them. The system will not re-invite anyone who is a member, as it will detect them. Your school can invite all the parents under GDPR. Schools that invite parents this way see fantastic sign up rates to Classlist!
Uploading or pasting in a list of all parent emails to invite them saves you trying to separate out the emails for new parents, and it has the advantage that it will re-invite any existing parent who didn't join previously. They will also be pre-approved.
For more info on inviting parents see here.
Previously Invited Parents who have not yet joined
We recommend that you check through this list at least annually as part of the move up process and remove anyone who is no longer at the school. You can also remind people to join if they are still at the school but haven't signed up yet.
Tip: Invited parents (sometimes known as 'Non-Members') can also be moved up a year if you want them to stay associated with the correct year cohort, and this could be an opportunity to check the details are correct for parents who haven't ever joined.
To move these Invited Parents you just need to re-send them an invitation with their new Class/Year selected instead of the old one. Simply visit the Invite Parents page and search to find the required parent. Click the red pencil icon to edit the entry for the invited parent and save the new information before tapping 'invite/remind' to resend the invitation with the new class association.
NB When their old class is deleted the non-member's association with that class will be lost.
To remove 'Invited Parents' who have left the school, follow the same initial steps as described above to edit an entry, but tap 'delete' instead of invite/remind.
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