Create an academic year
Set up an academic year for your campus and add its terms.
An academic year is the calendar everything else hangs on — classes, enrollments and grading all sit inside a year and its terms. The year itself is created once for the whole school; each campus then starts it and adds its own terms. This guide walks a campus admin through getting their campus onto the current year and setting up terms.
Before you start
You need access to Academic Year for your campus. If you don't see "Academic Year" under Manage in the sidebar, ask a school admin to grant it. The school-wide year must already exist — if no year has been created for your school yet, a school admin makes one first (see Related guides).
Step 1: Open Academic Year
In the left sidebar, open the Manage section and click Academic Year. The page opens on the Overview tab, with two more tabs alongside it: Academic Years and Terms.
Creating the school-wide year
A campus can only join a year the school has already set up. A school admin creates one from the school's Academic Year page (under Organisation) using the New Year button — they fill in Year, Name, Start Date and End Date, then click Create Academic Year. After that, you can bring your campus onto it below.
Step 2: Start the year for your campus
On the Overview tab, look for the prompt to Start the current year — for example a Start 2026 Academic Year button. Click it.
This activates the school's current academic year for your campus. Once it's running, the Overview tab shows the year's Academic Year, Start Date and End Date, marked with a Current badge.
If you don't see a Start button
If the Overview tab says no academic year is available, the school hasn't created one yet — ask your administrator to set one up. If your campus is already on the latest year, there's nothing to start and you can move straight to terms.
Step 3: Check the Academic Years tab
Open the Academic Years tab to see every year your campus has been on, each as a card showing its dates. The active one carries a Current badge; a year that hasn't started yet shows Future, and finished years show Past. Two more badges can appear: Viewing on whichever year you're currently looking at, and Locked on a year an admin has sealed (see Lock an academic year). Each card also has a ⋯ menu with View this year — a quick way to switch what you're viewing.
Step 4: Add a term
Open the Terms tab and click Add term. A Create Term panel opens. Fill in:
- Term Name — what staff and families will see, e.g. Term 1.
- Term Number — the term's position in the year. This is filled in for you with the next number, so you usually leave it as is.
- Start Date and End Date — pick the term's dates.
- Description — a short note about the term (optional).
Click Create Term to save it.
One term at a time
Add each term separately. Repeat this step for every term in the year — most schools have three. The end date must be on or after the start date.
Step 5: Set the current term
Back on the Terms tab, each term shows as a card. On the term that's running right now, click Set as current. That term gets a Current badge, and the rest of the app — gradebooks, attendance, reports — now points at it.
Only one current term
Just one term can be current at a time. As the year moves on, come back here and set the new term as current so grading and reports follow the calendar.
Buttons missing?
Add term and Set as current only appear while the year is unlocked. If they're gone, check the top of the screen for a · Locked pill — an admin has sealed the year (see Lock an academic year).
What happens next
- Your campus is on the current academic year, shown on the Overview tab with a Current badge.
- Each term you added appears as a card on the Terms tab, in order.
- The term you marked Set as current becomes the active term, so classes, enrollments and grading all sit in the right place.
- Staff working in gradebooks and class lists now see the correct year and term automatically.