Markbook templates

A markbook template is the blueprint of a gradebook. It names the school year, the classes it covers, the subjects, the columns of each subject and the teachers. From one template MarkBook makes one grid (a markbook) for every class and subject, the first time a teacher opens it. Because the blueprint is shared, every class of a year group is marked in the same way.

Where: Configuration → Assessment → Markbook Templates

Who can change this

A manager, or a person whose role includes Markbook templates. Changing which teachers are allocated to a subject also needs Assign leadership roles, because it decides whose markbooks a teacher can reach. The teacher picker is greyed out without it.

The templates list

Each template appears as a card or a row (switch with Card view and List view). A row shows the name, school year, number of subjects and a preview of the subject chips.

• New template creates one. You enter a name, a colour, the Academic year and a description.
• Search by template name, filter by Academic year and by status (Active, Inactive, Archived, All templates). The list opens on Active.
• The Active / Inactive switch on a row turns the template on or off. A template you turn off leaves the Active list. Find it again under Inactive. When the Active list is empty but some templates are switched off or archived, the page says so and offers Check inactive templates and Check archived templates. Check them before you create new ones.
• Open goes to the template. Clone copies it. Archive hides it.
• A link at the top, Columns, leads to the Column Library (Value Types).

When you create or edit a template you also choose its classes and checkpoints:

Setting	What it does	If left empty
Form groups	The classes this template covers.	"No group selected — template available for all groups in the year."
Reporting periods	The checkpoints this template uses.	"No period selected — template uses every period in the year."

Two tabs

Open a template. It has three tabs: Template content, Template settings and Grades import. Grades import is described in Importing Marks & Targets.

Template content: the subjects

This tab lists the subjects in the template. Select Add subjects, tick the ones you want, and select Add selected. Only subjects from your Subjects list are offered. A subject can appear once per template. To change the order, drag the grip at the left of a subject. Grades and the report use this order.

Open a subject (select Edit subject) to set:

Field	What it does
Teachers	Who teaches the subject. Use + Add another teacher to add more than one.
Evaluation type and Default attainment scale	The attainment scale for this subject's grades. It overrides the column's own default.
Judgement scales	Which qualitative scales (for example Effort) appear as columns beside the grade.
Enable teacher comments	Adds a comment column for this subject.
Display in	In which kind of class teachers see this subject. See below.

Per-subject overrides

Under each subject there is a small grid of the template's columns. Select a column to disable it for this subject. Select it again to turn it back on. The change is saved as a per-subject override: the column stays in the template, but this subject does not show it. Use it when Art has no Effort grade but Maths does. A chip labelled "Active only in some reporting periods" marks a column that is switched on in only some checkpoints.

Display in

Display in decides where teachers are offered the subject:

Choice	Meaning
Both	Main groups and secondary groups.
Only in main groups	Form classes only.
Only in secondary groups	Option or set groups only.
Only in selected classes	Exactly the classes you choose (at least one, all from this template).

This changes what a class is offered, not who may read a markbook. A markbook that already exists stays open, and one that holds marks stays listed, so changing the setting never hides a grade. If marks were written into the wrong kind of class before you set it, a banner on the content tab, "N marks sit in a class where their subject is not shown", offers Review and move to move them to the right class, or to clear marks that cannot be moved.

Teachers and who sees which markbook

A teacher allocated to a subject reaches that subject only in the classes they teach, and only in the template's classes if it names any. They do not reach it in every class of the school. A teacher who is not allocated reaches only the markbooks that carry their own name.

Form tutor subjects

A subject marked Form tutor subject (set on the Subjects page) is not allocated by hand. It is written by the main teachers of each class, as set in Kinderpedia. The template shows Form tutors of each class, and warns of any class with no main teacher: only leaders can write there.

Taking a subject off the template

Select the three-dot menu on a subject for Archive (hide it, reversible) or Delete (take it off). The delete dialog asks you to type DELETE.

• Taking a subject off removes the link to the template. Marks already entered are not erased. Grades and draft reports stop showing the subject.
• A banner "Subjects taken off this template still hold N marks" then offers Review and clean up. For each subject you can Clear the marks (the history of each cell is kept, and a locked period or a column under review keeps its marks) or Put back on the template.
• Published reports keep what they showed when they were published.

Template settings: the grid builder

This tab is the heart of the template. Its title is Build the markbook grid. You pick the columns that appear in each of three zones. A live preview underneath shows a sample student row (Maria P.) exactly as teachers will see it.

Zone	Shown	Typical columns
Target area	Once per year, at the left of the grid.	Target Grade (TG), Personalised Target (PTG), FFT estimated grade.
Reporting period	Repeated in every checkpoint.	Current Grade, Report Grade, Effort, ATL, Value Added, Teacher Comment.
Final period	Only in the last checkpoint.	End of Year Grade, summary comment.

To fill a zone:

1. Select Add column inside the zone.
2. Pick a column from the list ("Adding to Reporting period"). Only columns whose Where does this column appear? setting matches the zone are listed.
3. Drag the chips to change their order.
4. Select a chip to switch it off or on. Select Remove to take it out.
5. Select Save. The page shows Unsaved changes until you do, then Saved.

If you cannot find a column, Manage the column library → takes you to Column Library (Value Types).

A template needs at least one column

With all three zones empty the template would assess nothing, and the grid would keep showing the columns it already has. MarkBook blocks Save with "Add at least one column".

Calculated columns

A column that is calculated (for example VA Grade) shows a formula icon. Select it to open the formula builder, with three tabs: Arithmetic, Weighted and Advanced. See Calculated Columns & Formulas.

Removing a column that holds marks

Removing a column that already holds grades only hides it. The message reads "Removing it hides the column from the grid — the grades stay recorded and come back if you add the column again. Nothing is deleted."

Other settings on this tab

Setting	What it does
Keyboard entry in the marks grid	On by default. Arrow keys move between cells, Enter saves and drops to the next student, and typing starts editing. Turn it off for templates of written observations.
Call these	The word for the things you assess under: subjects, areas, domains or strands. Changes wording only.
Learning outcomes	Link a curriculum framework so each subject becomes a top-level node of its tree.
Where the check control appears	For columns that need checking: in the column header, in a row under the period, or in a row under the students. Choose Not used on this template to switch checking off for the whole template. See Checking & Approving Columns.
Create report template	Makes a report template tied to this template.

Cloning a template

Clone opens "Duplicate [name]". You name the copy and tick what comes with it:

• Always copied: the classes, the reporting periods, the columns and the settings. The copy starts inactive, so nobody marks in it before you have checked it.
• Subjects, with their scales and per-subject settings.
• Teacher assignment: who teaches each subject (needs Subjects).
• Student targets: every student's target in every subject (needs Subjects).

Grades are never copied. A duplicate is next year's structure, not last year's marks.

Archiving and deleting

A template that holds marks cannot be deleted, because it owns its columns and its markbooks together. Archive hides it from active lists while keeping every grade readable. You can restore it later.

Once marks exist

To protect marks, some fields stop changing once marks are in: a column's period, type and scale, and a markbook's template, subject, year and class. A column that holds marks is never moved.

Example

A British secondary school builds "Year 9 2026 – 2027":

1. Academic year 2026 – 2027, form groups 9A and 9B, all reporting periods.
2. Subjects English, Mathematics, Science, in that order. Teachers are allocated, and Science is set to Display in: Only in main groups.
3. Target area: TG. Reporting period: CG, RG, Effort, VA, TC. Final period: EoY.
4. Keyboard entry stays on, and Where the check control appears is In the column header.
5. Save, then open Grades. Teachers see six markbooks: two classes by three subjects.

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