Creating Standard and Long Report Cards

This guide is designed to help you set up the two built-in Arbor Report Cards: the Standard Report and the Long Report. These reports are quick to create, offering a straightforward way to share student progress. The process is split into two main parts: setting up the card itself and then linking the assessments you want to display on it.

This is the second guide in our comprehensive series on setting up Report Cards in Arbor:

1. What are the different Report Card format types?
2. Creating Standard and Long Report Cards (You are here)
3. Importing and sending External Report Cards
4. Crafting Custom Report Cards

You can set up report cards or copy a previous report card in Arbor. To view, create or copy Report Cards, go to Students > Report Cards.

Want to upload and send out bespoke custom report cards you've set up externally, such as in Microsoft Word? Use our External Report Cards feature!

Permissions

• School: Report Card: Administer - set up and share report cards
• Students: Report Card: Administer All/My Students - download report cards for students

If you don't have permission, you'll need to ask your admin team to grant it to you using these instructions.
 

Creating new report cards

This section outlines how to create Standard and Long Report Cards from scratch. If you want to use a previous report card as a template, skip to the next section to see how to Copy report cards instead.
 

Step 1: Selecting your format

• Head to Students > Report Cards to get started.
• Click +Add to create a new set of student reports 
• Choose from the Standard Report or the Long Report.

• On the slide-over, give the report a title and a date - both of these are displayed on the report. The date typically corresponds to the date you want to distribute or finalise reports (e.g. an end-of-term report might have the last day of term as the Report date).
• Click Save & Continue to move to the next step.

Step 2: Attendance settings

On the next slide-over, you can choose to include a student's attendance data at the top/on the front page of report cards. The data included is Statutory/Roll Call Attendance data. 

Leave the Start and End date fields empty, or click Skip to exclude attendance data. The settings are as follows:

• Start date - The first day of the period for which attendance statistics are included. Type the date or use the calendar icon to select the date.
• End date - The last day of the period for which attendance statistics are included. Type the date or use the calendar icon to select the date.
• Lates, Unauthorised absences and authorised absences - Use these tick boxes to include or exclude these data items from the report. If you include attendance, present attendance is always included.

Once you're happy with your choices, click Save & Continue to proceed.

Step 3: Behaviour settings

The next slide-over allows you to choose whether to include any behaviour data in your report card.

Leave the Start and End date fields empty, or click Skip to exclude behaviour data. The settings are as follows:

• Start date - The first day of the period for which behaviour data is included. Type the date or use the calendar icon to select the date.
• End date - The last day of the period for which behaviour data is included. Type the date or use the calendar icon to select the date.
• Behavioural incidents, Detentions and Behaviour Points - Use these dropdowns to choose whether to include information on each data item, and whether to include them as a tally of the number of instances of the data item (Show Total) or as a list of each item that makes up the total (Show List). 
   
  • For Incidents, if you choose Show List all negative, positive and neutral incidents involving the student between the start and end dates are shown in tables. Each gets a separate section on the report card. 
    
    The Name of the behaviour type, the Severity of the behaviour type, the Description of the incident and the date of the incident are all included.
    
    
    If you choose 'Show Total', the total Number of Positive and Negative incidents is displayed in the top section/front page of the report card. Neutral incidents are not included.
  • For Detentions, if you choose Show List detentions assigned to the student with a decision date between the start and end dates are included in a table. The table consists of the Detention Type, Reason for Detention, and who issued the detention. 
    
    
    
    If you choose 'Show Total', the total number of detentions with a decision date between your start and end dates is displayed in the first section of the report card.

• For Behaviour points, each point scale setup for your school has its own dropdown (labelled with the name of the points scale). If you choose Show List, points awarded to the student (including the value and attribute/reason) between the start and end dates are shown in a table, one for each points scale. 
   

  

  If you choose 'Show Total', the total points awarded within the scale (positive minus negative) from the start date to the end date (excluding the end date) are shown in the first section of the report card.

Once you're happy with your choices, click Save & Continue to proceed.
 

Step 4: Attainment Settings (Assessments)

On the next slide-over, you select which assessment information you would like to show on the report once you add individual assessments to the setup later. We recommend setting the Date Range to your current assessment period or data collection window. 

Leave the Start and End date fields empty, or click Skip to ensure you do not include any attendance data. The settings are as follows:

• Date Range: Use the Start and End dates to specify which assessment periods to include in the report. Any assessment periods that overlap with your selected date range are included.

  For example, if you have three types of assessment periods set up under Students > Assessments > Annual Policy > Assessment Periods, like Single Annual Measurement (whole year), Termly and Half-Termly, and your date range corresponds to the Autumn term, your report card will include the following, as these all overlap with the date range:

  • The single Annual Measurement Period 
  • The Autumn results of the termly assessment period
  • Autumn 1 and 2 marks for the half-termly assessments 

• On the other hand, if you were to set the date range to the start and end of the first day of the school year (e.g. Sep 1st to Sep 1st), the assessment data included is those with the annual measurement, the Autumn term results of your termly measurements and Autumn 1 of your help-termly periods.

  Top tip: Not sure which assessments and periods are included?: 
   

  • Click Save after entering the start and end date 
  • Head to the Attainment tab of your report card setup

  • Check the assessment periods listed next to Progress periods in the General Attainment Settings section to see precisely which Assessment Periods are included.

    

• Custom names: You can overwrite the names of columns for baselines, targets and marks shown on report cards, so you can use language that is more familiar to guardians/parents. For example, if you want the word 'Year target' to be substituted with something else, you can define a custom name here.
  
  Please note that the custom name will only be displayed on the downloaded report cards, not on the input screens.
• Baseline (summative) - Use this tick box to include baseline data for summative assessments you link to the report. Hover over the question mark icon next to Include to confirm the academic year the baselines are included for.
  
  
• Year and Aspirational Targets (summative) - use these tick boxes to include the target grades for the end of the academic year or Aspirational targets for the year for summative assessments.  Hover over the question mark icon next to Include to confirm the academic year the targets are included for.
• Final Target (summative) - Use this tick box to include the final targets for summative assessments (this target is not specific to an academic year.
  
  
   

• Previous Mark(s) (summative, curriculum) - Tick the box to include previous grades for both curriculum and summative assessments. Use the Previous mark(s) means dropdown to specify which marks to include exactly. Your options are:

  • Previous to current mark - This allows you to include one previous grade for the assessment, which is the mark they received in the assessment period prior to the assessment period from which their current mark for the assessment is taken.
  • Previous to assessment date range - This lets you include one previous mark, which is the mark for the assessment in the assessment period before the earliest period your date range covers (for example, if your date range includes Autumn 2, but not Autumn 1, the previous mark is the mark for Autumn 1. 
    
    Tip: Struggling to add the correct previous marks? Try shifting the start date of your date range to a few days into the assessment period to ensure you leave a sufficient gap between the date ranges.
  • All previous marks the academic year - This populates the report card with every mark within the same academic year that was issued in the assessment periods before those included in the report card through your date range.
    
    

  Top Tip: Don't set your date range at the top of the Attentainment Settings to the full academic year if you want to include previous marks, as there won't be any marks before this date range, so your Previous marks will show as blank.

• Current Mark(s) (summative, curriculum) - Use this tick box to include the latest grade within the date range for assessments. For example, if your date range covers Autumn and Spring, the grade included as Current is the mark for Spring.
  
  
• Target Judgment (summative) - Use the Include box to add target judgments for the current mark of summative assessments. Colour target judgement depending on whether the student is significantly below, slightly below, at or above the target using the Display target colour tickbox.
  
  
• Predicted Final Mark (summative) - use this tick box to include the predicted final mark for assessments.
• Comments: Use this tick box to include marksheet comments on the report card

Once you're happy with your choices, click Save & Finish to create your report cards.
 

Copying report cards

Instead of setting up Report Cards from scratch each time, you can also copy an existing Report Card setup in just a few clicks. Copying a report card setup will take you through a similar setup wizard to an initial report card setup in the previous section. 

In each step, the settings you selected will be copied; these can be edited during setup or afterwards. 

Once you've clicked the Save & Finish button in the Attainment Settings step, the Courses, Progress, Ad Hoc Assessments and Curricula from your source report card are copied. 

Finally, we will copy the student(s) and/or student groups selected in the Report Cards tab from your source setup if the report card is copied to the same academic year.

Please note that we will not copy any of the sharing options. If you wish to share the report card on the Parent Portal or Student Portal after setup, you will need to do so manually. We also do not copy custom text boxes from the General tab.

To copy a standard or long report card:

• Go to Students > Report Cards > open an already generated Report Card
• Click the Copy Report Card button on the right-hand side.
   

• Complete the details on the slide over, like:
   
  • Setting the right academic year (if copying from a previous year)
  • Setting an appropriate report title so you can distinguish it from other reports
  • Setting the right report date
• Click Save and Continue
• Complete the rest of the setup wizard as if you were setting up a report card from scratch 

Note: You’ll need the Report Card: Administer permission at the school level to use this feature.

Managing Standard and Long Report Cards

Report cards you create are found under Students > Report Cards. Use the grey Academic Year dropdown to bring up report cards from previous years. 

Click on a report to be taken to that report card's settings page.

On the settings pages, you can edit any section marked with an arrow to decide what should show on the final report. Use the tabs at the top of the page to access and change the settings for Attendance, Behaviour and Attendance you chose when creating the report card.
 

The General Settings tab

Use the options on this tab to customise the report. These settings apply to all of the report cards within this batch. You can set:

• Report card title - The report card's name (text box)
• The Report card date (text box/calendar)
• Student photo - Whether to display the students' profile pictures on report cards (tickbox)
• Teacher initials - Whether to display the teacher's initials by marks and comments on the report card (tickbox)
• Teacher name - Whether to display the teacher's name by marks and comments on the report card (tickbox)
• Show house - Whether to display the student's house on the report card (tickbox)
• Colour progress marks - Whether to colour current and previous marks depending on if the student is significantly below, slightly below, at or above the target (tickbox)
• Colour curriculum marks - Whether to colour the curriculum mastery depending on the percentage achieved (tickbox) 
  
  The colouring will work as follows:
   
  • Less then 20% = Red
  • Less then 50% = Orange
  • Less then 70% = Yellow
  • Less then 85% = Green
  • Greater then 85% = Dark Green
• Colour year target - Whether to colour the student's year target based on if their current mark is significantly below, slightly below, at or above the target for the assessment period (tickbox)
• Use legal name - Whether to use a student's legal name on the report card, rather than their preferred name(tickbox)
   

Custom text boxes

If you would like to add a generic text box to your report cards, you can add these using +Add in the Custom Text Boxes section of the General tab.

On the slide over, you can:

• Choose an optional title to appear above the text box
• Choose to include the text box at the bottom or top of the report card
• Use the text editor to format and customise your text

You cannot:

• Add images via these text boxes (you can copy images into the box, but they won't display on the report card)
• Reliably copy formatting options from external software (like Word), so we recommend editing and formatting these in Arbor.
   

The Report Cards Tab

Use the Report Cards tab to manage which students' report cards are generated for.

Adding students

To add students to your report card:

• Open your report card settings via Students > Report Cards
• Go to the Report Card tab 
• Click the green +Add  button

• On the pop-up, choose to add individual students, whole cohorts or a specific demographic/custom group (Student Groups)

• On the slide over, use the Students dropdown to select who to include. You can select multiple students/groups in one go.
• Click Add Students to confirm

Top tip: Need to add most but not all of the students in a group? Save time by enrolling the students you need in a Custom Group and adding the Custom Group instead of adding students one by one. Or, if the students are all in the same form, select the Individual Students option, type the name of the form to narrow down the list and select all with your keyboard (Ctrl + A).
 

Managing Students, Previewing and Approving Report Cards

The students and groups you add show in the Students section of the Report Cards tab. 

The Report Cards table, further down, also lists the individuals included. You can change the groups to display in the table using the grey dropdown. Use this table to:

• See whether the report card has been shared with students or guardians via email
• Whether the report card has been approved (the Status column)
• Apply bulk actions to students you select with the tick boxes, including:
   
  • Emailing reports to guardians
  • Emailing reports to students
  • Approve or unset the approval of the report cards
• Click on an individual for further details on a slide-over, including:
   
  • The sections the report includes
  • If and when the report was emailed to the student or their parents
  • A green Download button to export a copy of their report card
  • An orange Edit/Review so you can make changes to the included data without opening up the mark

Removing students

To remove students from your report card batch, you must remove the student (if added as an individual) or the group (if they were added as a group) from the Students section of the Report Cards tab.

Click on a student or group, then select 'Delete Report Cards' from the slide over.

Please be aware that deleting students from a report card batch is irreversible and will remove the report card from the student's records. Students or groups would need to be re-added for the report cards to be regenerated.

Top Tip: Need to remove a group but want to keep some students? Add the students as individuals before deleting the group, and their report cards will not be removed. Need to remove one student who was added via a group and want to keep the rest? Set up a Custom Group with the students you want to keep, add the custom group to the report card and then delete the original group.
 

Staff in your report cards

Why are multiple teachers showing as academic lead on my report card?

The set date range determines the academic lead listed on a report card; any teacher who was an academic lead at any point during this date range will be pulled through. You can view and edit the date range in the Attainment tab of your report card, in General Attainment Settings.

Can we change staff names and roles?

Please see our guidance on this here: Can I change how staff names and roles appear on a report card?

Linking assessments to report cards

If you didn't add attainment when setting up your report card, click +Add. Please see the Creating new report cards section above.

Add assessments by navigating to the Attainment tab. Here you can click +Add to add:

• Courses - Secondary only
• Progress Assessments - These are your Summative Assessments
• Ad Hoc Assessments
• Curriculums - These are your Formative Assessments
• DfE Statutory Assessments

You can bulk remove courses and assessments added on the Attainment tab using the tick boxes and Bulk action in each section.

Courses

Note: This option does not show on Primary School sites.

Adding a course to your report card has two primary purposes:

• This is a quick way to add all summative assessments linked to a course to your report card. Once added, you can remove any assessments you do not want to include without removing the course.
• This allows you to group all assessments linked to a course together on the report card and enables you to include ad hoc assessments related to a course right next to the summative assessments linked to the same course. 

Summative assessments

Select the assessments from the list of ones set up for this year that you've not already added.

If you click into a Progress assessment, you can:

• Set a Custom Name to change the name as shown for the assessment in the report cards 
• If you have added a course, you can change the Order of assessments linked to the course on the report card. Lower values show first.
• The grade set shown to parents in the report cards is the default. The options you see depend on the Grade Set linked to the assessment and the Marking and Display grade sets set up for that grade set under Students > Assessments > Assessment Framework > Grade Sets.
• Remove the assessment from the report card with the red Delete button.

Ad-Hoc Assessments

Top Tip: You might want to add Ad Hoc assessments specifically for report cards, such as for tutor comments.

In order for your Ad-Hoc Assessments to be visible/editable on student report cards:

• The Ad-Hoc Assessment period has to overlap with the date range of the Report Card.
• The Students/Key Stage in the setup of the Ad-Hoc assessment must match the students who are included in the report card setup.
• If the Ad Hoc was set up with a marking strategy of one mark per course, you must link the course to the report card for the Ad Hoc to display.

Once you have created your Ad-Hoc Assessment, add it to your report card by going to Students >  Report Cards > Select Report Card > Attainment.

Scroll down to Ad-Hoc Assessments and click +Add.

Select the correct Ad-Hoc assessment by checking the box and clicking Add Ad-Hoc Assessment.

Remove an ad hoc from a report card, or change the order by clicking on them - lower numbers are shown first.

You can then input feedback for the Ad Hoc by clicking on the individual students on the Report Cards tab.

• Comments related to Summative Marks appear before Ad Hocs in the column ordering.
• If the Ad Hoc has a text marking strategy, it will appear in its own column.
• If the Ad Hoc has the marking strategy of Grade or Number and has a comment it will appear under the ad hoc mark.

Curriculum assessments

On the slide over, select the assessment and custom name if needed. You can choose what information to include.

DfE statutory assessments

The date range doesn't refer to when the assessment took place. The date range filters the dropdown to show the assessments that could have been run.

• If the student has more than one result (such as if they took the assessment in both last year and this year), the most recent result will be displayed.
• Students who took the assessment in a previous year will have their results shown in the report card.

Top Tip: If you only want to include DfE results for specific student groups, we recommend setting up two report cards: one for student groups that include these assessments and one for those that don't.