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What are User Groups?

User groups are collections of users who work together or need access to the same students. They allow you to organize your staff into teams and control which students each team can access.

Key Benefits

  • Need-to-know access: Ensure users only see information relevant to their role
  • Simplified management: Add or remove multiple users at once
  • Team collaboration: Assign incidents and actions to entire groups
  • Audit clarity: Track which teams accessed specific records
  • Compliance: Demonstrate appropriate access controls for inspections

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How User Groups Work

User groups work together with roles to control access in Signal:
Roles determine what actions a user can take:
  • Can they create incidents?
  • Can they configure alerts?
  • Can they manage transfers?
See Roles & Permissions for details.

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Common User Group Types

Year Groups

Organize staff by the year groups they support.Examples: Year 7 Pastoral Team, Year 10 Team, Sixth Form TeamAccess: Each group accesses only their year’s students

Key Stages

Organize staff by key stage for smaller primary schools or cross-year responsibilities.Examples: KS1 Team, KS2 Team, KS3 TeamAccess: Each group accesses students in their key stage

Safeguarding Team

DSLs and DDSLs who need school-wide access.Example: Safeguarding TeamAccess: All students across the school

Specialist Teams

Staff with specific responsibilities across year groups.Examples: SEN Team, Attendance Team, Wellbeing Team, Behaviour TeamAccess: All students (or specific student groups based on need)

Leadership Teams

Senior leaders who need oversight.Examples: Senior Leadership Team, Pastoral Leadership TeamAccess: All students for reporting and oversight

External Partners

External agencies or temporary staff with limited access.Examples: Social Workers, Educational Psychologists, GovernorsAccess: Specific students only (typically with Viewer role)

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Creating a User Group

Only users with the Owner or Admin role can create and manage user groups.
1

Navigate to User Groups

  1. Log in to Signal with the Owner or Admin role
  2. Go to Settings → User Groups
  3. Click Create User Group
2

Enter group details

Fill in the required information:
  • Group Name: Clear, descriptive name (e.g., “Year 7 Pastoral Team”)
  • Description: Brief explanation of the group’s purpose
  • Access Level: Choose the group’s default access:
    • Specific Students: Group accesses only specific student groups
    • All Students: Group accesses all students school-wide
Optional:
  • Department: Link to a department (Pastoral, Safeguarding, etc.)
  • Icon/Color: Visual identifier for the group
3

Link to Student Groups (if Specific Students)

If you selected “Specific Students”, link this user group to one or more student groups:
  • Select student groups from the dropdown (e.g., “Year 7 Students”)
  • Users in this user group will only access students in the linked student groups
See Student Groups for information about creating student groups.
4

Add members

Add users to the group:
  • Search for users by name
  • Select multiple users at once
  • You can also add users later
All users in the group will have access to the same students (according to their role).
5

Save the group

Click Create User Group. The group is now active and members have access according to the configuration.
Changes to user groups take effect immediately. If users are currently logged in, they’ll see updated access after refreshing their browser.

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Managing User Groups

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Adding Users to a Group

  1. Go to Settings → User Groups
  2. Click on the user group
  3. Click Add Members
  4. Select users to add
  5. Click Save
The selected users now have access to students in this group.

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Removing Users from a Group

1

Open the user group

Go to Settings → User Groups and click on the group.
2

View members

Click the Members tab to see all users in the group.
3

Remove user

Click the × next to a user’s name to remove them from the group.
4

Confirm

Confirm the removal. The user immediately loses access to students in this group (unless they’re in other groups with the same access).

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Linking User Groups to Student Groups

User groups determine which students users can access by linking to student groups.
1

Open user group

Go to Settings → User Groups and click on a user group.
2

View linked student groups

Click the Student Access tab to see which student groups this user group can access.
3

Add student groups

  1. Click Link Student Groups
  2. Select one or more student groups (e.g., “Year 8 Students”, “Child Protection Plan”)
  3. Click Save
Users in this user group can now access students in the linked student groups.
4

Remove student groups

To remove access to a student group:
  1. Click the × next to the student group name
  2. Confirm the removal
Users in this user group immediately lose access to students in that student group.
For information about creating and managing student groups, see Student Groups.

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Access Control Examples

Scenario: Organize pastoral staff by year group, with each team accessing only their year.Setup:
  1. Create student groups: “Year 7 Students”, “Year 8 Students”, etc.
  2. Create user groups: “Year 7 Pastoral Team”, “Year 8 Pastoral Team”, etc.
  3. Link each user group to its corresponding student group
  4. Add pastoral staff to their year’s user group with “Viewer” role
Result:
  • Year 7 staff only see Year 7 incidents
  • Year 8 staff only see Year 8 incidents
  • Safeguarding team (separate user group) sees all students

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Best Practices

Name user groups clearly and consistently:
  • ✅ Good: “Year 7 Pastoral Team”, “Safeguarding Team”, “SEN Coordinators”
  • ❌ Poor: “Team A”, “Group 1”, “Staff”
Clear names make access controls easier to understand and audit.
User groups should reflect how your school is organized:
  • Year groups for secondary schools
  • Key stages for primary schools
  • Houses or divisions if that’s how you assign pastoral responsibility
Don’t create user groups that don’t match real teams.
Each user group should have a clear purpose:
  • ✅ “Year 8 Pastoral Team” - clear, specific
  • ❌ “Year 8 and Some Year 9 and SEN” - confusing, hard to manage
If access needs are complex, create multiple user groups and add users to several groups.
At the start of each term:
  • Remove users who have left or changed roles
  • Add new staff to appropriate groups
  • Review whether student group links are still appropriate
  • Check for users in the wrong groups
This keeps access controls accurate and compliant.
Keep a record of why specific user groups have specific access. This helps during inspections and demonstrates accountability.Example: “External Partners group has access to specific students only (linked manually as needed). Used for social workers and educational psychologists. Access reviewed monthly.”
Only these groups should typically have “All Students” access:
  • Safeguarding Team
  • Senior Leadership Team
  • Attendance Team (if they need to see everyone)
Most pastoral staff should be limited to their year group or key stage.
User groups are most powerful when combined with student groups:
  • Create student groups for different cohorts (years, houses, vulnerability levels)
  • Link user groups to appropriate student groups
  • Use auto-update rules on student groups so access stays current
See Student Groups for details.

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Common Scenarios

Steps:
  1. Create student groups for your year groups or key stages
  2. Create user groups for your pastoral teams
  3. Link user groups to corresponding student groups
  4. Add users to groups with appropriate roles:
    • Safeguarding team → DSL role → All students
    • Year teams → Viewer role → Their year only
    • SLT → Owner or Admin or Viewer role → All students
  5. Test access: Log in as different users to verify they see the correct students
Result: Structured access control from day one.

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Advanced Features

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Temporary Access

For short-term access needs (e.g., external partners, temporary staff):
1

Create time-limited student group

Create a student group with a descriptive name including dates:
  • “Social Worker Access - April 2024”
  • “Temp Staff - [Name] - Jan-Mar 2024”
2

Link to user group

Link this student group to an “External Partners” or “Temporary Staff” user group.
3

Add specific students

Add only the students this person needs to access.
4

Set reminder

Set a calendar reminder to:
  • Remove the user from the group when access should end
  • Or deactivate their user account entirely
There is no automatic expiry for user group memberships. You must manually remove users when their access should end.

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Nested Access Control

You can create sophisticated access patterns by combining multiple user groups and student groups:
Scenario: A staff member is:
  • Year 9 Form Tutor
  • SEN Coordinator for KS3
  • Part of Safeguarding Team
Setup:
  • User is in 3 user groups:
    1. “Year 9 Pastoral Team” (linked to “Year 9 Students”)
    2. “SEN Team” (linked to “SEN Support - KS3”)
    3. “Safeguarding Team” (linked to “All Students”)
Result: User has combined access from all three groups. They can see:
  • All Year 9 students (via group 1)
  • SEN students in Years 7-9 (via group 2)
  • Any other student school-wide (via group 3)
The highest level of access (Safeguarding Team → All Students) effectively grants full access, but the granular group memberships document their specific responsibilities.

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Permissions for User Groups

Who Can Manage User Groups?

Only users with the Owner or Admin role can:
  • Create user groups
  • Edit user group details
  • Add or remove members
  • Link user groups to student groups
  • Delete user groups
Other roles (DSL, Deputy DSL, Viewer) cannot manage user groups, but they benefit from the access controls user groups provide.

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Troubleshooting

Check:
  1. Which user groups is the user a member of?
  2. Which student groups are linked to those user groups?
  3. Is the student a member of any of those student groups?
Solution:
  • Add the user to a user group that has access to the student
  • Or link the user’s existing user group to a student group containing the student
  • Or add the student to an existing student group that the user can access
Check:
  1. Which user groups is the user a member of?
  2. Which student groups do those user groups have access to?
  3. Are there students in those student groups who shouldn’t be accessible to this user?
Solution:
  • Remove the user from user groups they shouldn’t be in
  • Or adjust the student group links for the user group
  • Or remove students from student groups if they’ve been incorrectly added
Check:
  1. Are you logged in with the Owner or Admin role?
  2. Have any user groups been created yet?
Solution:
  • Only users with the Owner or Admin role can see and manage user groups
  • If no groups exist yet, create your first user group
Check:
  1. Did you save the changes?
  2. Has the user refreshed their browser?
Solution:
  • Ensure changes were saved (you should see a confirmation message)
  • Ask affected users to log out and log back in
  • Changes should be immediate, but browser caching can delay updates
Problem: You have 20+ user groups and it’s hard to manage.Solution:
  1. Review your user groups and consolidate where possible
  2. Delete user groups that are no longer used
  3. Consider whether you’re organizing by the right criteria
  4. Most schools need 5-15 user groups:
    • 1 Safeguarding Team
    • 1 SLT / Admin group
    • Year/Key Stage groups (7-11 for secondary, 2-4 for primary)
    • 1-3 specialist teams (SEN, Behaviour, Attendance)
    • 1 External Partners group
If you have many more than this, you may be over-complicating access control.

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Auditing User Group Access

Regular audits ensure access controls remain appropriate:
1

Review user group memberships

At least termly:
  1. Go to Settings → User Groups
  2. Click on each user group
  3. Review the members list
  4. Ask: “Should all these people still have this access?”
2

Review student group links

Check which student groups each user group can access:
  1. Click the Student Access tab for each user group
  2. Verify the links are still appropriate
  3. Remove links that are no longer needed
3

Check for orphaned users

Look for users who aren’t in any user groups:
  1. Go to Settings → Users
  2. Filter by “Not in any group”
  3. Either add them to appropriate groups or investigate why they have no groups
4

Document the review

Keep a record of your audit:
  • Date of review
  • Changes made
  • Issues identified
  • Actions taken
This demonstrates due diligence during inspections.
Signal provides an Access Audit Report that shows all users, their roles, user groups, and which students they can access. Run this report termly and save it for compliance records.Go to Reports → Compliance → Access Audit Report.

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Next Steps

Understand Roles

Learn about the five roles and how they work with user groups

Manage Users

Add users and assign them to user groups

Student Groups

Create student groups to organize students for access control

Users Overview

Return to the Users & Permissions overview