If you have new staff members on a probationary period, you can customise the template to include this data on your central record and utilise our Expiry Date feature to help track and manage any upcoming probation dates!
Customising the Template
To start with, you will need to customise your template with additional fields to record the data. This can be done via the Template Editor.
If you are a single organisation, from your Dashboard, click on Settings>Organisation>Templates>Edit.
If you are a Trust-level user, and you wish to add these sections and fields across all of your schools, you will need to access the Template Editor via Settings>Federation>Templates>Edit.
Please Note: If the Templates option is greyed out, it is because you do not currently have permission to edit the Template. In this instance, please contact your system administrator.
Step 1: Add a Custom Section to your Template
At the bottom of the Section List (you may need to scroll down), there is a Button with a Plus symbol. Click this to create your new Section. Double-click on the "New Section" and you will be presented with the Section Editor.
Here you can change the following properties:
Name. This is what will appear when editing the Profile page or when printing Reports.
Icon. This is used when editing the Profile page.
Colour. This is used as the header when printing reports.
Visibility. Here you can choose which Profile Types this section will appear for.
Below is an example of a Probation section, that will show on Teaching and Support Staff only:
When you have finished making changes to the section editor, press Save to update your draft.
Step 2: Add your Custom Fields
Now you can add in your Custom Fields. Please see our Field Guide to understand the various fields available and how to edit them.
As always, the layout of your fields and what you would like included for a non-statutory section (in relation to the statutory requirements for your SCR) is entirely up to your organisations policies and/or preferences.
Below is an example layout for recording if staff are on their probationary period, with corresponding 3 and 6 month reviews:
Each field will have it's own conditions, as outlined below.
Tip: As this section has already been turned off for the other profile types, you do not need to also turn off the fields for the other profile types.
Field Information | Field View |
Toggle Field: Is staff Member in Probationary Period?
For this field, we recommend setting the default value to be toggled ON so that this is on by default for new starters being added to the system. It's also important that this field is left un-rated, so it doesn't unnecessarily flag as missing information throughout your system. | 
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Date Field: 3 Month Review
For this field we recommend adding an immediate expiring check under validation rules. This means that whatever date you enter into this field on a staff profile, will be tracked as the expiry date.
Under visibility logic, you can then ask the field only to be visible if the 'Is Staff Member in Probationary Period?' toggle is selected, and if the '3 Month Review Passed?' toggle is not selected.
This is so that, once the 3 month review has been passed (confirmed by the toggle), the expiry date will no longer show on your list of expiring checks for tracking. You will need to add the 'review passed' toggle first before you can set this condition. | 
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Text Field: 3 Month Review Notes
This is a simple text field where you can record any notes relating to the review, including if the review date has been extended. For example:
'3 month review successful, notes held in HR file'
or
'3 month review extended from 01/08/26 to 01/09/26' | 
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Toggle Field: 3 Month Review Passed?
This toggle simply confirms if the review has been passed.
Once selected, if you have configured the above due date field correctly, the due date field should disappear from view and therefore will no longer be included on your systems expiry dates to be tracked.
Tip: You could instead use a date field for 'Review Passed?' if you wanted to record this information on the system. | 
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You can then repeat the above field configuration for as many reviews as needed, changing the name to suit the review requirements.
FAQ: What if we have different review periods for teaching and support staff?
Answer: No problem. You can configure the fields to show only for either teaching or support staff using the visibility eye icons in each field.
Tracking Probation Reviews
There are a couple of ways you can track your probation reviews and any upcoming expiry dates.
The Dashboard
We have provided default widgets for our Expiring Check feature, which can be added by clicking the ‘+Add Widget’ button in the top right-hand corner of your dashboard:
You can also customise our default ‘Profile List’ widget to specifically track any individual field data. To do this, first, add the ‘Profile List’ widget to your dashboard, and then click the cogwheel icon on the widget to open the widget settings. From here, you can edit the Title field, set filter logic(s), and show optional fields for any information that would be useful to see at a glance.
In the below example, I have customised the widget to show me any staff that have the 'Is Staff Member in Probationary Period?' toggle selected, but do not have one or both of the 'Review Passed?' toggles selected.
I've also asked it to show me the relevant date fields for each review:
This widget will now remain a live and up to date list of my profiles that fall within these conditions:
For further information on dashboard and widget customisation, take a look at our help guide collection.
Reports
We have also provided default reports for our Expiring Check feature, which can be found under the ‘Insights’ tab on your dashboard:
You can customise the Upcoming Expiration Dates report, or create your own Custom Report for these fields.
If you have any queries or would like assistance with setting up and tracking this data, please let our customer support team know. You can contact us either via the in-app chat feature or email us at [email protected]