This guide supplements the main End of Year guide, which outlines Bromcom’s recommended approach to Tutor Group Promotion. For schools whose requirements differ from the recommended process, it provides an overview of the alternative Tutor Group Promotion methods available within Bromcom.
For more information on the full End of Year process in Bromcom, refer to End of Year Processes 2026 Homepage.
Important: For schools using Google or Office 365 integration, tutor group promotion must follow the process outlined in the main End of Year (EOY) guides. Ensure that all tutor groups are end-dated as part of this process.
This guide covers:
- Understanding the differences between Tutor Groups and Year Groups
- Tutor Group Promotion Methods
- Mixed Year (Vertical) Tutor Groups
Access: The minimum permissions required to perform Tutor Group Promotions are found in the Curriculum Module of Config > Setup > Roles and Permissions. Each tick box on the right determines which functions are visible/available on the page for users with the selected Role.
The minimum permissions required for accessing the Groups page are found in the Framework Module.
For more information, refer to How to Edit a Role and its Permission.
Understanding the differences between Tutor Groups and Year Groups
A Year Group represents the curriculum year to which a student belongs based on their chronological age. A student’s Year Group typically remains unchanged throughout the academic year and is only updated as part of the End of Year process.
A Tutor Group represents the registration group (sometimes referred to as a class in primary schools) to which a student is assigned for the purpose of recording statutory AM and PM attendance. A student’s Tutor Group can and may change during the academic year.
For example, a student may belong to the Year 7 (or Year 1) Year Group whilst being assigned to the 07A (or 1 Oak) Tutor Group. If the student transfers to the 07B (or 1 Elm) Tutor Group during the academic year, their Tutor Group would change, but their Year Group would remain the same.
Many areas of Bromcom use Year Groups and Tutor Groups for filtering, reporting, communication, and administration purposes. Understanding the distinction between the two helps ensure the correct groups are selected when carrying out administrative tasks.
As Year Groups and Tutor Groups serve different purposes within Bromcom, it is strongly recommended that they are not given identical names. Using distinct naming conventions helps avoid confusion when configuring areas of the MIS, as well as viewing and reporting on data.
Tutor Group Promotion Methods
Tutor Group Promotion is the process of updating Tutor Group memberships for the new academic year, ensuring that students and staff are assigned to the correct groups in line with the school’s structure.
There are multiple ways of managing Tutor Group Promotion as part of the end of year process. This section outlines the following available options:
Note: The flowchart below provides a visual overview of the different scenarios and decision pathways.
Tutor Group Names Remain the Same
Where Tutor Group names will remain the same in the next academic year, the groups can be left without an end date, allowing them to remain active year on year.
Students can be promoted in one of two ways:
1. Tutor Group Promotion Wizard
If all students in a tutor group are promoting to the same next tutor group in the new academic year, the tutor group promotion wizard can be used to transfer the student memberships.
This is completed via Config > Curriculum > Tutor Group Promotion.
Click the blue magnifying glass to open the Group Selector.
Select the Tutor Groups to be promoted and click Done.
Review the Selection List and click Go.
In the Tutor Group Linkages panel, enter the exact name of each tutor group to be promoted into in the Next Tutor Group column.
Important: Ensure the next Tutor Group name matches the existing Tutor Group in the MIS exactly. If the name does not match, the promotion routine will create a new Tutor Group and assign students to it, rather than promoting them into an existing Tutor Group.
Click Promote to continue or Save to retain the setup and return later.
Select the academic year to promote into (this will default to the new academic year) and review the pre-populated Start and End Dates.
Memberships can be managed using either Add to existing memberships (default for safety) or Overwrite all existing memberships.
Additional membership options can also be carried forward:
- Maintain House Memberships
- Include Staff Memberships
- Include Rooms
Click Go to complete the process, creating the new tutor groups and promoting student memberships for the new academic year.
2. Assign Students Manually or via Bulk Group Assignment
If students within a tutor group are moving to different tutor groups in the new academic year, they should be assigned to their new groups either via the Student Memberships panel within the tutor group – ensuring that a start date and end date within the new academic year are applied:
or by using Bulk Group Assignment, accessible via Modules > Curriculum > Bulk Group Assignment.
For more information, refer to How to Use Bulk Group Assignment.
Tutor Group Names Change
Where tutor group names will change in the next academic year, the current groups must be assigned an end date via the Basic Group Details panel.
Important: Tutor Group End Dates must fall within the current academic year and must not extend into the new academic year.
Note: Multiple tutor groups can be end-dated in bulk via Groups > Group Type = Tutor Group > Actions > Bulk Update Dates.
New Tutor Groups can be created and students promoted into them in one of two ways:
1. Tutor Group Promotion Wizard
If all students in a tutor group are promoting to the same next tutor group in the new academic year, the tutor group promotion wizard can be used to create the new tutor groups and transfer the student memberships.
In the screenshot below, all students in 1 Caterpillars will be promoted to the new 2 Cherry Tutor Group and all students in 2 Butterflies will be promoted to the new 3 Acer Tutor Group.
2. Manually create new Tutor Groups and Assign Students
If students within a tutor group are moving to different tutor groups in the new academic year, the new tutor groups must be created manually via Groups > Group Type = Tutor Group > New.
For more information, refer to How to Create a New Tutor Group.
Once created, students should be assigned to their new groups either via the Student Memberships panel within the tutor group – ensuring that a start date and end date within the new academic year are applied:
or by using Bulk Group Assignment, accessible via Modules > Curriculum > Bulk Group Assignment.
For more information, refer to How to Use Bulk Group Assignment.
Mixed Year (Vertical) Tutor Groups
Mixed Year (also known as Vertical) tutor groups contain students from multiple year groups.
In most cases, these tutor groups remain active from year to year and do not require an end date as part of the end-of-year process.
If students need to transfer from one tutor group to another for the new academic year, this is managed via the Student Memberships panel within Groups > Group Type = Tutor Group > View.
To transfer multiple students, select the required students using the tick boxes in the left-hand column and click Transfer.
To transfer a single student, select the transfer arrow in the Actions column on the right-hand side of the panel.
Select the required group from the Group Name drop-down, ensure the start date is correct and falls within the new academic year, then click Save.
Note: For Mixed Year (Vertical) tutor groups, students typically do not require an end date. Instead, Track Group End Date should be selected, ensuring they remain in the tutor group until either the group is end-dated or they are moved to another tutor group.
Important: When creating a new Mixed Year (Vertical) tutor group, a “Mixed” year group must also be created to associate with the tutor group.
Once the “Mixed” year group has been created, it can be linked to the tutor group via the Basic Group Details panel.
Click Save to apply the changes.
For more information, refer to How To Create a Year Group and How to Create a New Tutor Group.