Overview

This article explains how to create and maintain Focus Groups in Sisra Analytics.

Focus Groups enable you to group students to use as filters in reports, such as for English or Maths intervention groups. Additionally, in KS3/4, you can set a default Focus Group, highlighting those students in the reports to make them easier to identify (see Sisra Analytics: KS3/4 - How do I set a default Focus Group?). 

Within this guide, KS3/4 is referred to; however, the same principles apply to setting up and managing Focus Groups in KS5.

Prerequisites

• You must be an administrator.

Instructions

Follow these steps to create a Focus Group:

1. Select DATA.
2. Select KS3/4.
3. Select the Cohort.
4. Select Students.
5. Select Focus Groups.

6. From the Focus Groups List, select Create Focus Group:
   

   From the Focus Group List, you can also select the pencil icon to edit an existing group, or select the red X to delete an existing Focus Group.

7. From Create Focus Group for...:
   
   1. Enter a Focus Group Name.
   2. Optionally, enter a Focus Group Description.
   3. Select Create.
8. You will then be redirected to the Focus Group Details for your newly created Focus Group:
   

   1. Check Include next to the names of all students that you want to include in the list. 

      To speed up the student selection process, if you have more students to include in the group compared to those not in the group, select all students by checking Include, then uncheck those you want to remove. 

      Selected students are highlighted in green. Those not selected are highted in red. 

   2. Select Save.

9. The Focus Group is created, comprising the students selected:

   

   Set up a reverse Focus Group to temporarily exclude specific students from figures. Do this by adding all students to the Focus Group, then de-select those you do not want to include. This is useful when excluding outliers, enabling you to see figures without the impact of those students.

   1. As appropriate, edit the students within the group, select Edit Students. 
   2. Select Back to Focus Group List to set up further Focus Groups. 
10. After creating your focus group(s) republish the student data. (See Sisra Analytics: How do I publish Students in KS3/4? (Admin) or Sisra Analytics: How do I publish Students in KS5? (Admin) for further information).

Instructions Video

The following video explains how to create and work with Focus Groups in KS3/4 and KS5:

Outcome

The focus group(s) are created, published and available for use as filter(s) in your reports. See Sisra Analytics: How do I analyse Focus Groups in the KS3/4 reports? and Sisra Analytics: How do I analyse Focus Groups in the KS5 reports? for further guidance. 

Within KS4, you may choose to define one of your Focus Groups as a default Focus Group. If you do this, you can easily identify students within the selected Focus Group when analysing your KS3/4 reports, as they are highlighted.  See Sisra Analytics: KS3/4 - How do I set a default Focus Group? for further information. 

Related information

• Sisra Analytics: How do I publish Students in KS3/4? (Admin).

• Sisra Analytics: How do I publish Students in KS5? (Admin).

• Sisra Analytics: How do I analyse Focus Groups in the KS3/4 reports?

• Sisra Analytics: How do I analyse Focus Groups in the KS5 reports?

• Sisra Analytics: KS3/4 - How do I set a default Focus Group?

Updated 04 December 2025 16:59