Report Designer
This Tab allows School Branding via the Configuration, Report details such as the name format, and the layout of the elements.
Reporting Configuration (school branding)
Reporting Configuration holds the school-wide look of every report. Set it up once before you design your first report.
- Go to Reports › Report Builder › Report Designer.
- Click Reporting Configuration at the top right.
- Change the settings on the left. The Live preview on the right shows the cover and a sample page as you go. You can type a report name above the preview to see it on the cover.
- Click Save. Unsaved changes shows in the footer until you do.
| Section | Settings |
|---|---|
| Branding | Primary colour (cover border and banner, progress bars, subject headings), Accent colour (the line under each element's heading), Report background (behind the content; the cover always stays white). |
| Elements | Element borders: a box around each element or none, with line style (solid, dashed, dotted) and colour. |
| Cover & header | Cover page style: Centred details, Detail block & photo or Brand banner. Header order: logo first or school name first. Show the school name, show the school address, show the class teacher's name, show the attendance band (STAR rating) on the cover, attendance band colours (solid or pastel), and cover and page margins (Narrow 5mm to Extra wide 20mm). |
| Typography | Report font, and the sizes of the cover school name, report title and student details (Small to Extra large). |
| Principal signature | Upload one signature image to reuse on every report through the Principal Signature element. |
The school logo and address come from your school's details in Edge.
A strong report background colour uses a lot of printer ink. The pastel attendance band style is also softer on ink.
Creating a report
In Report Builder, a report is the design that every student's copy is built from (in other systems this is often called a template). The Report Designer opens on a list of your school's reports, showing the name, year levels, reporting period, status (for example locked), and who created and last edited each one.
Three ways to start
New Report
Start from an empty canvas. Enter a name when prompted. The reporting period is set to this year's terms to begin with.
Use Edge Template
Copy a ready-made starter report from Edge's template library into your school, then adapt it. (Helix schools see Use Helix Template.) See section 10.
Duplicate
Copy one of your own reports, for example to turn last term's report into this term's.
Report Details tab
Open a report and start on the Report Details tab. These settings apply to this report only.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Report name | Printed on the cover of every copy, e.g. Mid-Year 2026 Report. |
| Reporting period | A year plus first and last term. Attendance, results, Student Voice posts and groups are limited to this period. Data pickers in the layout stay unavailable until a period is set. |
| Year levels | Only students in this range can have the report entered or moderated. Students outside it don't appear on the entry screen. |
| Date format | 01 January 2026, 01/01/2026 or January 2026. |
| Teacher name format | Jane Doe, J. Doe or Ms Doe. |
| Student name | Preferred name, preferred name plus middle names, or legal name. |
| Attendance display | Which figure leads the cover's attendance band: attendance percentage, absence half-days or attendance half-days. |
| Cover options | Include student photo (needs the Detail block & photo cover style), use large school logo, use Te Reo Māori labels (bilingual cover labels such as Name / Ingoa). |
| Print & export | Add a blank page at the end; Double-sided (pads each student to an even page count so each starts on a fresh sheet); A5 booklet (two portrait pages per landscape A4 sheet in booklet order, so folding gives an A5 booklet; overrides double-sided). |
If teachers have already entered data or submitted reports, a yellow warning appears above the tabs saying how many. Changing the layout changes what teachers are filling in, and anything entered against an element you remove will no longer appear on the report.
Designing the layout
Switch to the Report Layout tab. The screen has three panels:
- Elements (left): the toolbox. Search it with Search elements…, expand or collapse categories, or start from a Prebuilt layout at the top.
- Canvas (centre): the report as it will look. Drag elements here and drag them up or down to reorder them.
- Configure (right): the settings for whichever element you click. Each element has its own options, such as title, which markbook to use, which columns to show, and comment length.
Building a layout
- Drag a Prebuilt layout onto the canvas for a quick start, or drag individual elements.
- Use Section elements (in Layout) to group elements under a heading and arrange them in one to three columns. Sections can hold one more level of plain sections.
- Click each element and complete its settings on the right. Data elements need a source chosen, for example a markbook or assessment, before they show anything.
- Use Page Break to start a new page, or tick a section's start on new page option.
- Use the element icons to duplicate or remove an element. Clear Layout empties the canvas but keeps the report's details and your school settings.
Prebuilt layouts
| Prebuilt | Contains |
|---|---|
| MoE – Progress & Achievement | The Ministry-aligned report: a Subject Section for each subject your school reports on (progress descriptor, strand ratings and progress over time), plus the Final Comments block. Attendance comes from the cover page. Built from your school's own progress-descriptor assessments. |
| Simple Report | Reading, Writing and Mathematics with progress charts and a comment to parents, Key Competencies, attendance, Student Voice (if your school uses it), a teacher comment and a principal sign-off. |
| Junior / New Entrant | A narrative report: Reading, Writing and Maths comments, learning behaviours, a photo of the student's work and a teacher comment. |
| Secondary / NCEA (Helix schools) | The combined achievement block, NCEA qualifications and internal assessment summaries, attendance, a comment and a principal sign-off. |
Design and Preview
Use the Design / Preview switch above the canvas. Preview shows the report as it will print. The Preview for list defaults to Sample data, which fills every element with realistic example values so you can judge the layout before any real data exists. Pick a real student to check the report against their actual results.
The on-screen preview is a close match to the PDF but not pixel-perfect. Page margins, for example, only apply to the PDF. Always check a generated PDF before publishing to everyone.
Element reference
Which elements you see depends on your school: Reporting to Parents elements are hidden if your school doesn't use the 2026 assessments, Student Voice is hidden if your school doesn't use it, and Secondary / NCEA elements are for Helix schools.
| Category | Elements | Teacher fills in? |
|---|---|---|
| Layout | Section, Divider, Page Break | No |
| Labels | Label, Text Block, Image, Signature, Principal Signature | No |
| Input Fields | Comment (with optional comment bank, maximum length and fixed height), Lookup List (choose from a list; shown on the report as a badge or a scale), Key Competency (rate items under categories and subcategories), Image (data entry) (e.g. a photo of the student's work), Date (fixed, or entered per student) | Yes |
| Input Fields (data) | Student Voice (the student's approved News Feed posts in the period), Groups (sports, cultural, learning, custom and House groups in the period), Next Year Room | No |
| Reporting to Parents | Subject Section (holds a subject's descriptor, graph, progress over time and comment), Progress Descriptor, Progress Graph, Subject Comment, Progress Over Time | Comments can be edited |
| Progressions | Progression | No |
| Markbook | Markbook Column, Markbook Table, Markbook Graph | Comments can be edited |
| Achievement | Assessment, Curriculum Section and Curriculum Level (the older National Standards view, kept for history) | No |
| Attendance | Attendance Summary, Attendance Graph | No |
| Secondary / NCEA | Secondary Achievement Section (per-subject results, with an optional teacher comment per subject), Internal Assessment Summary, NCEA Qualifications Summary, Non-NCEA Learning Summary, NZQA Standards | Subject comments optional |
Signature elements can print a date: none, the date the PDF was generated, the end of the reporting period, or a custom date. The Principal Signature can use the uploaded signature image from Reporting Configuration.
Managing reports: save, lock, duplicate, archive
Saving
The footer at the bottom of the editor has Cancel, Save and an Autosave switch. Autosave is on by default and saves every couple of minutes while you work. Cancel drops unsaved changes and returns to the list; All Reports also returns to the list and asks before discarding changes.
Locked reports and unlocking
When the first student's report is approved, the design is locked and a question-mark hint explains why. To change a locked report:
- Open it and click Unlock.
- Confirm. The report stays unlocked until another student's report is approved, which locks it again. Remember that approved reports print from the current design, so your edits will change those reports the next time their PDFs are generated.
If approved reports must stay exactly as they are, Duplicate the report and make your changes to the copy.
Archiving and restoring
Archive removes a report from use without deleting it. Turn on Show archived reports on the list to see archived reports and restore one. A locked report must be unlocked before it can be archived.
Sharing and starter templates
Report Builder has no option to send a report design from one school to another, or to share it with particular staff members. Sharing works like this:
- Within your school, every report is shared. Anyone with the Design Reports permission can open and edit any of the school's reports, and all teachers see active reports on the entry screen.
- From Edge to your school: Use Edge Template opens a dialog where you Select a template from Edge's library, type a Name for your copy, and click Create copy. The copy is entirely yours to edit. If no starter templates are available you'll see There are no shared templates available to copy yet. The name must be different from your existing reports.
- Within your own library: Duplicate makes a copy of an existing report.
Only Edge staff can add reports to the starter library. If you've built a report that other schools would find useful, tell your Edge contact.