A summary of meaningful feature, experience and bug-fix changes across the START portals. Small visual adjustments and behind-the-scenes maintenance are omitted.
Wednesday
12 August 2026
All portals
Clear photography and filming consent. Every current consent choice links to a branded HTML explanation of how images may be used and the rights people retain.
Admin and teacher portals
Programme-wide resources. Materials can now sit outside the five loops, with the draft START Programme Handbook available to administrators and teachers.
Sunday
9 August 2026
Operator portal
Redesigned portal. The operator experience now has a focused dashboard plus dedicated environment, administrator and activity pages, with clearer navigation and responsive layouts.
Clearer environment management. Environment creation, details, editing and status are now presented as guided page flows rather than one crowded dashboard.
Improved activity overview. Recent application health and activity are easier to review and filter.
Admin portal
Richer programme events. Events can now be added and edited on dedicated pages, with an optional venue and postal address. Complete addresses provide a map link for teachers and pupils.
Personal profile editing. Settings now lets people maintain their first name, last name and optional preferred name while keeping their sign-in email visible.
Improved pupil setup. Pupil account access is now generated only when requested, and newly created pupil accounts can sign in reliably. Pupil photo consent is managed only by administrators.
Clearer schools and feedback. School addresses use a consistent postal format, page titles are more descriptive, and success messages remain available after redirects.
Complete programme catalogue. New and existing programmes now receive the authoritative learning-material and portfolio-evidence catalogue.
Simpler navigation. The main navigation now concentrates admin work around Home, Schools, Events, Materials and Settings. On mobile, Events has replaced Teams in the bottom navigation.
School-aware teacher setup. An admin cannot add a teacher until an active school exists. When there is one school, the add-teacher journey is already scoped to it.
Deliberate teacher account access. Adding a teacher no longer creates account access automatically. The admin can generate it from the teacher’s details when ready to share it.
Clearer empty states. School lists, material browsing, material visibility and Home cards now explain what to do when no content is available.
Clearer role selection. People who administer more than one programme now see the relevant programme name alongside each Admin option at sign-in.
Mobile-friendly event forms. Date and other form controls now fit reliably on narrow screens.
Teacher portal
Personal profile editing. Teachers can update their structured and preferred names from Settings.
More reliable pupil access. Creating a pupil no longer generates access automatically; teachers can request it from the pupil’s details when they are ready to share it.
Clearer dashboard totals. Team and pupil count labels now read naturally for both singular and plural totals.
Photo consent responsibility clarified. Teachers can no longer view or change pupil photo consent; this is an administrator responsibility.
Clearer material empty states. Materials now distinguish an empty programme from an individual loop whose resources are still coming.
Pupil portal
Live team avatars. Home now shows the current team’s real members rather than sample initials.
Clearer activity feeds. Home and Team use consistent icons and more natural descriptions for uploads, completed work, milestones, mentoring and team changes.
Personal profile editing. Pupils can update their structured and preferred names from Settings.
Reliable first sign-in. Newly created pupil accounts now complete password setup and enter the correct portal consistently.
Complete portfolio catalogue. Portfolio requirements now use the current programme evidence catalogue.
Pupil-specific material guidance. Pupils see clearer messages when no materials are available and when a loop has no visible resources.
Saturday
8 August 2026
Operator portal
New visual identity. The operator portal adopted a distinct operational theme and a more consistent dashboard presentation.
Better mobile navigation. The mobile drawer gained a visible close control, improved device-edge spacing and better keyboard focus behavior.
Clearer empty states. Empty environment and administrator areas now explain what to do next.
Admin portal
Programme setup checklist. Home now tracks adding a school, adding a teacher and creating an event from live programme data.
Completed-programme dashboard. After setup, Home shows live school, teacher, pupil and team totals, the next event and quick actions.
Simpler school forms. Address entry was improved and the local-authority field was removed.
More reliable account setup. Setup works correctly even when the browser already has another signed-in session, and password confirmation helps prevent typing mistakes.
Consistent empty states. Directories, events, materials and dashboard panels now provide clearer guidance when empty.
Teacher portal
Getting-started checklist. New teacher homes guide users through creating a team, adding a pupil and assigning a pupil to a team.
Portfolio completion metric. Home now shows progress across required portfolio items alongside team and pupil totals.
Required onboarding. Teachers review terms and privacy information, photo permission and dietary requirements before first entering the portal.
Simpler dietary choices. The form supports multiple relevant requirements while keeping “none” and “prefer not to say” as clear exclusive choices.
Activity navigation simplified. The unfinished standalone Activity link was removed; recent activity remains on Home.
Pupil portal
Required onboarding. Pupils review terms and privacy information and provide dietary requirements before first entering the portal.
Simpler dietary choices. The form uses direct choices with extra detail fields appearing only when needed.
Better empty states and mobile navigation. Empty activity, materials, team and portfolio areas are clearer, and the mobile drawer is easier to use.
More reliable password setup. Setup now works when another account is already signed in and asks for password confirmation.
Friday
7 August 2026
Operator portal
Environment management. Operators gained a dashboard for creating environments, reviewing status and maintaining administrator access.
Clearer layout. Tables, actions and responsive content widths were improved for day-to-day operation.
Admin portal
Programme events. Admins can add and remove upcoming dates that appear on teacher and pupil Home pages.
Smoother onboarding. Newly added administrators can set their password and continue directly into the portal.
Navigation cleanup. Internal and unfinished destinations were removed from normal portal navigation.
Teacher portal
Clearer Home identity. Home now identifies the Teacher Portal and the teacher’s school context.
Live upcoming events. Home shows dates created by the programme administrator.
Smoother password setup. Completing setup now continues directly into the portal.
Pupil portal
Real team activity. Sample items were replaced with the pupil’s actual team activity and relative times.
Richer milestones. Activity now covers portfolio progress, mentoring, feedback, newly available content and team changes.
Live upcoming events. Home shows dates managed by the programme administrator.
Clearer Home identity. Home now includes the pupil’s school and team context.
Thursday
6 August 2026
Admin portal
Improved file viewing. Supported course materials and authorized portfolio evidence now open more naturally in the browser.
Teacher portal
Improved file viewing. Supported course materials and team evidence now open more naturally in the browser.
Pupil portal
Improved portfolio and material files. Evidence uploads remain private to authorized users, while supported files open more naturally in the browser.
