Academic Structure

Your school’s academic structure defines how students, courses, and academic periods are organized. The structure depends on your school type (K-12 (primary and secondary school) or University).

Before you begin: You need an existing school on Lena. See Creating Your School if you haven’t set one up yet.

Organizational structure

K-12 Schools
Universities

K-12 schools use a grades and arms (class sections) hierarchy.

Creating grades

Grades represent class levels (e.g., JSS (Junior Secondary School) 1, JSS 2, SS (Senior Secondary) 1, SS 2, Primary 1).

Navigate to School Structure

Go to the School Structure section in the sidebar → Grades. The grades management page appears.

Click 'Create Grade'

Enter the grade name (e.g., “JSS 1”, “SS 3”, “Primary 4”). Click Save to add the grade.

Create grade dialog with a text field for entering the grade name

Repeat for all grades

Create all the grades your school uses.

Creating arms

Arms are subdivisions within a grade (e.g., Arm A, Arm B, Gold, Silver, Science, Arts).

Select a grade

Click on the grade you want to add arms to. The grade detail view opens showing existing arms.

Click 'Create Arm'

Enter the arm name (e.g., “Arm A”, “Science”, “Gold”). Click Save and the new arm appears under the selected grade.

Repeat for all arms

Add all arms within each grade.

Example structure:

JSS 1
├── Arm A
├── Arm B
└── Arm C
JSS 2
├── Arm A
├── Arm B
└── Arm C
SS 1
├── Science
├── Arts
└── Commercial

Universities use a faculties and departments hierarchy.

Creating faculties

Faculties are broad academic divisions.

Navigate to School Structure

Go to School Structure → Faculties. The faculties management page appears.

Click 'Create Faculty'

Enter the faculty name (e.g., “Faculty of Science”, “Faculty of Engineering”). Click Save and the new faculty appears in the list.

Create faculty dialog with a text field for entering the faculty name

Creating departments

Departments sit within faculties.

Select a faculty

Click on the faculty you want to add departments to. The faculty detail view opens.

Click 'Create Department'

Enter the department name (e.g., “Computer Science”, “Mathematics”, “Electrical Engineering”). Click Save and the department appears under the selected faculty.

Example structure:

Faculty of Science
├── Computer Science
├── Mathematics
├── Physics
└── Chemistry
Faculty of Engineering
├── Mechanical Engineering
├── Electrical Engineering
└── Civil Engineering

Academic sessions

An academic session represents a full academic year (e.g., “2025/2026”).

Creating a session

Go to Sessions

Navigate to School Structure → Sessions. The sessions list appears.

Create a new session

Enter the session name (e.g., “2025/2026 Academic Session”) and optionally set start and end dates. Click Save and the session appears in the list.

Create session form with fields for session name, start date, and end date

Activate the session

Click Activate to set this as the current active session. Only one session can be active at a time. The session status changes to Active.

Terms and semesters

Within each session, create the time periods that divide the academic year:

K-12: Terms
University: Semesters

Create terms like “First Term”, “Second Term”, “Third Term”.

Open the active session

Click on the session to view its details. The session detail page opens showing existing terms.

Create a term

Enter the term name, start date, and end date. Click Save and the term appears in the session.

Activate the term

Set the current term as active. Only one term can be active at a time. The term status changes to Active.

The active session and period determine which courses are visible and active for teachers and students. Make sure to activate the correct session and term/semester at the start of each period.

Managing structure

Editing

You can rename grades, arms, faculties, departments, sessions, and periods at any time. Changes are reflected immediately across the platform.

Deleting

Deleting a grade, faculty, or department may affect students and courses linked to it. Make sure no students or courses are actively using the structure element before deleting it.

Bulk import via Excel

If your school has many grades or departments, you can import your academic structure from an Excel spreadsheet instead of creating each one manually.

K-12 Schools
Universities

📥 Download K-12 structure import templateImport your entire section/grade/arm structure using a single .xlsx file with the following columns:

Column	Required	Description
Section Name	Yes	The school section (e.g., “Primary”, “Junior Secondary”, “Senior Secondary”)
Section Abbreviation	Yes	Short code for the section (e.g., “PRI”, “JSS”, “SS”)
Class Name	Yes	The class numbers within the section — use commas for multiple classes (e.g., “1, 2, 3”)
Arm Names	Yes	The arms within each class — use commas for multiple arms (e.g., “A, B, C, D”)

Each row creates grades by combining the section with each class name. For example, a row with Section Name “Junior Secondary” (abbreviation “JSS”) and Class Name “1, 2, 3” creates grades “Junior Secondary 1”, “Junior Secondary 2”, and “Junior Secondary 3”.Example spreadsheet:

Section Name	Section Abbreviation	Class Name	Arm Names
Primary	PRI	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6	A, B, C
Junior Secondary	JSS	1, 2, 3	A, B, C, D, E
Senior Secondary	SS	1, 2, 3	Science, Arts, Commercial

Use commas to list multiple classes or arms in a single cell. The import creates all combinations automatically — the example above creates 12 grades (6 Primary + 3 JSS + 3 SS), each with their specified arms.

📥 Download university structure import templateImport faculties, departments, and levels together using a single .xlsx file:

Column	Required	Description
Faculty Name	Yes	Faculty name (e.g., “Faculty of Science”, “Faculty of Engineering”)
Department Name	Yes	Department within the faculty (e.g., “Computer Science”, “Mathematics”)
Levels	Yes	Comma-separated list of academic levels (e.g., “100, 200, 300, 400”)

Each row defines a department within a faculty. If multiple rows share the same faculty name, the departments are grouped under that faculty automatically.Example spreadsheet:

Faculty Name	Department Name	Levels
Faculty of Science	Computer Science	100, 200, 300, 400
Faculty of Science	Mathematics	100, 200, 300, 400
Faculty of Science	Physics	100, 200, 300, 400
Faculty of Engineering	Mechanical Engineering	100, 200, 300, 400, 500
Faculty of Engineering	Electrical Engineering	100, 200, 300, 400, 500
Faculty of Arts	English	100, 200, 300, 400

To import, click the Import button on the structure page, select your .xlsx file, review the preview, and confirm.

Column headers must match exactly as shown above (case-sensitive) - The file must be in .xlsx format (Excel workbook) - Data must be on the first (active) sheet of the workbook

Managing Students — add students who need to be assigned to this structure
Managing Teachers — add teachers to your school
Creating Your School — initial school setup and school type selection
Glossary — definitions of grade, arm, faculty, department, and other terms

Getting Started

School Management

Organizational structure

Creating grades

Creating arms

Creating faculties

Creating departments

Academic sessions

Creating a session

Terms and semesters

Managing structure

Editing

Deleting

Bulk import via Excel

Getting Started

School Management

​Organizational structure

​Creating grades

​Creating arms

​Creating faculties

​Creating departments

​Academic sessions

​Creating a session

​Terms and semesters

​Managing structure

​Editing

​Deleting

​Bulk import via Excel

​Related guides

Organizational structure

Creating grades

Creating arms

Creating faculties

Creating departments

Academic sessions

Creating a session

Terms and semesters

Managing structure

Editing

Deleting

Bulk import via Excel

Related guides