The spreadsheet import lets you create classes and student accounts in bulk by uploading your class lists in Excel or CSV format. It's a good option if your school doesn't use MIS sync but you have a lot of classes and student accounts to get added or updated.
If your school uses MIS sync, that's the recommended approach for managing your main teaching classes as it keeps your class lists up to date automatically without any manual steps. The spreadsheet import is best suited to schools that manage their class data manually. See: How do I set up integration with Wonde?
Before you start
A few things worth checking before you run an import:
- Use school email addresses where possible. Students imported with a school email address can log in using Google or Microsoft SSO, which is simpler for students and reduces password support requests. Students imported without an email address will be assigned a Dr Frost username and password instead.
- Check for existing accounts. If students already have Dr Frost Maths accounts, the import will update their class rather than create a duplicate, as long as their details match. Personal email addresses or usernames can cause duplicate accounts to be created. See: A student already has a Dr Frost account from another school. How do I add them to my class?
- Class names must be unique within your school. If a class name in your spreadsheet doesn't exist yet, it will be created automatically. If it already exists, the import will add students to that class.
Step 1: Go to the Classes page
Select Classes from the user menu (where you see your name in the header bar).
Step 2: Go to the spreadsheet import
If your school has no classes yet, you'll see the Classes Setup screen. Click Go to spreadsheet import.
If your school already has classes, click Classes setup in the top right of the Classes page, then select Go to spreadsheet import.
Step 3: Download and complete the template
Click Download template to get the Excel file. Alternatively, you can download it directly here: DrFrost-Import.xlsx
The template has five columns: Surname, Firstname, Class, Yeargroup, and Email address.
Including email addresses is strongly recommended — students with a school email address can use SSO to log in, and will receive an activation email to get started. Students without an email address will need you to share their username and password with them manually.
Tips for filling in the spreadsheet:
- You can include students from multiple classes in the same spreadsheet — there's no need to do one upload per class
- To add a student to a second class, add them as a second row with the same name and email but a different class name
- Blank rows are ignored, as is any data outside columns B–F
- The order of students doesn't matter — Dr Frost Maths will organise them by class
Step 4: Upload your spreadsheet
Once you've completed the template, save it and upload it using the file picker on the import page. You can upload an Excel (.xlsx) or CSV (.csv) file.
Step 5: Choose your import option
Before the import runs, you'll be asked to choose how it should handle your existing classes:
Option 1 — My spreadsheet contains all students in my school All existing class groupings will be removed and replaced with the classes in your spreadsheet.
Important: Do not use this option to add individual classes. This will wipe all existing class lists for the whole school. Use it only when your spreadsheet contains your complete school class lists.
Option 2 — My spreadsheet only contains new classes I want to add, or students I want to add to existing classes Your existing classes and accounts are left alone. The spreadsheet adds new classes or students alongside what's already set up. Choose this if you're adding classes or students mid-year.
You can click Preview Import to see what the import will do before committing.
Step 6: Check preview and confirm
The preview will give you the chance to scroll through the class lists for a final check.
Click Confirm Import to proceed with the class creation or update.
What happens next?
Once the import is complete, you'll see a confirmation notice at the top of the screen.
- Students imported with an email address can log in immediately using Google or Microsoft SSO with their school email, or via the activation email they'll receive with a link to set their password. See: How do students log in to their accounts for the first time?
- Students imported without an email address will have been assigned a Dr Frost username and password, which you'll need to share with them. See: How do I download a list of student usernames and passwords?
- New classes will appear in your Classes list immediately
Activation emails not arriving? Your school's email system may be blocking emails from Dr Frost Maths. See: I'm not receiving emails from Dr Frost
Need help?
If you run into problems with your import:
- Check that your spreadsheet uses the downloaded template and hasn't had columns added, removed, or reordered
- Make sure class names are consistent - a typo will create a duplicate class
Still stuck? Contact our support team at support@drfrost.org with your spreadsheet attached and details of any error messages you're seeing.