20 Included User Accounts.
Empowering Your Whole Team with iAbacus.
When considering an iAbacus subscription for your school, it’s important to understand the 20 included user accounts that come with each subscription. These user accounts ensure that key members of your staff can all access and benefit from iAbacus without additional cost . Below, we explain what those 20 users can do, how different roles in your school typically use iAbacus, and what to do if you need more than 20 users. We’ll also cover common questions in a handy FAQ. This information is tailored for school leaders, so you can make an informed decision about how iAbacus will support your whole team.
What Can the 20 Included Users Do?
With an iAbacus subscription, you get 20 user accounts included. This means up to 20 individual staff members can have their own login under your school’s subscription. Each of these users can fully participate in your school’s self-evaluation and improvement planning through iAbacus
Here’s what those included users are able to do:
Full Access to Features: Every included user has access to all core iAbacus features – they can create self-evaluations, develop action plans, add evidence, and track progress just like the admin or lead user. All core functionality is available to all 20 users with no restrictions.
Collaborate in Real Time: Multiple users can work together on the same evaluation or improvement plan. For example, a senior leader and a subject head can both contribute to a department self-evaluation simultaneously. Users can add “beads” (judgements), share evidence, and even merge or compare their abacuses to build a collective view of strengths and areas for improvement. This collaborative capability means your leadership team and staff can truly work as one, rather than in silos.
Share Evidence and Insights: Each user can upload or note evidence (like data points, observations, or documents) to support their evaluations. All included users can view and contribute evidence, making the self-evaluation richly informed from multiple perspectives. This transparency encourages open dialogue and a shared ownership of school improvement.
Tailor Plans to Their Role: Because iAbacus is versatile, each of the 20 users can use it in a way that fits their role. A headteacher might use it for whole-school strategy while a subject leader focuses on their department – all within the same platform. (We detail specific role-based uses in the next section.)
Secure Individual Accounts: Each user account is separate and secure. Team members log in with their own credentials, which means their contributions are tracked to their name. This is helpful for accountability and for leaders to see who has added what. It also allows staff to pick up where they left off on their own plans or evaluations.
Included Support & Training: Every one of the included users is covered by iAbacus’s comprehensive support. This means they can all attend training sessions, use help materials, or get guidance from the iAbacus team as needed. There’s no extra fee for supporting each user – your whole team can confidently get up to speed.
In short, those 20 included user accounts let your key staff members actively engage with iAbacus. They can collaboratively evaluate and improve different aspects of the school, each from their perspective, all under one subscription. Most primary or secondary schools find that 20 accounts are plenty to include senior leadership and middle leaders (and even some teaching staff if needed) in the process. And if you do need more than 20, iAbacus makes it easy to add extra users – which we’ll explain further below.
Role-Based Breakdown: How Different Staff Use iAbacus
One of the strengths of iAbacus is that it’s designed for all roles in a school, not just the headteacher. Whether you’re a headteacher, part of the senior leadership team, a subject or department lead, a SENCO, or a pastoral lead, iAbacus adapts to each role’s needs. Here’s a breakdown of how different staff typically use the platform, using those included user accounts:
Headteachers (Whole-School Leaders)
Headteachers use iAbacus to drive whole-school self-evaluation and improvement planning. As the overall leader, you can use your account to get a clear picture of the school’s performance and plan strategic next steps. Typical ways headteachers use iAbacus include:
Whole-School Self-Evaluation: Carry out or oversee the entire school self-evaluation against your national or local framework (for example, Ofsted criteria or your school’s development plan). iAbacus provides a consistent framework so you can pinpoint strengths and areas for improvement at the whole-school level (Copy for the new website.docx).
Strategic Improvement Planning: Set and monitor school-wide improvement priorities. You can create an action plan for key objectives (like raising literacy standards or improving attendance) and then track progress towards those goals within iAbacus (Copy for the new website.docx). All 20 users can update their relevant parts, giving you live insight into how initiatives are progressing.
Aligning Departments/Phases: Coordinate initiatives across various departments or key stages. For example, you can ensure that what subject leaders plan in their areas aligns with the whole-school goals. iAbacus lets you align staff on shared goals and track progress collaboratively across the school (Copy for the new website.docx), so everyone is moving in the same direction.
Data Dashboard for Leadership: By using the included accounts, you and your senior team can overlay or stack multiple “abacus” evaluations (e.g., one for each department) to get a bird’s-eye view of the school (Copy for the new website.docx). This helps in leadership meetings – you can visually spot patterns or areas needing attention across the board.
Overall, as a headteacher, iAbacus becomes a central tool for school improvement, ensuring that your vision and the day-to-day plans of staff are connected in one place. It accommodates the high-level strategic work you do and makes it easier to communicate and monitor that strategy with your team (Copy for the new website.docx).
Senior Leaders (Senior Leadership Team - SLT)
Senior leaders – such as Deputy Headteachers, Assistant Headteachers, or other members of the SLT – also benefit from the included iAbacus accounts. They typically work hand-in-hand with the headteacher but often have specific areas of responsibility. Here’s how senior leaders use iAbacus:
Shared Strategic Work: Senior leaders contribute to the whole-school self-evaluation and improvement plan alongside the headteacher. iAbacus accommodates high-level strategic work for senior leaders (Copy for the new website.docx), meaning you can take ownership of particular sections (for instance, quality of teaching, curriculum, or key stage outcomes) within the school’s abacus. This collaborative approach ensures each SLT member can input their expertise.
Leading Key Initiatives: If you are in charge of a specific initiative (e.g., implementing a new curriculum, overseeing digital learning, or improving pupil premium outcomes), you can create focused action plans in iAbacus. Your user account lets you set targets, assign tasks, and monitor impact for your initiative, all aligned under the wider school plan.
Oversight of Middle Leaders: Senior leaders often use iAbacus to review and support the self-evaluations done by middle leaders. For example, a Deputy Head could look at all subject leaders’ improvement plans (since they’re all on the platform) and ensure consistency and high standards. Because multiple users can participate and share their evaluations (Copy for the new website.docx), an SLT member can easily jump into a department’s abacus, see the evidence and judgements, and add comments or guidance.
Phase or Pastoral Leadership: In many primary schools, senior leaders might each oversee a phase (e.g., KS1 or KS2) or a major area like inclusion or assessment. With iAbacus, you can maintain an abacus for your phase/area – evaluating its performance and progress. This helps keep the SLT discussions evidence-based, as everyone has their area’s data and plan at their fingertips.
By giving senior leaders their own accounts, iAbacus enables distributed leadership. Each SLT member can take ownership of their domain while staying coordinated with the whole-school strategy. All of this happens on one platform, which brings coherence to your efforts and saves time in meetings – since everyone can review the same live data and plans.
Subject Leaders / Department Heads
Subject leaders (or department heads, curriculum coordinators, etc.) use iAbacus to focus on their specific subject or faculty. The included user accounts mean each subject leader can maintain their own self-evaluation and improvement plan within the system. Here’s what this looks like:
Subject Self-Evaluation: A subject leader (like Head of Maths, Head of English, Science Coordinator in primary, etc.) can create an abacus for their subject to self-evaluate how that subject is performing across the school. They will develop subject-specific self-evaluations and improvement strategies using iAbacus (Copy for the new website.docx). This might include evaluating exam results or assessment data, quality of teaching in that subject, curriculum coverage, and student engagement in the subject.
Targeted Improvement Plans: Based on the evaluation, the subject lead formulates an action plan. For example, if writing is an area of concern in English, the English lead can set an action like “Introduce a new writing initiative” and track it. iAbacus helps monitor curriculum impact with evidence-based progress tracking (Copy for the new website.docx). The subject leader can attach evidence (lesson observations, student work samples, test scores) to show progress on their action points.
Collaboration and Sharing: Subject leaders can share their abacus with the senior leadership and with their department members (if, say, they involve a team of teachers). All relevant staff (up to the 20 included users or more if added) can contribute evidence or ideas. This engages staff collaboratively with data-backed insights into the subject (Copy for the new website.docx). For instance, a science department could collectively note practical experiment outcomes or resource needs in their Science abacus.
Aligning with Whole-School Goals: Importantly, iAbacus helps subject leaders align their subject goals with broader school or trust missions (Copy for the new website.docx). As a subject lead, you can see how your plans contribute to the school’s overall improvement plan. If the whole-school goal is improving literacy across the curriculum, the history or science lead can reflect that in their subject plans. The platform ensures everyone is speaking the same language of improvement, just applied to different areas.
For subject leaders, having an iAbacus account means they have a structured, evidence-based way to drive improvement in their area and clearly communicate their plans and needs to SLT. It turns departmental development plans into a living document that’s part of a joined-up school effort, rather than something done in isolation.
SENCOs (Special Educational Needs Coordinators)
SENCOs play a critical role in ensuring inclusive support for learners with special educational needs or disabilities. With one of the included iAbacus user accounts, a SENCO can systematically evaluate and enhance the school’s SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) provision. Here’s how a SENCO typically uses iAbacus:
Evaluate SEN Provision: The SENCO can create an abacus specifically for SEND provision in the school, allowing them to identify where the provision excels and where it needs strengthening (Copy for the new website.docx). This might cover areas such as the effectiveness of classroom adaptations, quality of interventions, progress of pupils with SEN, and staff training in SEN. iAbacus provides a clear, collaborative way to review all these aspects, ensuring no student’s needs slip through the cracks.
Plan and Monitor Improvements: Based on the evaluation, the SENCO sets targeted improvement actions. For example, if the evaluation shows that support for dyslexia needs improvement, an action might be “Introduce new training for staff on dyslexia-friendly teaching strategies.” The SENCO can detail this in iAbacus, assign who will do it, and attach resources or evidence as it’s implemented. iAbacus helps map out goals, identify barriers, and detail interventions for SEN students (Copy for the new website.docx), essentially becoming a living action plan that can be updated as progress is made.
Collaboration with Staff and Specialists: SENCOs often work with class teachers, teaching assistants, and external specialists (like speech therapists or educational psychologists). With iAbacus, everyone can contribute to the SEN abacus – teachers can input their observations or assessment results for students with SEN, TAs can note progress on interventions, and the SENCO can incorporate feedback from specialists. This creates a unified overview of each learner’s experience and the support in place (Copy for the new website.docx). All contributors see the big picture, which leads to more coherent and consistent support for each child.
Across Multiple Schools (if applicable): If the SENCO works across a trust or multiple schools, iAbacus allows bringing multiple evaluations together (Copy for the new website.docx). This means a trust-level SENCO could compare SEN provision across schools, identify common needs, and share effective practices. Even in a single school, this feature might help compare year groups or phases. (For a single-school SENCO, this might be less of a focus, but it’s good to know the tool can scale up to that level.)
Reflect on Leadership: Like other leaders, a SENCO can also use iAbacus to reflect on their own leadership of inclusion. iAbacus encourages a cycle of reflection, so the SENCO might keep notes on what’s working in their approach, what skills to develop further, etc., ensuring they continue to grow professionally in leading SEN support (Copy for the new website.docx) (Copy for the new website.docx).
In essence, iAbacus supports SENCOs by providing clarity, structure, and collaboration in a very complex area of school life. It helps in nurturing an inclusive environment where all pupils can flourish (Copy for the new website.docx). With the included user account, the SENCO can coordinate the efforts of many people through one platform, making SEN support more transparent and effective.
Pastoral Staff (Behaviour, Attendance, and Wellbeing Leads)
Schools often have staff dedicated to pastoral care – such as a Behaviour Lead, Attendance Officer/Lead, Heads of Year, or Wellbeing Coordinator. These roles focus on students’ behavior, attendance, and overall welfare. iAbacus’s 20 user accounts can and should include these pastoral leaders so they can systematically improve these critical areas. Here’s how pastoral staff typically use iAbacus:
Behavior Management: A Behaviour Lead can use iAbacus to evaluate the school’s behavior culture and policies. They might set up an abacus to review things like incident rates, effectiveness of rewards and sanctions, implementation of anti-bullying strategies, etc. iAbacus provides a clear way to evaluate what’s working in your setting and identify areas to improve behavior-wise (Copy for the new website.docx). Based on this, the Behavior Lead can create an action plan (e.g., launching a new positive behavior program or staff training on classroom management) and track its impact.
Attendance Tracking and Improvement: An Attendance Lead could maintain an abacus for attendance, analyzing attendance data, punctuality, and the impact of attendance interventions. They can plan steps such as attendance reward schemes or targeted support for frequently absent students. By doing this in iAbacus, they evaluate and plan improvements for key areas such as attendance in a structured way (Copy for the new website.docx). They can also share this plan with senior leaders and tutors so everyone is aware and involved in improving student attendance.
Wellbeing and Pastoral Care: Pastoral leaders focusing on student wellbeing or personal development can similarly use iAbacus to manage initiatives (like mentoring programs, mental health support, extracurricular engagement). They can gather data from surveys or incidents, identify priorities (e.g., “increase feelings of safety at school” or “improve resilience skills”), and lay out actions to address them.
Coordinating Interventions: Pastoral staff often run interventions for specific students or groups (like counseling sessions, mentoring, attendance contracts, etc.). With iAbacus, they can coordinate targeted interventions for pupils and monitor their progress (Copy for the new website.docx). For instance, a Head of Year could track the outcomes of a mentoring program for disaffected students – logging improvements in behavior or engagement as “evidence” in the plan.
Collaborating for a Positive Culture: Importantly, pastoral leads don’t work in isolation – they collaborate with teachers, form tutors, senior leaders, and sometimes parents. Because iAbacus is multi-user, pastoral staff can invite relevant colleagues (within those 20 accounts) to contribute. A Behaviour Lead might invite teachers to input discipline data or feedback, and an Attendance Lead might work with form tutors to update attendance follow-up notes. This shared input ensures everyone aligns around a clear set of behaviour or attendance goals and works together to achieve them (Copy for the new website.docx). The result is a more consistent, positive culture for everyone (Copy for the new website.docx).
Measuring Impact: Pastoral improvements can be tracked over time in iAbacus. If, say, a new behavior policy is implemented, the Behavior Lead can show a decline in detentions or an improvement in classroom climate through the evidence collected in iAbacus. These results can then be reported to SLT or governors with confidence, since all the information is organized and viewable through the platform.
By including pastoral staff in your 20 user licences, you ensure that areas like behaviour and attendance get the same rigorous evaluation and planning as academic subjects. iAbacus helps pastoral teams shape a supportive, respectful environment where students can focus on learning and growth (Copy for the new website.docx). In a nutshell, every facet of school life – academic or pastoral – can be improved using the iAbacus process, and your included user accounts cover the key people who lead those areas.
Adding Additional Users Beyond the Included 20
For many schools, 20 user accounts will cover all the staff who need to actively use iAbacus (for example, a headteacher, a few senior leaders, department heads, SENCO, etc., up to 20 individuals). However, if your school is larger or you want more than 20 people to have access, you can add additional users to your iAbacus subscription.
Flexible Expansion: iAbacus allows you to purchase extra user licences if needed. Each subscription includes 20 users by default, and you can add extra users at £5 per month or £50 per year each (Copy for the new website.docx). This means the platform can scale with your needs – you’re not limited to 20 if, for example, you decide that every teacher in your school should have an account.
Easy to Add: Adding an extra user is straightforward. In practice, you would typically contact the iAbacus team or adjust your subscription settings to add more licences. The additional cost can be prorated or added to your next billing, depending on your contract. (For instance, on an annual plan you might pay a pro-rated amount for any new user added mid-year, or on a monthly plan you’d see the £5/user reflected in the monthly bill.)
Immediate Access: Once you’ve arranged the additional licence, you can create a new user account for the staff member who needs it. They’ll then have the same access and permissions as any other user (unless you choose to set them differently). There’s no software installation or complex setup – it’s just enabling an extra login under your school’s subscription.
When Might You Need More? Some secondary schools or larger primaries may have more than 20 people in leadership and middle leadership roles. Or you might start with 20 and later decide to involve more teaching staff in the process (for example, if every teacher will do a personal self-evaluation on iAbacus). In these cases, the option to extend beyond 20 users is very handy. If you’re unsure how many licences you’ll need, the iAbacus team can help you estimate what’s right for your school (Copy for the new website.docx).
Cost-Effective: The pricing for additional users is relatively low (about £5 per user per month on a monthly plan, or £50 per user per year on an annual plan (Copy for the new website.docx)). This transparent pricing ensures you only pay a small fee for each extra person using the platform. There are no other hidden costs for adding users – they’ll still get all the support and training benefits of the subscription.
Reviewing User Needs: It’s worth periodically reviewing who actually needs a user account. You might find 20 is sufficient and you don’t need extras, or if staff roles change, you can reassign an account to a new person (for example, if a middle leader leaves and someone new is hired, you can simply rename or replace that user on the platform rather than buy a new licence). This flexibility means your 20 licences are always put to best use, and you only expand if it’s genuinely needed.
In summary, iAbacus gives you 20 user accounts included, but also the freedom to expand beyond 20 at a modest cost if your school requires it (Copy for the new website.docx) (Copy for the new website.docx). This ensures that no matter how big your team or how collaborative you want to be, the platform can accommodate your needs. Many school leaders appreciate this scalability, as it supports growth and wider participation in the school improvement process.
Frequently Asked Questions about User Accounts
Q1. Who counts as a “user” in the iAbacus subscription?
A: A “user” is any individual staff member who has their own login to iAbacus under your school’s subscription. Essentially, one person = one user account/licence. The 20 included user accounts can be given to anyone on your team who will benefit from using the tool – for example, your headteacher, deputy heads, assistant heads, heads of department, SENCO, pastoral leads, and possibly teachers or support staff who are involved in improvement planning. It’s up to you how you allocate the accounts. (You don’t have to use all 20 if you don’t need them, but it’s there so you won’t likely run out.) Typically, schools assign these to their leadership and key middle leaders first. Remember that accounts shouldn’t be shared between individuals; each person should have their own so that their contributions and plans are tracked to them. If a staff member leaves or changes role, you can always reassign that account to someone else by updating the user details or removing the old user and inviting a new one – you don’t lose the licence.
Q2. Do all 20 users have full access to all iAbacus features?
A: Yes. Every included user licence comes with the same full functionality of iAbacus. There is no tiered access – all users can create and edit evaluations, add evidence, generate reports, etc., assuming you give them permission to do so. By default, users you invite can be given different roles or permissions (for instance, you might invite someone as a read-only viewer or as an editor). iAbacus supports multi-user roles – you can designate some users as Viewers, Contributors, or Editors to control their level of access if needed (Copy for the new website.docx). But aside from permission settings you choose to apply, there’s no difference in features available: an included user account has the same powerful tools as the admin account. This means a classroom teacher (if you give them an account) could, for example, do their own self-evaluation or contribute to a department plan just like a leader would. All users share a “single source of truth” on the platform, which is great for consistency. (Also worth noting: comprehensive support and training is included for all users – every account holder can access help resources or training sessions at no extra cost (Copy for the new website.docx).)
Q3. Can we add more than 20 users if our school needs them?
A: Yes. If you find that 20 accounts aren’t enough, you can purchase additional user licences on top of the included 20. According to iAbacus’s pricing, each extra user costs about £5 per month or £50 per year (Copy for the new website.docx) (you can choose monthly or annual billing for them, just like the main subscription). There’s no hard limit – you could have 25, 30, 50 users or more, as long as you arrange the extra licences. Many schools won’t need that many, but the option is there. To add an extra user, you would typically contact iAbacus support or manage it through your account settings. They will adjust your subscription and you can then create the additional user login. The process is straightforward, and the new user will be able to start using iAbacus right away. If you’re not sure how many users you’ll ultimately need, the iAbacus team can help you figure out the right number (Copy for the new website.docx) – for example, by discussing how you plan to roll it out among staff.
Q4. How do we actually add or remove user accounts (practically speaking)?
A: When you start your subscription, the iAbacus team will help set up your administrator account (often the headteacher or IT lead). That admin can then invite other users via the platform. Inviting a user typically involves entering their email in the system so they get a welcome email to set up their password. This will use up one of your 20 licences. Removing a user is just as simple – an admin can deactivate or delete a user account, which frees up a slot to invite someone else. So, for example, if a member of staff leaves, you can remove their account and then invite their replacement without any change in your licensing count. If you need to add beyond the 20 and you haven’t purchased extra licences yet, the system or iAbacus support will prompt you to arrange the purchase of the additional user licence. It’s usually a quick discussion or click to approve the extra cost, and then you proceed with inviting the new user. There’s flexibility here: you control who has access at any given time, and you can manage accounts as your team changes.
Q5. Can multiple people share one user account to save licences?
A: It’s not recommended. While technically you could have people share login credentials, it undermines the integrity and security of the platform. Each user account is meant for one individual. Sharing accounts would mean you lose the ability to see who provided which input, and it could pose security issues (for example, when someone leaves, you wouldn’t want them to still know a shared password). Instead of sharing, use the 20 accounts for the 20 people who most need them. If you think two people would have to share because you have more than 20 who need access, that’s a good sign you should consider an extra licence or two. The cost is small, and it will keep your usage clean and manageable. Plus, with individual accounts, each user can set their own preferences, get their own notifications, and so on. In summary: one person per account is the way to go for both practical and data security reasons.
Q6. Is training or support available for all the users we include?
A: Absolutely. Part of what you’re paying for in the subscription is not just the software, but the support for your staff to use it effectively. The subscription includes comprehensive support and training for all users (Copy for the new website.docx). This often means: initial onboarding training for your team (sometimes via webinar or even on-site INSET style training), ongoing webinars or help sessions, one-to-one support if someone has a question, and access to online help guides or a support portal. So whether you have 5 people using iAbacus or 25, each of them can get help directly from the iAbacus team. School leaders appreciate this because it reduces the burden on any one person to become the expert – everyone can learn to use the tool confidently. And if new staff join and take over an iAbacus account, they too can avail themselves of the next training session or ask for an onboarding walkthrough. All of that is included at no extra charge, ensuring all your user licences are fully supported (Copy for the new website.docx).
Q7. What if I have a multi-school trust – do the 20 users cover the whole trust or per school?
A: The standard subscription and its 20-user allocation are per school (each school pays £995/year or £99/month and gets 20 users, etc.) (Copy for the new website.docx) (Copy for the new website.docx). If you are a trust leader looking at iAbacus for multiple schools, typically each school would have its own subscription (and its own set of 20 users), often with a discounted rate for buying in bulk. As a trust or group, you might have some central staff (like a CEO or Improvement Director) who want to see across all schools – iAbacus supports that by allowing MAT & group leaders to oversee multiple schools’ data (Copy for the new website.docx). In such cases, those trust staff might have accounts in each school’s iAbacus or a special arrangement. It can get a bit more complex, but iAbacus does offer multi-school discounts and the ability for trust-level overviews (Copy for the new website.docx) (Copy for the new website.docx). The main point for this question: if you’re just focused on one school’s purchase, count 20 users per school. If you’re a trust considering a multi-school deal, you’d likely talk to iAbacus about how many total users you need across the trust and how they can accommodate that (they often tailor packages for trusts).
We hope this page has clarified how the 20 included user accounts in an iAbacus subscription work and why they’re valuable for school improvement. In summary, these user accounts enable a wide range of your staff – from headteachers and senior leaders to subject heads, the SENCO, and pastoral leads – to actively engage in self-evaluation and improvement planning together on one platform. This collaborative approach is proven to bring about a more cohesive and effective improvement process (Copy for the new website.docx) (Copy for the new website.docx). And if your needs grow, iAbacus grows with you by allowing additional users for a minimal cost (Copy for the new website.docx).
For primary and secondary school leaders making a purchasing decision, knowing that iAbacus can involve your whole team (not just one or two people) should provide confidence. It means the investment isn’t just a single-user tool, but a platform for collective leadership and staff development. With clear pricing, included support, and flexible user management, iAbacus is designed to fit neatly into the way your school operates.
If you have further questions about user accounts or any other aspect of iAbacus, don’t hesitate to reach out to the iAbacus team for more information. Empower your team with the right tools, and watch your school’s self-improvement journey flourish – together.