What’s New in 26.1: Sonar UI, IBIS, SOCS + More

Picture of By Monica Gracie
By Monica Gracie
What’s New in 26.1: Sonar UI, IBIS, SOCS + More

Schoolbox continues to evolve as a connected platform for K–12 schools, bringing learning, wellbeing, communication and school operations together in one place.

Our latest release introduces new updates across user experience, reporting, assessment and integrations, including Sonar UI, IBIS exam registration and SOCS integration.

Together, these updates reflect the ongoing direction of Schoolbox: a clearer experience for users, stronger workflows for teachers and better connection across the systems schools rely on.

Sonar UI

Sonar UI: a clearer Schoolbox experience

Sonar UI is the new Schoolbox interface, now available as an opt-in preview.

It introduces a cleaner and more modern experience across the platform, with updates to navigation, forms, cards, typography, colour usage and configuration.

Sonar UI is designed to make Schoolbox easier to scan, more consistent to use and more flexible for schools to personalise.

It also strengthens accessibility and gives schools greater control over how their Schoolbox instance reflects their own brand and community.

This marks the beginning of a broader refresh of the Schoolbox experience and sets the foundation for future interface improvements.

Reporting Activity

Reporting Activity: purpose-built workflows for formal reporting

Reporting is one of the most important processes schools manage, and it often relies on information spread across multiple systems, spreadsheets or assessment workflows.

Reporting Activity gives schools a dedicated workflow for curriculum and summative reporting within Schoolbox.

It supports curriculum-aligned outcomes, teacher professional judgement and controlled visibility, helping schools manage formal reporting with more structure and consistency.

By separating formal reporting from assessment submission workflows, Reporting Activity helps schools connect learning evidence, curriculum standards and summative reporting in a more purposeful way.

Enhanced Rubrics

Enhanced Rubrics: more flexible assessment

Assessment is rarely one-dimensional. Teachers often need to assess different criteria, outcomes or capabilities within the same piece of student work.

Enhanced Rubrics give teachers more flexibility by allowing multiple rubrics to sit within one Due Work activity.

This reduces duplicate setup and helps schools manage richer assessment structures without adding unnecessary complexity for teachers.

IBIS Exam Registration

IBIS exam registration: supporting IB Diploma Programme schools

For IB schools running the Diploma Programme, Schoolbox now supports IBIS exam registration directly within the platform.

Schools can prepare, verify and submit student examination registrations to the International Baccalaureate Information System from Schoolbox, reducing the need for external platforms or manual CSV uploads.

IB coordinators can manage more of the registration process in one place, including student data, subject mapping, candidate confirmation and IB Candidate Numbers.

This creates a more connected workflow for one of the most important administrative processes in the Diploma Programme.

SOCS Integration

SOCS integration: connecting co-curricular life

School life extends beyond the classroom. Sport, music and co-curricular programs are a major part of the experience for students, staff and families.

Schoolbox now supports SOCS integration, helping schools bring sport fixtures and co-curricular information into the Schoolbox experience.

SOCS remains the source of truth, while Schoolbox gives the wider school community a more connected view of what is happening.

This helps reduce platform switching and brings more of school life into one familiar place.

A platform that keeps moving with schools

These updates are more than individual feature releases. They show the continued direction of Schoolbox as a platform built for the whole school experience.

Sonar UI improves the way users experience the platform. Reporting Activity and Enhanced Rubrics strengthen everyday learning workflows. IBIS and SOCS integrations help connect important operational systems into Schoolbox.

As schools continue to manage more across digital environments, Schoolbox is focused on making those experiences clearer, more connected and easier to manage.

Curious how these updates could support your school? We’re always happy to chat.

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