diff --git a/CHANGELOG.txt b/CHANGELOG.txt
index a4d8734376..0998572c08 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.txt
+++ b/CHANGELOG.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,12 @@
 Changelog
 =========
 
+2.12 (xx.xx.xxxx) - IN DEVELOPMENT
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+ * ...
+
+
 2.11 LTS (xx.xx.xxxx) - IN DEVELOPMENT
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
diff --git a/docs/releases/2.12.rst b/docs/releases/2.12.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..efb4f56760
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/releases/2.12.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+===========================================
+Wagtail 2.11 release notes - IN DEVELOPMENT
+===========================================
+
+.. contents::
+    :local:
+    :depth: 1
+
+
+What's new
+==========
+
+
+Other features
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+ * ...
+
+Bug fixes
+~~~~~~~~~
+
+ * ...
+
+
+Upgrade considerations
+======================
diff --git a/docs/releases/index.rst b/docs/releases/index.rst
index 99a3e0c3e1..9fe8abfa91 100644
--- a/docs/releases/index.rst
+++ b/docs/releases/index.rst
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ Release notes
    :maxdepth: 1
 
    upgrading
+   2.12
    2.11
    2.10.2
    2.10.1
diff --git a/docs/releases/upgrading.rst b/docs/releases/upgrading.rst
index 308c29e26c..6c80c7378e 100644
--- a/docs/releases/upgrading.rst
+++ b/docs/releases/upgrading.rst
@@ -139,3 +139,5 @@ The compatible versions of Django and Python for each Wagtail release are:
 +-------------------+------------------------------+-----------------------------+
 | 2.11              | 2.2, 3.0, 3.1                | 3.6, 3.7, 3.8               |
 +-------------------+------------------------------+-----------------------------+
+| 2.12              | 2.2, 3.0, 3.1                | 3.6, 3.7, 3.8               |
++-------------------+------------------------------+-----------------------------+
diff --git a/wagtail/__init__.py b/wagtail/__init__.py
index 4e52db6ede..ac6ed2c6e2 100644
--- a/wagtail/__init__.py
+++ b/wagtail/__init__.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ from wagtail.utils.version import get_semver_version, get_version
 
 # major.minor.patch.release.number
 # release must be one of alpha, beta, rc, or final
-VERSION = (2, 11, 0, 'rc', 1)
+VERSION = (2, 12, 0, 'alpha', 0)
 
 __version__ = get_version(VERSION)
 
diff --git a/wagtail/project_template/requirements.txt b/wagtail/project_template/requirements.txt
index 29286ce2d8..096d2ab93f 100644
--- a/wagtail/project_template/requirements.txt
+++ b/wagtail/project_template/requirements.txt
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 Django>=3.1,<3.2
-wagtail==2.11rc1
+wagtail==2.12a0