Planned absences are used to log when a student will be absent from school and can be used to choose a pre-fill mark that will automatically populate in the registers.
When should a planned absence be logged?
We advise you to log planned absences before the registration period begins to make sure the marks pull through to the register, or after registration has already been taken. You're able to record planned absences after the morning registers because planned absences can be used to amend attendance marks. Any planned absences logged that cover past registers will change the marks to the planned absence Pre-fill mark.
If you want registers to be pre-filled with the right attendance code when a student is off school, you'll need to log a planned absence with a pre-fill mark.
This mark is what will appear in the register as the default mark for the student for the duration of the planned absence.
To make sure the absence appears in the register, please advise your teachers to only open the register when they are going to take attendance.
If they are in the opened register when a planned absence is logged, this may cause the pre-fill mark to not populate into the register. This can result in the wrong absence code being logged by the teacher.
If your school logs planned absences at the same time as registers are taken, we would advise to either tidy up any incorrect marks using the Bulk Edit Marks pages, or to change your processes so you log planned absences before or after the registration period begins.
You're able to record planned absences after the morning registers because planned absences can be used to amend attendance marks. Any planned absences logged that cover past registers will change the marks to the planned absence Pre-fill mark.
For example, this afternoon I have logged a planned absence for Lisa and set it to begin this morning. The old mark for today's register has now changed to the pre-fill mark from the planned absence.
Note regarding Covid-19
If a whole class is isolating, the quickest way to fill in their attendance is to add a planned absence for the students for the full duration they will not attend school, with the correct absence code as the pre-fill mark.
Whenever the class is due to take place, you will need to open the register for the planned absence marks to pull through as this will not update marks automatically. Go to Students > Attendance, click into that class' register and click the Open Register button to open it and pull through the marks. You can then edit marks in Bulk Edit Marks.
Using planned absences
To view currently planned absences (or past or future planned absences using the date range in the filter), go to Students > Attendance > Absentees (from left-hand menu) > Planned Absences to see students with upcoming planned absences. Click the orange Record Planned Absence button to get started!
You can filter the date range of the report by using the filter bar.
You can also record absences for an individual student. Just go to the Attendance > Dashboard section of their Student Profile.
Logging planned absences
Click on the Record Planned Absence button and fill out the information in the slide over.
- Select the student(s) you wish to record a planned absence for. You can log a planned absence for one student, multiple students or even a specific group e.g a club or a class.
- Start / End dates of the planned absence
- Choose the pre-fill mark. This will automatically populate in the registers opened after the planned absence is logged. This cannot be a statistically present or late mark - you can see each type of mark here.
- Who approved the absence and the date approved
Tick the box to Pin the planned absence to the Student's Profile box at the top of the page. When the absence has passed this will auto unpin from the Student Profile.
Click on Record Planned Absence to record the absence.
Adding a repeating absence saves time inputting multiple absences, plus you can also easily edit each individual instance separately!
Fill in the start and end time for the absence. In the example below, I'm setting up that Lexi will be on work experience every Friday. You should only input the start and end times for the first absence. These times will apply to each repeat of the absence.
Then click to open the Set absence to repeat section to turn the single absence to a repeating one.
You can then select when you want the absence to repeat - daily, weekly, every other week or every week A/B (dependant on the current week).
Then select the end date the absence will repeat until or the total number of absences you want to create.
Once you have chosen your settings, click Record Planned Absence. All the absences will then show in the table.
Note the circular arrow in the Notes column showing that the absence is part of a repeating absence.
What happens if a student already has a planned absence?
If all of the students you've selected already have a planned absence during that time, you won't be able to record the new planned absence.
If one or more students you've selected already has a planned absence that overlaps with the one you are logging, the planned absence will not be logged for these specific students.
Click the link in the pop up to view a list of these students, and take further action if needed.
When adding an overlapping planned absence on the student profile, you won't be able to record the new planned absence.
Can we change the default start and end times?
When logging a planned absence, the default start and end times of the absence will be based on the timetable lessons at your school (not the roll-call times) - but you can amend the duration of the planned absence as needed. The default times cannot be amended.
- Through the student profile, the default times are based on the student's lessons today
- Through the Attendance > Absentees > Planned Absences page, the default times are based on the start of the earliest and end of the latest lessons timetabled for any student today
The times are based on today, even if you're logging an absence for a later date. They are based on scheduled lessons and do not take into account any other events such as meetings or clubs etc.
Editing a repeating planned absence
Please note, you will only be able to edit an absence in these ways if it has been created as part of a Repeating Planned Absence.
To edit the times of the planned absences, click an absence.
In the slide over, select the Manage repeating absence action.
You will then be able to edit the times of the absences in bulk.
To edit only one instance of the absence, click the instance you want to edit.
In the slide over, click the orange Edit button.
You will then be editing that specific absence instance. In the example below, I've changed the start time for the instance on the 26th to 1 pm, rather than the usual 8 am start. Once you have made the changes, click Save Changes.
You will be asked to confirm your changes.
Finally, you will be asked which instances you want your edits to apply to.
In my example, I only want to edit the instance I selected, so I choose 'Only this occurrence', but you can also choose to edit all future instances or all occurrences. Then click Save Changes.
You will then be able to see in my example that the times have changed for one instance of the planned absence.
Deleting planned absences
Select the boxes next to all the absences you would like to delete, then click the blue pencil icon and select delete Planned Absences.
You will then be asked to confirm to permanently delete the absences.
Click the absence you want to delete. Click Edit in the slide over, then click the Delete button. You will be asked to confirm the deletion.
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