The school needs to settle on a selection of attendance codes which meet legal requirements. These are defined using the form Registration reasons which can be added to the list of Lookup Forms or added to one or more menus. Each symbol is normally a single character but it is possible to use more.

 

The recommended symbols are:

Authorised absence (on a paper register, this would be a O with appropriate code within it)

B  Pupil attending another institution under a formalised duel registration arrangement.
C  Other circumstances (bereavement, agreed special occasions, performances, other approved absences
    not covered by other codes.
E  Excluded
H  Family holiday (for which leave has been granted)
I  Attending interview, e.g. with prospective employer or with another educational establishment.
M  Medical and dental appointments, confirmed illness
R  Day of religious observance for the religious body to which the parents belong.
S  Approved study leave
T  Traveller child travelling
/  Late (before registration closes)
Y Enforced school closure

Approved educational activity (code letter only, no O on a paper register)

P Approved sporting activity (participation in/attendance at)
V Educational visit or trip (UK/Overseas)
W Approved work experience

Unauthorised absence

O Main marking for unauthorised absence
L Late (after registration closes) . code letter within O

These are not compulsory for independent schools at present but may become so. Currently SchoolBase® does not provide for overwriting one symbol with another as in a written register, but a register log is kept, so anyone looking at that log could see that the register was first marked O by teacher, then with the correct code by, e.g., a secretary phoning the parents later.

School Closure

In event of circumstances that force the school to close, e.g. snow,a code is needed to mark everyone as not in school, without adding to absence counts. The usual code for this is #, but you can use different codes as well or instead. Any school closure code must be marked with sort order 0.

When the symbols are accessed on the attendance form the description is shown alongside in the dropdown so keep this as brief as possible. Mark whether the symbol represents an absence and if so if it is authorised or not and whether it counts as a late. These absence and late categories are used when pulling register marks through to parental reports, see Absence Counter.