A register on a clipboard
Each class has a paper register on the teacher's desk. Teachers tick names in the morning, sometimes after the break too, and the registers go into a tray at the end of the day. On Friday someone types them into the student system or a spreadsheet.
By the time a pattern shows up, a student has missed most of three weeks. The agent wants to know why nobody told them. A student who needs a minimum attendance on their certificate is surprised to learn they are below it on their last day. And a teacher covering a class cannot find the register at all.
Why paper registers stay
Teachers use paper because it is quick in the room. The trouble is what happens after the room.
- Registers are typed up days later, if at all.
- Students who move class appear on the wrong register.
- Late arrivals and early leavers are recorded differently by each teacher.
- Nobody follows up an absence on the day, because nobody sees it on the day.
- Thresholds for warnings live in a policy document, not in the data.
What late attendance data costs
Students who stop coming often have a reason: they are unwell, unhappy with a host, working, or thinking of leaving. Finding out on day one lets you help. Finding out three weeks later means a complaint, an agent who feels uninformed, or a student who has quietly gone. Where your policies require attendance to be monitored and reported, weak records are a risk in their own right, and your policy and advisers decide what is needed.
Someone also spends half a Friday typing registers.
The attendance system we build
- Teachers see their class list on a phone, tablet or classroom PC, and mark present, late or absent with one tap per student. The list already reflects level changes and new arrivals.
- Your rules for what counts as late and how partial attendance is recorded are set once, so every teacher records it the same way.
- At a time you choose each morning, reception gets a list of today's absences with no reason logged.
- Reception contacts each student by text or WhatsApp from the list, and the reply is logged against the absence.
- Each student's running attendance is calculated, and when it drops towards the thresholds in your policy, the student, the director of studies and, if your policy says so, the agent are told.
- Certificates and agent reports read attendance straight from the register.
| Event | What happens |
|---|---|
| Absence with no reason by mid-morning | On reception's follow-up list |
| Absence explained | Reason logged, off the list |
| Attendance nearing your first threshold | Student and director of studies notified |
| Attendance below your policy level | Escalation you define, such as a meeting |
| Cover teacher | Sees the register for that class on the day |
The thresholds and who gets told are your rules. The system applies them; it does not set them.
Attendance you can act on
Teachers spend a minute on the register at the start of class. Reception knows who is missing before lunch and has usually heard why by the afternoon. The director of studies sees a short list of students to talk to each week, instead of a spreadsheet to read. When an agent asks about a student, their attendance is on screen.
Does this match your registers?
- Registers are on paper and typed up later.
- Absences are not followed up on the day.
- Students learn they are below your attendance minimum too late.
- Agents ask about attendance and you have to look it up.
- Moved students show up on the wrong register.