Recording class attendances - Attendance Officers

Use this method of recording class attendances if you are using the Attendance Officer mode.

Note: The Attendance Officer/Teacher mode can be configured to appear on the Set Attendance Search Criteria window. By default, this option is not displayed. See EnableAttendanceOfficerModeFlag configuration setting in the System maintenance manual.

Also, see:

To record class attendances:

Select Module > Students > Attendance Maintenance from the main menu.

Tip: You can also access the Attendance functions by clicking .

The Set Attendance Search Criteria window is displayed.
Update the search criteria, to locate the class that needs updating. See:

• Searching for attendance records
• Checking for classes not yet marked.
Select Attendance Officer Mode.
Select the class you are marking attendances for.

Tip: If the Period fields are highlighted in light yellow, Synergetic has detected multi-periods. See Recording class attendances - multi-periods.
Click .
The Attendance window is displayed. See Attendance window.

Note: The column headings displayed vary based on the mode being used. Also see IconAlertsDisplay configuration setting in the System maintenance manual.

Tip: If a confirmation dialog is displayed about using Multi-Period mode, see Recording class attendances - multi-periods.
Select in the Attended field next to an absent student.

Note: You can mark a late student as absent, depending on your organisation's policy. For example, your organisation decides that less than five minutes late is considered present and more than 15 minutes late is considered absent. Synergetic can be configured to create an absence event when you enter a late arrival Time. See Maintaining attendance configuration settings in the System maintenance manual.
If you know the details of the absence, select from the Absence Type drop-down list.
If you know the reason, select the reason from the Absence Reason drop-down list.

Note: You do not need to select this field in New Zealand schools as the Absence Type field is used to select one of the reasons pre-defined by the NZ Ministry of Education. See Attendance codes for New Zealand schools.
Record any comments in the Absence Comment field.
Repeat steps 6 through 9 for each absent student.
If a student arrives late:
• select the Late Arrive field for the student
• type the student's arrival time in the Time field next to it.
If a student leaves early:
• select the Early Depart field for the student
• type the student's departure time in the Time field next to it.
Repeat steps 11 and 12 for all students who are late or leave early.
Mark any of the user-defined flags. For example, No H/W (homework).
Up to five user-defined flags can be set up. See Attendance window.

In the example above:

• Amanda is absent all day. A note was received from home that she was going to the dentist to have some fillings and will not be in today. An Absence Event Slip is created for the dentist visit.
• Seth had to leave the class 15 minutes before the class finish time.
• Anna is absent but we do not know why yet. You will follow this up later. See Unexplained absences. An Unexplained Absence Event Slip is created.
• Timothy arrived six minutes late but it is your organisation's policy to mark her present because she arrived less than 15 minutes after the start of the class.
• Tifany is present in the class but did not hand in his homework, so no H/W is selected.
Click .
The Confirm Attendance window is displayed.
Check that the students displayed were in class.

Note: New Zealand schools that use this approach to set students to Present, rather than marking each student present, must either be marking attendances manually on computer-generated class lists or have roll books available for auditors to cross reference as appropriate.
Click .
The following dialog is displayed.
Click if you have more classes to mark, otherwise finish here.
The Set Attendance Search Criteria window is redisplayed with the marked class in bold.
Select the next period to mark.
Click .
Repeat steps 6 through 20 for each class.

Attendance Officer Mode example

In the Amanda Adamski example on earlier pages, the Absence Type, Absence Reason or Absence Comment fields were updated on the Attendance window. Because you are using the Attendance Officer mode these values are used by Synergetic to automatically update the corresponding absence event in the Details area, shown below.

Given that we have in our possession a note from the parent, we can update the Note Rcvd field too then submit the changes.