Recording excursions

Use the Excursion Out and In mode for an excursion absence event for one or more students, one at a time.

You can also enter the details using the Absentee Bulk Entry window, if that suits. See Creating excursion absence events for groups.

To record an excursion for one or more students:

Select Module > Students > Absence Events Maintenance from the main menu.
The Set Absence Events Search Criteria window is displayed.
Update the search criteria, if required. See Searching for absence events.
Click .
The Absence Events Maintenance window is displayed.
Click .
The Create Absence Event window is displayed.
Select the Excursion Out and In option.
The Create Absence Event window is redisplayed with details required for an excursion.
Select the Excursion Out Date and type the out Time.
Select the Excursion In Date and type the in Time.
Either:

• Select the Excursion Teacher from the drop-down list
• Type the person's name in the free-text field.
Change the Absence Type from the drop-down list, if required.

Note: New Zealand schools use the absence codes required by the NZ Ministry of Education (NZ MOE). See Attendance and absence codes for New Zealand schools.

Note: The excursion mode will set the default Absence Type to the luAbsenceType record that has a SynergyMeaning of Excursion. For example, School Trip/Camp.

Tip: You can organise the entries so that those with similar absence details are entered at the same time.
Select the Reason from the drop-down list, if required.

For example, some organisations categorise the School Trip/Camp Absence Type by creating reasons in the luAbsenceReason lookup table that have the same Absence Type Code as the Absence Type.
Type any comments in the Comment field.
Select Approved Absence if the excursion has been approved.

Note: New Zealand schools rely on the absence code selected using the Absence Type field to determine whether an absence is approved by the NZ MOE or not. See Attendance and absence codes for New Zealand schools.

Note: This flag is only displayed if ShowApprovedFlag is selected for the absence event type in the luAbsenceEventType lookup table.
Click .
The Student Search window is displayed.

Tip: Type the first letter of the student's last name to limit the students displayed on the Student Search window.
Update the search criteria to limit the search.
Click.
The Student Search window is redisplayed with students that meet the search criteria.
Select the student.
Click .
The absence event is saved and the Create Absence Event window is redisplayed ready for the next entry.
Repeat steps 10 through 17 until all students are processed.

Create Absence Event window - Excursion Out and In key fields and buttons

The following fields and buttons are displayed on the Create Absence Event window when the Excursion Out and In option is selected.

Fields

Field	Description
Absence Event Mode	The type of absence event, as defined in the luAbsenceEventType lookup table. See: Attendance concepts luAbsenceEventType lookup table in the System maintenance manual.
Excursion Out Date	Date that the excursion starts. For details on using the calendar to select a date, see Entering dates and times in the Introduction manual.
Out Time	Time that the excursion starts. Note: An optional 24 hour time format can be used for all time fields. This allows for quicker data entry using the numeric keypad as the AM or PM does not need to be entered.
Excursion In Date	Date that the excursion ends.
Time	Time that the excursion ends.
Excursion Teacher	Either: select the supervising teacher from the staff drop-down list type in the person's name in the free-text field.
Absence Type	The type of absence. Absence types are defined in the luAbsenceType lookup table. Note: The excursion mode will set the default Absence Type to the luAbsenceType record that has a SynergyMeaning of Excursion. For example, School Trip/Camp. Note: New Zealand schools use the absence codes required by the NZ Ministry of Education (NZ MOE). See Attendance and absence codes for New Zealand schools.
Reason	Reason for the absence.
Comment	Additional information available about the absence.
Part of Day	Part of the day (morning, afternoon or whole day) that the absence event occurs. If you leave this field blank, Synergetic automatically determines whether it is morning, afternoon or all day, based on the times in the absence event. This ensures that reports that rely on whether a student was absent morning, afternoon or a whole day continue to work.
Contact Made	Select if you contacted the person specified in the Reported By field to confirm the details of the absence event.
Contact Rcvd	Select if the person specified in the Reported By field contacts you to confirm the details of the absence event.
Note Made	Select if a note has been created to send home with the student. Note: Your organisation may use this field for another purpose. For example, to indicate a diary entry has been created.
Note Rcvd	Select if a signed note has been received from the parent.
Approved	Select if the reason given for the absence meets the policy in force at your organisation. This field may not be active for this mode. Note: You do not need to select this field in New Zealand schools as the Absence Type field is used to determine whether an absence is approved by the NZ MOE or not. See Attendance and absence codes for New Zealand schools. Note: This flag is only displayed if ShowApprovedFlag is selected for the absence event type in the luAbsenceEventType lookup table.
Student ID/Barcode or Surname	When selecting a student to record an absence event for, you can: type the student's Synergetic ID in the field scan the student's barcode, if available and configured type all or part of the student's surname and click click . Note: Some organisations have a second screen to view the photo of the student just scanned or submitted.
Show Second Screen	Most relevant with the Auto Sign In or Auto Sign Out modes. This allows a second screen to be displayed, when Synergetic is used for unattended signing in and out of students. The PC generally has: two barcode scanners attached, one in and one out a graphics adapter able to display two screens at once.

Buttons

Button	Description
	Select a student who is absent and for whom an absence event is being created. If the Student ID/Barcode or Surname field: is empty, the Student Search window is displayed without students has a value that has been entered, the Student Search window is displayed with students that match.
	Launch Student Maintenance for the selected student. See Maintaining current students in the Current students manual.
	Save the details of the absence event without leaving the window.
	Save the current absence event details.
	Exit from the current window without saving your changes.
	Add a group of absence events records in bulk. For example, if a group of students is attending a school camp. See Group absence events entered in bulk.
	Send an email to the parent's email address if it is defined. Alternatively, if a second contact is displayed you can send them an email. The Send Email window is displayed to allow you to type a message.
	Automatically match unknown absence events with the event being added. If there are existing unknown events, they are displayed on the Auto Match window. You have the option to supersede the unknown event(s) with the current absence event. See Superseding unknown absence events. For example, three absence slips were entered for absences from morning classes. Subsequently you received a note to say that the student was at the dentist and expected in later in the morning.
	Use the teacher's feedback for the actual details of the absence event. The following dialog window is displayed. When a teacher submits a nonattendance using the Attendance window, any additional information they entered is also displayed in the Details area of the Create Absence Event window. This information is available in the Timetable area of the Create Absence Event window.

Actual tab fields and buttons

Entries highlighted in yellow are today's entries. Only absence events with a start date a week before or after today's date are displayed.

Note: The date range is + or - seven days by default. This is configurable. See DayRange configuration setting in the System maintenance manual.

Fields

Field	Description
Mode	Abbreviation for the Absent Event Type (or mode) of the absence event.
Time	Either: In Time of the absence event. Out Time if an In Time is not available.
Type	Absence Type description of the absence event.
Reason	Reason given for the absence event.

Buttons

Button

Description

Supersede individual absence events on the Actual tab, rather than Synergetic automatically matching.

To supersede an individual absence event:

Select the absence event to supersede on the Actual tab.

Note: You can select multiple records by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking on each record in turn. You can also use the Ctrl key to de-select records.
Click .
The Auto Match window is displayed.
Click .

Timetable details fields and buttons

The student's timetable for the day of the absence event is displayed, along with any attendances marked, medical incidents and co-curricular activities.

Timetable fields and buttons

Field

Description

Type

Filter the academic and co-curricular timetable entries based on their file type. For example:

A for academic subjects
M for music subjects
and so on, depending on the file types at your organisation.

By default all entries are displayed.

Year / Term

The Year and Term are used when modifying an absence event from a previous term or semester. You will need to adjust the fields to ensure that the correct timetable is displayed.

Grid area fields

Field	Description
Time	Start time of the period.
Period	Description of the period when the class is scheduled to take place.
Attended	The student's attendance for each class is either: marked as being absent marked as being present not marked yet.
Class / Description	Description of the: academic class co-curricular activity medical incident.
Poss Desc	Possible description of the reason for the absence.
Staff	Staff code for the teacher scheduled to take the class.

Note: These grids are only displayed if the ShowAttendDetailsOnCreateFlag is selected in the luAbsenceEventType lookup table for the type of absence. See luAbsenceEventType lookup table in the System maintenance manual.