Go to Settings > Attendance & Calendar > Settings for school-wide options and notifications, and Settings > Attendance & Calendar > Programme-Level to set up each programme for each academic year: schedule, categories, holidays and weekends. Change period configurations and attendance categories only at the start of a school year.
For administrators setting up homeroom and class attendance, attendance categories, periods and notifications. Settings apply per programme and academic year.
Do not change period configurations or attendance categories in the middle of an academic term. Changing period configurations during the year or term hides attendance data entered under the previous configuration. Make these changes at the start of the school year.
| I want to | Go to |
|---|---|
| Set school-wide attendance options | Settings > Attendance & Calendar > Settings |
| Set the schedule, categories, holidays and weekends for a programme | Settings > Attendance & Calendar > Programme-Level |
| Choose which categories count as absent | Programme-Level > Customise Categories |
| Let substitutes record PYP homeroom attendance | Programme-Level > IB Primary Years |
| Change the first day of the rotation cycle | Programme-Level > Holiday Calendar |
| Set up attendance periods | Settings > Attendance & Calendar > Periods |
| Send absence emails to parents or digests to admins | Settings > Attendance & Calendar > Settings |
Set school-wide attendance options
Go to Settings > Attendance & Calendar > Settings.
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Choose your options:
- whether attendance is available for homeroom, classes or both
- whether parents can submit attendance excusals
- whether parents are notified when their child is absent from homeroom
- whether admins receive daily and weekly attendance emails
- the day weekly Attendance Digest emails go to administrators (sent at midnight)
Save your changes. They apply across all programmes.
Set up attendance by programme and academic year
Go to Settings > Attendance & Calendar > Programme-Level.
Select the programme, then the academic year.
Set the attendance schedule to Weekdays or a custom rotation cycle (for example, 5 days).
Choose the categories teachers can select, such as Late, Health or Dress Code. You can customise category names and colours to match your school.
Set your holidays: select a date in the calendar to mark it as a holiday, and select it again to remove it. Holidays and days off show in yellow, are not counted in attendance totals, and teachers cannot take attendance on them.
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Set the weekend days for the programme. This sets the first day of the week in student and teacher calendars:
- Saturday and Sunday weekend: the timetable starts on Monday.
- Friday and Saturday weekend: the timetable starts on Sunday.
Choose which categories count as absent
Go to Settings > Attendance & Calendar > Programme-Level > Customise Categories.
Turn on Mark as Absent for each category that should count as an absence. Leave it off for categories that should count as present.
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Confirm the change when prompted.
A category marked as absent is treated as an absence in attendance percentages, class charts, the class roster, the student overview and the home page. The Attendance Daily Digest, the Weekly Attendance Report and absence notifications to parents and coordinators use the same categories.
Changing whether a category counts as absent affects both current and past attendance data. Make major changes at the start of a new academic year, and export past attendance records first.
Turn on substitute homeroom attendance (PYP)
Go to Settings > Attendance & Calendar > Programme-Level and select IB Primary Years.
Tick Enable Substitute Recording.
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Save your settings.
Change the first day of the rotation cycle
Go to Settings > Attendance & Calendar > Programme-Level, then select the programme, the academic year and Holiday Calendar.
Select the first date of the cycle in the holiday calendar.
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Save your changes.
Set up attendance periods
Go to Settings > Attendance & Calendar > Periods. You can set the number and length of periods for the academic year. You can also add custom periods that are not classes, and vary periods by grade level and rotation day.
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Tick the boxes if you want to:
- change how many class periods there are each day (or in a rotating timetable)
- add an early class (Period 0)
- have different timetables for different grade levels
Depending on what you ticked, choose which grade levels the timetable applies to, and copy the period setup across days of the week or rotation days.
Select the number of periods for each day and set their times.
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Optional: add custom periods for blocks with no classes, such as Morning Assembly or Lunch.
You can copy period configurations from a previous academic year for each programme.
Set up attendance notifications
Absence emails to parents
Go to Settings > Attendance & Calendar > Settings.
Turn on automated emails to parents for homeroom absences.
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Save your settings.
The homeroom absence email includes a link for parents to submit an attendance excusal.
If a parent submitted an excusal note before the email was sent, the email includes a copy of the note.
Attendance digests for admins
Go to Settings > Attendance & Calendar > Settings.
Turn on Homeroom Attendance Daily Digest or Weekly Attendance emails.
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Save your changes.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to configure attendance every year?
Yes. Attendance settings are tied to academic years, so review or update them each year for each programme.
Can I track both homeroom and class attendance?
Yes. You can turn each on separately.
Who receives attendance notifications?
Parents (absence alerts) and administrators (daily and weekly summaries), depending on your settings.