ManageBac+ has two kinds of attendance. Homeroom Advisors record Homeroom Attendance once a day in Homeroom > Attendance. Teachers record Class Attendance per period in Classes > select the class > Attendance. Admins set it up in Settings > Attendance.
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Attendance QuickStart guide
For schools with the Attendance add-on: how to set up your account, record attendance, manage timetables and keep parents informed.
| I want to | Go to |
|---|---|
| Choose homeroom or class attendance | Settings > Attendance > Settings |
| Record homeroom attendance | Homeroom > Attendance |
| Record class attendance | Classes > select the class > Attendance |
| Set up the account for attendance | Settings |
| Change or review homeroom advisors | Year Groups > Members |
| Manage class, student and teacher timetables | Classes > Classes Manager |
| Use the Attendance Manager | Attendance Manager |
| Share attendance with students and parents | Reporting, Dashboard, Settings |
Homeroom or class attendance?
| Homeroom Attendance | Class Attendance | |
|---|---|---|
| Who records it | The student's Homeroom Advisor | Class teachers |
| Where | Homeroom > Attendance > the programme | Classes > select the class > Attendance |
| Setup needed | No timetables or periods | Rotation (weekdays or rotation cycle), periods and class timetables |
| Use it when | You take attendance once a day | You take attendance more than once a day, or in specialist classes |
If you only take attendance once a day, enable Homeroom only in your PYP attendance settings and record everything under the Homeroom tab.
A class can be named "Homeroom". Attendance recorded in that class's Attendance tab still saves as Class Attendance.
Record homeroom attendance
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From the Dashboard, go to Homeroom > Attendance and choose the programme. You see your assigned students, filtered by year group programme and sorted by last name.
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Select a category for each student, such as P: Present, A: Absent or L: Late. Hover over a button to see its category. To mark everyone at once, use Mark All As. Select the bubble icon to add a comment.
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Select the Calendar icon to see records across terms and as a percentage, or pick another day.
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Use the panel on the right to view the Daily Homeroom Summary, Export to Excel daily, weekly or monthly logs and contact details, and see when attendance was Last Updated.
Homeroom is a customisable term, so it may show as Advisory, Section or another name at your school.
- Attendance not recorded is marked Present automatically at midnight in your school's time zone. You only need to record students who were not present.
- A student marked Absent in homeroom shows as absent in their classes that day, so class teachers have context.
- If a parent has submitted an attendance excusal, it shows on the roster.
- If Substitute Recording is enabled, you also see students in any class you teach.
- If a student is missing from your list, check that you are their Homeroom Advisor on their profile or in the year group's Members tab (see homeroom advisors).
Record class attendance
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From the Dashboard, the Classes overview gives quick access to your classes and their attendance.
Go to Classes, select your class and open Attendance.
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If an admin has not set up your class timetable, select the period boxes for the days the class meets. You can also enter a room location.
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Select a category for each student, or use Mark All As. Search for a student if needed. Select the bubble icon to add a comment.
To update an earlier record, pick the date on the calendar.
- Students absent in homeroom show a red X. Parent excusals also show here.
- You can only pick dates when the class meets on its timetable. If you pick another day, the calendar jumps to the previous or next class day.
- Attendance not recorded is marked Present automatically at midnight.
Set up your account for attendance
Work through these settings in order. Open each one for the steps.
| Step | Who needs it | Go to |
|---|---|---|
| P1. Review time zone | All schools | Settings > School Settings > Name, Address and Logo |
| P2. Review academic terms | All schools | Settings > Academic Terms |
| A1. School-wide attendance settings | All schools | Settings > Attendance > Settings |
| A2. Programme attendance and holidays | All schools | Programme-Level tab |
| A3. Primary Years settings | Schools with primary | Programme-Level > IB Primary Years |
| A4. First day of the rotation cycle | Schools using a rotation cycle | Programme-Level calendar |
| HR1. Homeroom terminology | Homeroom attendance | Settings > School Settings > Terminology |
| HR2. Assign students to advisors | Homeroom attendance | Year Groups > Members |
| C1. Lesson terminology | Class attendance | Settings > School Settings > Terminology |
| C2. Configure periods | Class attendance | Attendance & Calendar > Periods |
| C3. Import class timetables | Class attendance | Classes Manager > Import Timetables |
| C4. Review timetable clashes | Class attendance | Import Timetables |
Before you start
P1. Review time zone
Go to Settings > School Settings > Name, Address and Logo > Time Zone. ManageBac+ uses this time zone to send daily and weekly digests and reminders, and midnight in this time zone is when empty attendance is set to Present.
P2. Review academic terms
Go to Settings > Academic Terms and select the programme. Select Edit on an academic year to change term dates so they match your attendance calendar, or select Add Academic Year.
Attendance settings
A1. School-wide attendance settings
Go to Settings > Attendance > Settings.
Under Available for, choose Homeroom, Classes or both.
Enable Parent Excusals to let parents submit attendance excusals.
Enable Send Homeroom Absence to Parents to email parents when their child is marked absent in homeroom.
Enable Send Homeroom Attendance Daily Digests to Admins to get a daily list of students absent in homeroom. You are also told when all students are present.
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Enable Send Weekly Attendance to Admins to get a weekly digest of students who missed a set number of homeroom or class periods.
For primary programmes, you can limit attendance to Homeroom only in the programme-level settings (A3).
A2. Programme attendance and holiday calendars
Select the Programme-Level tab.
Select the programme and the academic year.
Set the schedule to Weekdays or a custom Rotation cycle (for example 10 days). You can choose to count holidays in the rotation.
Select the Categories teachers can use, such as Late, Health or Dress Code. Use Customise Categories to change colours and labels.
Select dates in the calendar to set holidays. Select a date again to remove it. Holidays show in yellow, are not counted in attendance totals, and teachers cannot take attendance on them.
A3. Primary Years settings (schools with primary)
Go to Settings > Attendance & Calendar > Programme-level > IB Primary Years.
- Enable Substitute Recording: any teacher of a PYP class can take homeroom attendance. They see students they advise plus all students in the PYP classes they teach.
- Restrict to Homeroom Only: use this if PYP students stay in one class all day, so you record one attendance entry per day.
If enabled, this setting also applies to all teachers in PYP Next.
A4. First day of the rotation cycle (rotation schools)
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In the programme calendar, select the red number on the first day of the term.
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Choose the rotation day the term starts on.
Set your term dates first, then your holiday calendar and rotation.
Homeroom attendance
HR1. Customise homeroom terminology
Go to Settings > School Settings > Terminology and review Homeroom Tab name, Homeroom Advisory Title, Additional Homeroom Advisor Title and Additional Homeroom Advisors Title.
HR2. Assign students to their homeroom advisors
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From the Dashboard, go to Year Groups, select the year group and open Members. Assign advisors on each category's advisors tab.
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For additional advisors, open Members > Homeroom Advisors.
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To give every student the same advisor, choose the advisor for the first student, select the drop-down arrow icon to copy it down, then Save Changes.
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Do the same for the Additional Homeroom Advisor.
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To assign different advisors in bulk, go to Members > Students > Bulk Assign Students.
Class attendance
C1. Customise lesson terminology
Go to Settings > School Settings > Terminology and set the Attendance Lesson Period term.
C2. Configure periods for each programme
Go to Attendance & Calendar > Periods and select the programme.
Select the Academic Year.
Choose whether to customise periods by day or by rotation cycle, and whether to Start the period count from 0.
To set periods per grade, enable Differentiate periods by Grade level, then choose each Grade.
Set the number of periods each day and their times. Tick Custom Periods for times with no teaching. You can name custom periods freely and give them a background image from a preset list.
Use Copy Period Configurations from to copy between days or rotation days. Green checkmarks show days with saved periods. You can also Copy Period configurations from earlier academic years.
Select Save Changes.
C3. Import class timetables
Go to Classes > See all Classes > Class Manager > Import Timetables to bulk import periods and locations.
Select Download our CSV template.
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Complete Class ID (unique to each class), Academic Year, Rotation Day, Period Number and, optionally, Location. Use one row per day. For weekdays, Monday is 1, Tuesday is 2 and so on. For rotation days, enter the rotation day number.
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Save the file as CSV, select Choose File and then Next.
Use Classes Manager > Export Timetables as a reference for current class timetables.
C4. Review timetable clashes
After uploading, review the timetable and select Proceed to finish.
A class only imports if its Class ID matches the one in ManageBac+ exactly. Export Class IDs from Classes > See all classes > Export to Excel, fix any that do not match and select Upload new CSV.
You can also check Class IDs in Classes > Manage Classes, and update a timetable on the class itself instead of importing.
Change or review homeroom advisors
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One student: open their profile, select Edit Profile and choose from the Homeroom Advisor list.
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By year group: go to Year Groups, select the year group, then Members > Homeroom Advisors and choose from the Advisor list.
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In bulk: go to the year group's Members > Students > Bulk Assign Students.
Manage timetables
Class timetables
Set or update periods and days in the attendance settings. Double periods and repeated classes are possible.
Teachers can set the days and periods their class meets, and add a location or online meeting link.
Student timetables
Go to Classes > See all Classes > Classes Manager > Generate Timetables. ManageBac+ creates a ZIP file of PDFs, organised by grade level and student name, on the right of the page. Download it to share PDFs with students by email or message.
Students can also see their own live or PDF timetable when they sign in.
Teacher timetables
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Use Global Search at the top of the page to find and select the teacher.
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Select Timetable on their profile. Scroll through weekly schedules, email the teacher about a class, or select Export Timetables to PDF.
Use the Attendance Manager
The Attendance Manager lets admins, and teachers with permission, record daily attendance without opening each class or homeroom. It suits administrative assistants or HR staff who record attendance for many students.
- Record by Homeroom (by advisor) or Classes (by programme), filtered by grade level and attendance status.
- Export whole-school attendance and emergency contact forms.
- Track completion and send reminders to advisors who have not recorded attendance.
- Update students in bulk and view records by day, week or month.
Attendance records and reports
View term and yearly records for all students across academic years.
Review and adjust records before you generate report cards.
Give someone Attendance Manager permission
In bulk: go to Settings > Security & Permissions > Teachers & Advisors > Individual Permissions.
For one person: open their profile, select Edit Profile > Access & Permissions, tick Attendance and select Save Changes.
This permission gives full access to view and update attendance for all students in all programmes and grade levels, past and present.
Share attendance with students and parents
What students see
In their timetable, students see periods and locations, live attendance statuses, and class and homeroom attendance tallies. They can contact teachers to say they are late, browse future schedules and export their timetable to PDF.
What parents see
On their Dashboard, parents see live attendance statuses and comments.
In timetables, parents can view and export timetables as PDFs and see class attendance tallies. Statuses update in real time, with key contacts listed.
Each parent can choose their own interface language, including Chinese, Arabic, French, Japanese and Spanish.
Attendance excusals from parents
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On their Dashboard, parents select Submit Attendance Excusal.
They choose the days their child will be absent, give a reason (for example a 10-day camping trip) and select Submit.
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The excusal goes to the student's Homeroom Advisor and is emailed to ManageBac+ admins, who get a notification.
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Admins can view homeroom and class excusals in the Attendance Manager.
Parent excusals must be enabled first (see A1).
Attendance on report cards
Go to Reporting > Templates, select your template and open Attendance.
- Show Homeroom Attendance, Class Attendance or both.
- Choose which labels to include, for example Present and Absent only.
- Optionally show percentages.
- Use term or yearly records.
- Show attendance on the cover sheet or the summary page.
Daily digests and absence emails
Admins can receive a Homeroom Attendance daily digest, and parents can be emailed when their child is marked absent in homeroom. Turn these on in A1.
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