Tracking and Monitoring Attendance - A Guide (10!03!2016 - 1648)

TRACKING AND
MONITORING
ATTENDANCE
A Guide
Tracking and Monitoring Attendance
MIS Advisory | February 2015 | Version 4.0
Page 2 of 48
Contents
The Home Page ............................................................................................................................... 5

(Use the Home Page to monitor your percentage attendances and absences on a daily basis)
Exclude Pupils/Students of non-compulsory school age .................................................................. 9
Overall School Attendance ............................................................................................................. 11

(Whole school percentage attendance, authorised and unauthorised figures)
Code Analysis ................................................................................................................................ 13

(Breakdown of whole school showing number of sessions by all codes)
Group Analysis by Attendance Category ....................................................................................... 15

(Analysis by possible, present, AEA, authorised, unauthorised and % Attendance)
Holiday Reports.............................................................................................................................. 17
H – Family holiday (agreed) ........................................................................................................... 17
G – Family holiday (not agreed) ..................................................................................................... 18
Late Reports................................................................................................................................... 19
L - Late (before registers closed) ................................................................................................... 19
U - Late (after registers closed) ...................................................................................................... 20
All Lates ......................................................................................................................................... 20
Percentage Attendance Reports .................................................................................................... 21

(Listing pupils/students fulfilling certain criteria e.g. less than 85% attendance)
Percentage of Pupils in School with Less than a Specific Percentage Attendance ........................ 23
(Calculating the percentage of pupils within the school that have less than a specific %
attendance)
Broken Weeks Report .................................................................................................................... 25

(Listing the total number of weeks broken by absence)
Tracking Weekly Attendance.......................................................................................................... 29

(Week by week attendance shown in a graphical format)
Monitoring Individual Attendance ................................................................................................... 33

(Using Assessment mark sheets to monitor individual attendance performance)
Reporting on Vulnerable Groups .................................................................................................... 35
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Persistent Absence Report............................................................................................................. 37
Reasons for Absence ..................................................................................................................... 39

Printing Comments......................................................................................................................... 40
(Using the comment facility to record reasons for absence/lateness)
Minutes Late................................................................................................................................... 43
Printing Minutes Late ..................................................................................................................... 43
(Recording how late a pupil/student is to aid discussions with parents)
Letters ............................................................................................................................................ 45
(The benefits of uisng pre-defined letters in the Attendance module)
Page 4 of 48
The Home Page

The Home Page is displayed automatically each time you log into SIMS and provides an overview
of the content in your SIMS system, such as the School Diary, messages and group summary
information (attendance, behaviour, achievements etc.). By default, the School Bulletin and My
Timeline panels are normally displayed, and further panels can be added or removed as required.
Configuring the Panel Grid

Click the Configure button at the top of the Home Page to display the Configure
Home Page dialog.
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1. Increase or reduce the number of panels as appropriate and click on the green tick.
2. Drag and drop the required panels on to the grid.
3. Click OK.
Step by Step – Configuring Individual Panels

Some Panels require no additional configuration e.g. My Messages, School Bulletin. However,
all multi-use panels require further configuration.
1. Click the Configure icon in the Attendance Summary panel. There are various options
available within this configuration e.g. the ability to select the cycle.
2. It is also possible to select specific groups.
3. Click OK to keep the settings.

4. If a particular group e.g. year group, reg group is causing concern, an additional Attendance
panel can be created and configured to report on that specific group.
5. As many Attendance panels as appropriate can be created.
6. The data will load and refresh during the day to create a bar chart.
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Interrogating the data provided by the Bar Chart

1. Double click on the relevant segment e.g. Unauthorised absence.
2. Click on the heading Unauthorised Absence twice to re-order the list showing those pupils
with the highest number of Unauthorised Absences at the top.
3. Right mouse click over the appropriate record to be given two options – Pupil Teachers
View or Pupil Attendance Summary.
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Pupil/Student Teacher View:
Pupil/Student Attendance Summary:
Page 8 of 48
Exclude Pupils/Students of non-

compulsory school age
When running any of these reports, it is essential to exclude all pupils/students of non-compulsory
school age. To ensure this, follow these procedures:
Within SIMS .net
Tools | Setups | Attendance Setup | Module Setup Go to Panel 3 – Exclude from Attendance
PRIMARY SCHOOLS: Tick Exclude Students with Date of Birth after then enter the following
dates dependent on when the reports are being run:
Academic Year Autumn Term Spring Term Summer Term

2013/14 31/08/2008 31/12/2008 31/03/2009
2014/15 31/08/2009 31/12/2009 31/03/2010
2015/16 13/08/2010 31/12/2010 31/03/2011
HIGH SCHOOLS: Tick Exclude Students with Date of Birth before then enter the following date
dependent on when the reports are being run:
Academic Year
2013/14 01/09/1997
2014/15 01/09/1998
2015/16 01/09/1999
Click Save.
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NB – IMPORTANT – Don’t forget to remove the tick once the reports have been run as
records for these pupils/students are hidden from view whilst the tick is active.
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Overall School Attendance

Reports | Attendance/Lesson Monitor | Group Reports | Group Session Summary Report
After the Attendance Module has been set to exclude non-compulsory school aged
pupils/students.
1. Change the Group Type to Whole School.

2. Select the appropriate Date Range.
3. Click Search.
4. With Whole School Selected highlighted, click Print and OK at Run a Screen Based
Report.
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Code Analysis
Reports | Attendance/Lesson Monitor | Group Reports | Group Analysis by Code Report.

2. Select appropriate Date Range.
3. Click Search.
4. Remove the tick from Restrict by DOB Range.
Report.
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Group Analysis by Attendance Category

Reports | Attendance/Lesson Monitor | Group Reports | Group Analysis by Attendance
Category Report.

3. Click Search.
4. Select Percentages and remove the tick from Restrict by DOB Range.
5. Select Show Girls and Boys Separately.
Report.
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Page 16 of 48
Holiday Reports
Schools must be aware that the DfE changed the regulations in April, 2013, regarding leave for
holiday purposes as follows:
“The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 currently allow Headteachers to
grant leave of absence for the purpose of a family holiday during term time in “special
circumstances” of up to ten school days leave per year. Headteachers can also grant extended
leave for more than ten school days in exceptional circumstances.
Amendments to the 2006 regulations remove references to family holiday and extended leave as
well as the statutory threshold of ten school days. The amendments make clear that Headteachers
may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances.
Headteachers should determine the number of school days a child can be away from school if the
leave is granted.”
A revised Attendance policy will be provided by Staffordshire in due course.
Please note that the Autumn SIMS Upgrade removed the ability to use the F code – Extended
Family Holiday (agreed).
The following guidance for reporting on Exceptional Leave approved is offered for those occasions
when the Ofsted Inspector/Education Welfare Officer requires the information.
The number of pupils/students that have taken holidays – H or G or F (Approved Exceptional

Leave or Leave not approved).
H – Family holiday (agreed)

Reports | Attendance/Lesson Monitor | Selected Pupil Reports | Pupils with Chosen Code
Report
1. Set the Date Range.

2. Leave Group Type at Whole School.
3. Remove the tick from /Present (AM).
4. Tick H Family holiday (agreed).
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Report.
The number of pupils/students with the number of sessions taken throughout the school are
totalled at the bottom of the table.
G – Family holiday (not agreed)

Follow same route as above, but this time tick G Family holiday (not agreed) and Print.
Page 18 of 48
Late Reports
The number of pupils/students that have been late – L or U (Late before registers closed, Late
after registers closed).
L - Late (before registers closed)

Reports | Attendance/Lesson Monitor | Selected Pupil Reports | Pupils with Chosen Code
Report
1. Set the date range, leave the Group Type at Whole School.
2. Remove the tick from /Present (AM).
3. Tick L – Late (before registers closed).
Report.
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The number of pupils/students with the number of sessions taken throughout the school are
totalled at the bottom of the table.
U - Late (after registers closed)

Follow same route as above, but this time tick U Late (after registers closed)
and Print.
All Lates
Select codes L and U and Print
Page 20 of 48
Percentage Attendance Reports

e.g. Less than 90%, less than 86%
Reports | Attendance/Lesson Monitor | Selected Pupil Reports | Percentage Attendance

Report

3. Click Search.
4. Put radio button in Less Than and enter 90.
5. Select Percentage underneath Order By.
Report.
Page 21 of 48
The order of this report was changed in the Autumn 2014 upgrade to show ascending order.
Repeat the exercise but change 90 to 86.
Page 22 of 48
Percentage of Pupils in School with Less

than a Specific Percentage Attendance
Reports | Attendance | Selected Pupil Report | Percentage Attendance Report

3. Click Search.
Report.
Export or copy the whole table to Excel. In a blank field outside the table type the following
formula:
=((COUNTIF(C:C,”<85”))/(COUNT(C:C)))*100
Click away from the field – this will provide the percentage of the school who have less than 85%
attendance. If you require a different percentage, in the formula replace 85 with the percentage
required.
Page 23 of 48
Page 24 of 48
Broken Weeks Report

Reports | Attendance/Lesson Monitor | Selected Pupil Reports | Broken Weeks Report
The date range will default to the beginning of the academic year to the current week. Leave the
radio button against Any broken weeks.
With Whole School Selected highlighted, click Print and OK at Run a Screen Based Report.
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This report can be exported into Excel and re-ordered to show those pupils/students with the most
Broken Weeks. (See page 32 for instructions on exporting the report into Excel.)
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Pupil Analysis by Session in Week

Reports | Attendance/Lesson Monitor | Whole Group Pupil Reports | Pupil Analysis by
Session in Week Report

3. Click Search.
4. Show the data as Percentage.
Report.
Page 27 of 48
Scroll down to the bottom of the report to see a summary of the schools’ attendance broken down
by session in week.
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Tracking Weekly Attendance

Reports | Attendance/Lesson Monitor | Group Reports | Group Weekly Analysis Report

3. Click Search.
4. Show the data as Percentages.
5. Remove the tick from Restrict by DOB Range.
Report.
This report can be sent into Excel to create a graphical analysis.
Page 29 of 48
Either Right mouse click over any part of the table and select Export to Microsoft Excel or
highlight the graph and copy and paste into Excel.
In Excel select the Insert menu then highlight the dates and Attendance data as below
Page 30 of 48
Convert the data either to a Bar Chart by clicking on Column or a Line Graph by clicking on Line.
Select the appropriate Column or Line Graph.
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Monitoring Individual Attendance

The MIS Advisory Team has recently worked with a number of schools to put in place processes to
enable them to monitor individual pupils/students attendance, comparing attendance on a termly,
half termly or fortnightly basis. This is achieved through the use of Assessment mark sheets that
are colour coded to alert the Head teacher/Attendance Manager of those instances where
attendance is falling.
The following table is an example of what can be achieved, reporting on a fortnightly basis:
The percentage attendance column is colour coded in line with Traffic Light letters. The
Difference column is then colour coded to indicate when a pupil/student has had 3 or more days
absence in that fortnight.
For more information, please contact the MIS Advisory Team through the Learning Technologies
Service Desk on 0800 111 8030.
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Reporting on Vulnerable Groups

Reports | Attendance/Lesson Monitor | Group Reports | Group Analysis by Vulnerability
Report

3. Show the data as Percentages.
The STAR fields that can be selected are as follows:
 Asylum Status
 Child Protection Plan
 English Additional Language
 Ethnicity
 Free School Meals
 In Care
 Medical Condition Flag
 Paramedical Support
 Personal Education Plan
 Pupil Premium (to be introduced in the Spring 2015 upgrade)
 SEN Status
 Service Children in Education
 Summer Born
 Traveller Status
4. Highlight the relevant STAR (vulnerability) field.

5. If required, additional codes can also be reported e.g. L (Late before registers closed).
Report.
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Tick the box to Show Boys and Girls Separately if the report is to be broken down even further.
This report gives numbers of pupils/students, not the names of those concerned.
Page 36 of 48
Persistent Absence Report

Reports | Attendance/Lesson Monitor | Whole Group Pupil Reports | Persistent Absence
Reports
Provides an analysis of the number of pupil/students who are persistently absent from school. By
default, the report displays the numbers of pupil/students who were persistently absent from
school for more than 15% and more than 20% of sessions. NOTE: Ofsted will use the criteria of
15% of absences.
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Detailed Report
The Detailed Report should be run every half term after the October half term to enable you to
target those pupils/students whose attendance is so poor that they are considered Persistent
Absentees.
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Reasons for Absence

Use the Comments facility within Attendance to record reasons given for absences or lates.
These reasons can be printed from the pupil’s Marks record to discuss with parents.
This facility is available to Attendance Officer’s entering information through the Edit Marks routine
(Focus | Attendance/Lesson Monitor | Edit Marks) or the Teacher when entering Mark through
Take Register.
Within the Register, right mouse click over the relevant cell against the pupil and select Enter
Comments:
Record the relevant information and click OK.
Page 39 of 48
A red flag will appear in that cell and hovering over the cell will display the information entered in
the Enter Comments box.
Printing Comments
Comments can be printed in two formats:
Reports | Attendance/Lesson Monitor | Selected Pupil Reports | Comments Report
Focus | Attendance/Lesson Monitor | Display Marks
Open the record of the relevant pupil:
Click on Print and click OK at Run a Screen Based Report:
The comments will be displayed at the bottom of the report.
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Page 41 of 48
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Minutes Late
Record how late the pupil is in order to produce evidence to parents of the number of occasions
and cumulative effect.
This facility is available to Attendance Officer’s entering information through the Edit Marks routine
(Focus | Attendance/Lesson Monitor | Edit Marks). Within the Register, right mouse click over
the relevant cell against the pupil and select Enter Minutes Late.
Enter the number of minutes and click OK.
The cell will be highlighted and hovering over the cell will display the information entered in the
Minutes Late box (together with any Comments also entered).
Printing Minutes Late

Reports | Attendance/Lesson Monitor | Selected Pupil Reports | Minutes Late Report
Click on Print and click OK at Run a Screen Based Report
The report not only shows the individual sessions when the pupil has been late but will do a
cumulative total for the period of time selected.
Page 43 of 48
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Letters
There are a number of benefits attached to using the functionality within the Attendance module to
define and send letters:
a) Mail merge templates are created which ensure that the letters are targeted and personal to
that pupil/student;
b) The letters can be based on a number of concerns e.g. number of lates, percentage
attendance, unexplained absences;
c) Each letter that is sent can be attached to the appropriate pupil/student record;
d) Reports can be provided showing the relevant person e.g. Ofsted Inspector, what letters
have been sent and when;
e) If you work in a cluster, each school can have the same letter – created once;
e) The system does the hard work for you!
If you wish to take advantage of this powerful area of the Attendance Module, please contact the
MIS Advisory Team through the LT Service Desk on 0300 111 8030. We already have a large
number of schools producing their ‘traffic light letters’ through SIMS .net enabling them to ensure
good attenders are acknowledged, not just those with poor attendance.
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MIS Advisory Team
Entrust Learning Technologies

Chartley Building
Church Lane
Hixon
Staffordshire
ST18 0PT
Tel: 0300 111 8030

e-mail: lt@entrust-ed.co.uk
https://www.entrust-ed.co.uk/Resources/LTMIS/Pages/Contents.aspx

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TRACKING AND

The Home Page ............................................................................................................................... 5

Exclude Pupils/Students of non-compulsory school age .................................................................. 9

Overall School Attendance ............................................................................................................. 11

Code Analysis ................................................................................................................................ 13

Group Analysis by Attendance Category ....................................................................................... 15

Percentage Attendance Reports .................................................................................................... 21

Broken Weeks Report .................................................................................................................... 25

Tracking Weekly Attendance.......................................................................................................... 29

Monitoring Individual Attendance ................................................................................................... 33

Reporting on Vulnerable Groups .................................................................................................... 35

Persistent Absence Report............................................................................................................. 37

Reasons for Absence ..................................................................................................................... 39

The Home Page

Configuring the Panel Grid

Step by Step – Configuring Individual Panels

2. It is also possible to select specific groups.

3. Click OK to keep the settings.

Interrogating the data provided by the Bar Chart

Pupil/Student Teacher View:

Pupil/Student Attendance Summary:

Exclude Pupils/Students of non-

Within SIMS .net

Academic Year Autumn Term Spring Term Summer Term

Overall School Attendance

1. Change the Group Type to Whole School.

1. Change the Group Type to Whole School.

Group Analysis by Attendance Category

1. Change the Group Type to Whole School.

A revised Attendance policy will be provided by Staffordshire in due course.

The number of pupils/students that have taken holidays – H or G or F (Approved Exceptional

H – Family holiday (agreed)

1. Set the Date Range.

G – Family holiday (not agreed)

L - Late (before registers closed)

U - Late (after registers closed)

Percentage Attendance Reports

Reports | Attendance/Lesson Monitor | Selected Pupil Reports | Percentage Attendance

1. Change the Group Type to Whole School.

Repeat the exercise but change 90 to 86.

Percentage of Pupils in School with Less

1. Change the Group Type to Whole School.

Broken Weeks Report

Pupil Analysis by Session in Week

1. Change the Group Type to Whole School.

Tracking Weekly Attendance

1. Change the Group Type to Whole School.

This report can be sent into Excel to create a graphical analysis.

Monitoring Individual Attendance

Reporting on Vulnerable Groups

1. Change the Group Type to Whole School.

The STAR fields that can be selected are as follows:

4. Highlight the relevant STAR (vulnerability) field.

Persistent Absence Report

Reasons for Absence

Record the relevant information and click OK.

Reports | Attendance/Lesson Monitor | Selected Pupil Reports | Comments Report

Focus | Attendance/Lesson Monitor | Display Marks

Open the record of the relevant pupil:

Click on Print and click OK at Run a Screen Based Report:

The comments will be displayed at the bottom of the report.

Enter the number of minutes and click OK.

Printing Minutes Late