Add an Online Absence Form

You can make a short online form where parents can report absence. They can report absence anytime, including early in the morning. The form should only ask for the following information: Child’s name, Child’s class, Date of absence and Reason for absence.

Make the Form Easy to Find

It’s not enough to have an absence reporting page on your website if it’s buried within another page. Make sure there is a clear link from your homepage and the main menu of your website to the absence reporting page. It’s best to label this link with something obvious like “Report an Absence”.

Send an Automatic Confirmation

They will receive a confirmation by email of receipt of their notification. Many parents ring school offices in order to check if on line notification has been received. Confirmation of receipt will prevent such calls. A simple reply of: ‘Yes, we have received your notification’ will suffice.

Connect the Form to Attendance Records

Connect the Form to Attendance Records: Where possible we would look to connect absence reporting forms to Attendance Management Systems (AMS) within a school. This would serve to automatically input absence reports into AMSs, thereby removing the need for manual data input. Importantly, absence reporting in schools is a legal activity and therefore must be accurately recorded in line with the relevant statutory rules on recording and reporting school absence.

For Websites for schools, visit https://www.fsedesign.co.uk/websites-for-schools.

Give Parents Clear Instructions

Add a note on the page that parents can report when they will be absent, preferably before 8.30am on the day, stating what types of absence will be authorized and if parents need to write a note on their child’s return to school. Schools that clearly state this information on their website tend to get more complete and useful information from parents the first time.

All of this can be sorted out with a few simple changes to your current school design.