A known absence is an absence recorded ahead of time. The student is going to miss a session and someone — parent, coach or office staff — has notified the school. Recording it up front means the roll shows the absence as explained, the auto-SMS doesn’t fire, and the attendance reports stay clean.
Where to record a known absence
Three entry points:
- From the student’s record — the student detail page has a Known absences section for their co-curricular activities.
- From the session detail page — staff can pre-mark a student as absent before the roll opens.
- From the parent app — parents can submit an absence directly for their child.
Recording from the parent side
Parents using the mobile app or parent dashboard:
- Open the child’s co-curricular activities.
- Pick the session they’ll miss.
- Choose Mark absent.
- Add a reason (illness, family commitment, school commitment, etc.).
- Submit.
The absence is recorded immediately. Staff see it as explained on the roll when they go to mark it.
Parents can also record absences across a date range (e.g. Tuesday training and Saturday game next weekend, family event).
Recording from the staff side
Staff with access to the activity:
- Open the student or the session.
- Choose Add known absence.
- Pick the session(s) the student will miss.
- Add a reason.
- Save.
Use this when:
- A parent rings the office (rather than using the app).
- A coach finds out at the previous session that a student will miss next time.
- The student is on a school commitment (camp, excursion, exam) that overlaps with sessions.
Reasons
The reason categories are typically:
- Illness — sick, can’t attend.
- Family commitment — wedding, family event.
- School commitment — exam, excursion, another school activity.
- Other — free-text reason.
Schools can customise the reason list — talk to your portal admin if the categories don’t match what you need.
Bulk known absences
For school-wide events that affect many students (e.g. a year-level retreat that clashes with sport):
- From the session list, choose Bulk add known absences.
- Pick the affected students.
- Pick the sessions.
- Add a reason.
- Save.
All matching student/session combinations get a known-absence record in one step.
How known absences interact with the roll
When the coach opens the roll:
- Students with a known absence are pre-marked as Absent (explained).
- The reason is shown next to their name.
- The coach can override (e.g. the student turned up after all — mark them present).
How known absences interact with the auto-SMS
Auto-SMS for unexplained absences (see Setting up automatic SMS for unexplained absences) only fires for unexplained absences. Known absences are skipped, so parents who already told the school don’t get the we noticed you weren’t there message.
Cancelling a known absence
If circumstances change:
- Parent — withdraws the absence from the parent dashboard / app.
- Staff — removes the absence from the student or session detail page.
The student returns to the unmarked default.
Tips
- Encourage parents to use the app. The fewer absences logged by phone-to-office-to-staff, the cleaner the record.
- Record school-commitment absences in bulk. A retreat that takes 60 students out of sport for a week is one bulk operation, not 60 phone calls.
- Review the report. A student with a high known-absence rate is worth a conversation about whether the activity is the right fit.