Digital attendance: a practical guide for schools

Paper registers work, but the information stays on the page. A head teacher cannot see today's attendance without walking to every class, and parents hear about an absence days later.

Start with one class

Pick a class teacher who is comfortable with a phone. Run paper and digital attendance side by side for a week, compare the two, fix what confuses people — then roll it out.

Decide the rules first

• Daily attendance, or period by period?
• By what time must attendance be in?
• Who may correct a mistake, and must they give a reason?
• When should a parent hear about an absence?

Measure after a month

How quickly attendance comes in, how many corrections it needs, and whether repeated absences are followed up sooner than before — those three tell you whether the change is working.