Coronavirus and Pupil Attendance Marks
Guidance on adding the # Attendance Code (planned whole or partial school closure) in SIMS .net.
DfE advice
Updated advice / requirements from the DfE:
From Monday 23 March 2020, educational settings will need to temporarily change their attendance recording practices. To minimise the burden on educational settings and ensure that only the most important information is submitted, settings must:
- Stop taking their normal attendance registers.
- Complete the DfE spreadsheet to record attendance for all children at the educational setting.
- Use the information in the spreadsheet to complete this short form notifying the Department for Education about your status regarding COVID-19. The form should be submitted by midday each weekday.
The below advice has been extracted from DfE documentation:
Where a pupil cannot attend school due to illness, as normally would happen, the pupil should be recorded as absent in the attendance register and the school will authorise the absence. Code I (Illness) should be used in this instance.
Where a pupil is in self-isolation, in accordance with latest information and advice from Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England, the pupil should be recorded as unable to attend due to Exceptional Circumstances in the attendance register. Code Y (Unable to attend due to exceptional circumstances) should be used in this instance.
What IBS Schools Information Sheet should I follow?
"Information Sheet 375 - Attendance - Recording Exceptional Circumstances" covers adding the # code for the whole school.
Please login to access the Information Sheet 375. Information Sheets are restricted to schools with a current IBS Schools SIMS SLA.
