When to use bulk attendance
Bulk attendance is the right tool when the same status applies to all (or most) students in a class across one or more consecutive days:
- A whole-school closure day or public holiday (mark everyone with a "School Closure" status)
- A class field trip (mark the class "Field Trip" for the trip day)
- A teacher-missed day that needs retrospective marking
- Making up missed attendance records at the end of term
Bulk attendance overwrites existing records. If teachers have already manually taken attendance for a day, applying a bulk action on that day will overwrite their records. Always check for existing records before running a bulk operation.
Creating a bulk attendance entry
- Go to Attendance from the sidebar and select the Bulk Actions tab.
- Select the class section(s) to apply the bulk action to. You can select "All Classes" for a whole-school closure.
- Set the start date and end date. For a single day, set both to the same date.
- Choose the attendance status to apply (Present, Field Trip, School Closure, etc.).
- Optionally, exclude individual students. For example, on a Field Trip day, a student who was absent that day should not receive the Field Trip status. Click their name to exclude them, they will be left with no record for that day, which you can fill in separately.
- Review the summary table showing exactly how many records will be created and for which students.
- Click Apply. Records are created immediately.
Bulk attendance form showing class selection, date range picker, status dropdown, student exclusion list, and a preview summary table
Correcting a single record within a bulk period
After a bulk entry, you may need to correct one or two individual records:
- Go to Attendance from the sidebar and select the Daily Attendance tab.
- Select the class section and navigate to the date you want to correct.
- The register shows each student with their current status. Click the status badge on the student you need to change.
- Select the correct status and click Save. Only that one record changes.
Undoing a bulk attendance entry
- Go to Attendance from the sidebar and select the Bulk Actions tab.
- Find the bulk entry you want to undo. Each entry is listed with its creation date, class, date range, status applied, and the admin who created it.
- Click Undo This Entry.
- A confirmation dialogue warns you that all records in this bulk entry will be permanently deleted. Records that were manually corrected after the bulk entry are also deleted.
- Click Confirm Undo. The records are removed.
Undo is only available within 14 days of creation. After 14 days, a bulk entry cannot be undone automatically, you must correct individual records manually. This time limit prevents accidental undo of historical records that staff have already relied on.
All bulk operations are logged. The audit log (article 8.2) records every bulk attendance action with the admin's name, the date range, the class, and the status applied. This provides a clear trail for regulatory inspections or parent queries.