INTRODUCTION TO SCHOOL ATTENDANCE REGISTER & HOW TO WORK THE REGISTER
The school attendance register is one of the most important school statutory records that a school must keep. it has a lot to contribute to the organization and development of an institution with respect to keeping in check students’ movements and punctuality to classes and extra-curricular activities. We will be teaching you how to work the weekly percentage.
WHAT IS THE SCHOOL ATTENDANCE REGISTER?
The school attendance register is a special school record that records students’ daily attendance and punctuality to school and classes. The school attendance register has to do with the recording, reporting, strict follow-up of learners, and student regularity and absenteeism to school and classes. The school attendance register contains, keeps, and manages comprehensive details of the total school termly and annual enrolment as contained in the school admission, progress, and withdrawal register and gives you a firsthand conspicuous view of a class enrolment.
FACTS CONTAINED IN THE SCHOOL ATTENDANCE REGISTER
There are critical facts that are handled in the attendance register. These facts are the real reasons why it is necessary to religiously keep the attendance register. Therefore, the facts kept in the school attendance register include:
- Students/Learner’s admission numbers
- Students/Learners’ names are arranged alphabetically
- Students/Learners’ gender
- Students/Learners’ physical appearance
- Students/Learners’ approximate date of birth
- Students/Learners name of parents or guardian
- Students/Learners’ parent or guardian address
- Students/Learners’ parents or guardian religion
- Students/Learners fees paid
- Students/Learners daily attendance in two columns – morning and afternoon
- Students/Learners weekly total attendance
- Students/Learners’ termly total attendance
- Students/Learners annual total attendance
- Students/Learners’ term attendance was brought forward
- Students/Learners’ grand totals
- Provision for teachers to enter the worked weekly attendance and percentage calculations.
- Provision for the headteacher to check and ensure the correctness of the entries made on a weekly basis.
WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ATTENDANCE REGISTER?
The importance of the school attendance register is tied to the uses of the attendance register. Below is the importance of the school attendance register:
- The attendance register primarily enables the class or form teacher to keep and give an accurate account of a student or learner’s whereabouts
- The attendance register provides clues about a student’s regularity and irregularity in school
- It helps the teacher to identify a child’s lateness to school
- The school attendance register helps check students’ and learners’ truancy
- The school attendance register aids in alerting parents of any misbehavior, especially on truancy and irregularity of a student
- The school attendance register provides the school with detailed information on students/learners who are yet to pay their fees and alerts parents too
- The attendance register is a very important and useful document or record for school counselors in their formative efforts on students and learners.
HOW TO MARK SCHOOL ATTENDANCE REGISTER
Follow these instructions very carefully and will never have issues in the entry format, therefore:
- The attendance register for each class must contain the following particulars as stated above on “facts contained in the attendance register” in respect of every student or learner whose name is entered in the admission register of the school until such time a student/learner is deemed to have left the institution.
- The name must be written in full
- Names must be written in capital letters
- The names must be entered at the beginning of every new academic session.
- The boys’ names must be written in black ink while that of the girls in blue ink
- The addresses of every child must be clearly entered in the school attendance register
- Surname must be entered first and in block form
- Boys’ names must be entered first before that of girls and differentiated with black and blue biros respectively
- Names must be entered in alphabetical attendance
- School attendance register should be marked from the first day of the new session or term re-opening regardless of the number of students or learners in attendance
- The attendance register should be closed thirty [30] minutes after the daily school opening
- Attendance marks should be made using blue or black ink as follows:
- Morning and Afternoon
- Mark using a stroke for morning and afternoon respectively
- Absence should be marked with a circle [0]
- Do not delete or erase anything in the school attendance register. All errors should be circled in red ink and the correct entry made alongside
- Should the holiday be granted for a period less than a week, cancel the attendance of that week morning and Afternoon by lines drawn vertically.
- Should a holiday be for a week or longer, write the word “HOLIDAY” in the canceled attendance space. The reason for the holiday should always be entered in the log box
- The weekly, termly, and annual attendance summaries should be entered in the register promptly and regularly
- The headteacher should check and sign all weekly summaries during the last day [Friday] of the week.
- Termly and annual summaries should be checked and signed by the headteacher at the end of each term and session.
- If a teacher happens to merge a class at the beginning of a session, the teacher should keep a separate attendance register for the class and hand over such register to the school management when the merged class teacher reports.
Note: Teachers should acquaint themselves with the relevant education ordinance concerning the registering of attendances and observe them.
HOW TO MARK ATTENDANCE REGISTER
- Mark the school attendance register with a stroke [\|] for Morning and Afternoon in the log box
- Do not mark with red ink. Only the headteacher or principal can use red to check and sign the summarized weekly attendance
- Mark zero [o] for absenteeism
- In the case of a public holiday, draw lines vertically on the Morning and Afternoon log boxes of each of the days.
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HOW TO CALCULATE AVERAGE ATTENDANCE FOR TERM IN SCHOOL REGISTER [WEEKLY ATTENDANCE %]
This is one of the most difficult aspects of computing or working the register. This is for the fact that not all teachers are good at arithmetic. Not only this, not all school administrators are good with some of these records. Follow these steps to calculate the weekly attendance %, thus:
The formula is total morning attendance per week + total Afternoon attendance per week x 100 divided by the number of students in the class x number of days school opened.
That is:
M + A X 100/ No. students on roll x No. of Days school opened in a week.
Note: School opens ten[10] times a week. i.e. Morning [M] and Afternoon [A] = 2 times per day. Therefore
- If a school opens 5 times a week [5X] = 2X5 = 10
- If 4x = 2×4 = 8
- If 3x = 3×2 = 6
- If 2x = 2×2 = 4
- If 1x = 1×2 = 2
With this knowledge, you can work your Weekly percentage[%]
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ATTENDANCE SHEET TEMPLATE [WORKED SAMPLE]
SAMPLE 1
If a class has a total of 30 students and they were all in attendance for 5 days of the Week that school opened. Calculate the Weekly percentage [%]
SOLUTION
Formular = M+AX100/NO. of students x Days school opened
STEP1
Add up the morning strokes to get the attendance for a morning session, thus:
Morning = 30 [Since all were present]
STEP2: Add up the afternoon strokes to get the afternoon attendance, thus:
Afternoon = 30 [ since all were present
STEP3
To get the total number of Mornings and Afternoons for 5 days in a Week [Since the school opened 5 times], thus:
- Multiply morning attendance by 5 Days school opened = 30×5 = 150 [Morning]
- Multiply Afternoon attendance by 5Days school opened =30×5 = 150
- Add morning and Afternoon together to get total attendance =150 + 150 = 300
STEP4
Multiply total weekly attendance by 100% =
300×100 = 30,000
STEP5
Multiply the number of students on the roll by the number of times school opened =
30×10 = 300
STEP6
Divide step by step to get your weekly percent average =
30,000/300 = 100%
SAMPLE2
Supposing there are 15 students in class, and there is a one-day public holiday. If 1f 14 students were present all through the day school opened, and a student was absent for just a day, calculate the weekly percentage average.
SOLUTION
Here:
Formular = M + A X 100/NO. of students x Days school opened
No. students on roll = 15
No. of times school opened = 2×4 = 8
No. present although the week = 14 students
No. absent for a day = 1 student
STEP1
To calculate Morning attendance for one day, multiply 1 x no. on a roll, thus:
1 Day attendance = 1 x 15 = 15
STEP2
To calculate for total Morning attendance for the Week by 4 days =
15 x 4 = 60
STEP3
To calculate for Afternoon attendance for 1 day:
1 day attendance = 1 x 15 = 15
STEP4
To calculate for total Afternoon attendance for the Week by 4 days
Total afternoon attendance = 15 x 4 = 60
STEP5
Total attendance for 1 week, add Morning + Afternoon attendance =
Total attendance = 60 + 60 = 120
STEP6
Since a student was absent for a day, subtract 1day person’s attendance from total attendance [i.e. I Day attendance = M+A X 1= 1+1 X1 = 2]
Therefore: Total attendance =120 – 2
= 118
STEP7
Multiply No. of students on a roll by No. of days school opened =
15 x 8 = 120
STEP 8
To calculate for Weekly attendance Percentage =
Weekly % = M + A X100/120
= 118 X 100/120
= 11800/120
= 98.3%
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CONCLUSION
Consider this publication “School Attendance Register” as a gift from us to us, especially you our fresh graduates from our colleges and universities who may wish to have a career in the teaching profession. It is also true that most of these calculations are not taught in schools until you go into the classroom, and worst of it all, most of our school administrators don’t even know this.
These lessons are seriously and heavily paid for in seminars and workshops for schools and individuals who want to grow professionally in the field of teaching and learning. So, I encourage upcoming and newly employed teachers to go through this post, in fact, all our publications religiously and get updated, and better equipped.
We wish to join forces here with the Ministries of Education in promoting the values of quality education and encouraging proper statutory record-keeping. Consult us for more clarification on the school attendance register.
Very enlightening