This part of the application enables you to contact the parents of students who are absent without explanation by sending SMS messages or emails. You can also follow up on unexplained absences over a specified date range. A full contact history is maintained either by student or by message.

This function is only available to SIMS users. The school must use an ‘N’ as the mark for unexplained absence.

Opening The Attendance Screens:

• Log in to Schoolcomms.
• Click on the Attendance bar on the left hand toolbar. Schoolcomms will open at the Today's unexplained absences screen. The unexplained absences for the current day’s sessions will be imported from the SIMS Attendance module and displayed on the screen. This may take a few moments. You will be asked to enter your SIMS log in credentials. You will need to have permission to read and write marks to SIMS Attendance.
  
   

Configuring Templates For Today's Unexplained Absence Messages:

The attendance system does not require you to compose an individual message for each unexplained absence contact that you make. A message template is used which is automatically personalised to fill out the correct information when it is sent. Follow these instructions to view and edit the message templates.

• Click on the ‘Message Template’ button.
• Select Email or SMS using the drop down menu.
• The default text for the message will be displayed in the top box. The lower box shows an example of the message with the wild cards replaced by individual data. The wild cards will be replaced in each message with the appropriate data for each absence. For instance $Forename$ will be replaced in each message with the forename of the relevant student.
• Use the scroll bar on the right hand side to see the whole message
• When you are happy with your changes click ‘OK’
• If you want to return to the default or previously saved text, click ‘Cancel’.
• The template must contain the wild cards for the student’s names, absence sessions and dates.  See below for the definitions of the wild cards available.
  
  
  
  

  Tip! The following wildcards are available:

Selecting Recipients For Today's Unexplained Absence Messages:

• Open the Today's unexplained absences screen as above.
• If no registration data for either of today’s sessions has been entered into SIMS Attendance, then no data will be displayed for today.
• Select the parents that you wish to contact by each method by clicking in the available check boxes. Boxes are only shown if the student has a prime parent linked with the required contact method.
• If you wish to select all available check boxes for SMS, click on the ‘Select All SMS’ button on the top toolbar.
• Click on the ‘Select All Email’ to tick all the available Email check boxes.
• Individual boxes can have their selection changed by clicking on them.
• If you change your mind you can click on the relevant button to ‘Deselect All’.
• If you wish to contact a student’s parent who is not linked through Schoolcomms you can contact them manually (by telephone for instance) and log the call. See below - Logging a Manual Call.

Sending Messages For Today's Unexplained Absences:

•  When you have selected the recipients and the contact methods, click ‘Send Messages’.
• The application will automatically check that none of the selected recipients have had their absence mark changed since the last refresh from SIMS Attendance. This is to reduce the likelihood that messages are sent to any parents that may have already explained their child’s absence. Try to ensure that explanations are entered promptly in SIMS Attendance.
• If any students’ absences have been explained since the selection, a box will appear asking if you would like to remove their names from the list.
  
  
• Click ‘Yes’ to remove the names or ‘No’ to maintain your choice.
• If all the absences have been explained and you choose to remove them from the list then you will be informed that no messages will be sent.
• You will be shown a default reference for the message. Change the reference if you wish and then click ‘OK’.
• If you click ‘Cancel’, the message will not be sent
• Your messages will be prepared for sending. Within a few moments the messages will have been sent and the actual despatch time is shown.

Logging a manual call

• Telephone calls to or from parents can be logged in the same way as SMS and email contact. These calls can be entered here or through the Attendance Response screen.
• Click on the Other box for the student.
• The Add attendance response box will open. It will display the student’s name.



• Select the caller from the drop down list which shows all contacts for that student in SIMS. Alternatively you can overwrite with another name.
• Today’s date and time are shown by default. If you wish to change it, use the drop down calendar or enter your own choice.
• Type the message into the Description box.
• By default, the date range shown is for today. If the call relates to a different day’s absence, select the date range using the drop down calendars.
• Click Show tracked absences. You will be prompted to save or edit the message. When you are happy with your message, click Yes.
• The unexplained absences for the student in the selected date range are displayed in the box.
  
  
• Select the absence range that the call applies to.
• Click Explain selected absence.
  
  
• The Add attendance explanation box will open. You can see your description.
• If you wish to log whether the parent was aware of the absence, use the check box.
• Select the relevant absence session start and end using the drop down calendars and the radio buttons for AM and PM.
• Select the reason for absence using the drop down list or by entering the relevant letter.
• Click Write mark. The reason for absence will be written back to SIMS Attendance and the description will be shown in the comment box in SIMS.
• If the explanation applies to a future absence, click on the Explain future absence button. Select the date range for the explanation and the reason. Click Write mark.
• When you have finished with the message, tick the ‘I have finished with this message’ check box.
• If you select ‘Other’ as the contact method, this will be treated as any other “sent message”. It will be logged as a contact to the student’s parent. The contact time for these will be recorded as the time when the message is saved.

Refreshing The Information From SIMS Attendance:

• Click on the ‘Refresh’ button
• The latest data from SIMS Attendance will be imported.
• Any resolved absences will appear in brackets
• The time of the last contact will be displayed alongside each student’s name.
  
  
  

Changing The Display:

• To show only the unexplained absences that remain unresolved, Click on the ‘Only Show Unresolved’ button on the top toolbar.
• To revert to showing all unexplained absences including those that have now been resolved, click on ‘Show All’.

Printing A List Of Unexplained Absences:

You can display and print the list of all students who still have an unexplained absence. This list includes the priority one telephone contact details from SIMS to simplify the process of making manual contact.

• Click on the ‘Print List’ button on the top toolbar
• The box shown below will appear. You will be invited to choose what should be displayed on the ‘Print list’.
• To only view absences for which unexplained absence contact has not yet been made, select ’Only show today’s unexplained absences for which no contact has been made’.
• To view all outstanding unexplained absences for today, select ‘Show all unexplained absences for today that have not been resolved’.
• Click OK to see the list or Cancel to return to the Today's unexplained absences screen.
  
  
  
• Schoolcomms will refresh the data from SIMS and then present the list. This is to ensure that you have the latest information available. 
• Any pupil that has either the AM or PM session unresolved will appear on the list. If the other session has been resolved since first being viewed in Schoolcomms, then that session will appear in brackets.
• Print the list by clicking on the ‘Print’ button.
• Resize the preview by using the sizing drop down list at the bottom left hand corner.
• Change the page settings (remove or add the school header and footer, or change the margins) by clicking on the ‘Page Setup’ button.
• When you have finished click on ‘Close’ and you will be returned to the Today's unexplained absences screen.
• If you print the full list then the time of the last contact made through Schoolcomms will be shown.
  
  

Follow Up Contact: 

This part of the application enables you to follow up on past absences for which no explanation has been received. You can set the date range to match the period required.

• Click on the Follow Up Contact button on the left hand toolbar.
• Enter the dates in the two boxes at the top of the screen for the range of unexplained absences that you want. The dates are inclusive.
• By default, the range shown will be one week up to and including today.
• Use the drop down calendars to help to select the required dates.
• Click Show
  
   
• The data will be found from the SIMS Attendance database and displayed on the screen.
• All students with any unexplained absences within the range will be shown with the number of absence sessions (An AM and PM absence on the same day count as two absence sessions).
• To see the details of the sessions, select the student by clicking on their name, and either double click or click ‘Show Detail’.
  
  

Configuring The Message Templates For Follow Up Contact: 

• Click on 'Message Templates'.
  
   
  
• Select Email
• Adjust the text in the top box to suit your requirements. The preview pane below demonstrates how the message will appear with the wild cards replaced with the individual’s details. See under Today's unexplained absences for the list of available wild cards.
• Remember to scroll down to see the whole message.
• Select SMS
• Edit the text in the top box as required.
• Remember that you have a maximum of 160 characters including the amounts that have to be allowed for the wild cards. Use the counter above the text box to identify how many remaining characters are available.
• When you are finished, click ‘OK’, or click ‘Cancel’ to return to the main screen.
• Click ‘Yes’ to confirm your edit or ‘No’ to edit the messages again.

Selecting Recipients For Follow Up Contact:

• Tick boxes are shown next to each student to indicate whether their parent(s) are linked for SMS, Email or neither.
• Select to send messages by the method of your choice by ticking the boxes.
• Select all available SMS by clicking on ‘Select All SMS’
• Select all available Email by clicking on ‘Select All Email’
• Select all Other by clicking on ‘Select All Other’
• Similarly you can deselect all by “toggling” the Select All buttons
• Amend individual boxes by clicking on them.
  
  
  

Sending Follow Up Contact Messages:

• Make your message selection as above.
• Click on ‘Send Messages’
• Click ‘OK’ if you are sure that you are ready
• A dialogue box will appear with a default reference for the message
• Edit the name if required
• Click ‘OK’, or ‘Cancel’ to cancel the messages.
  
  
  
• The messages will be sent.
• Telephone calls can be logged in the same way, as described above, for Today’s unexplained absences.

Viewing And Printing Contact History:

Contact History can be viewed either by Student or by Message.

Contact History By Student:

• Click on the contact History by Student button on the left hand toolbar.
• Enter part of the student’s name in the ‘Absences for’ box
• Enter the dates for the date range required using the drop down calendars. The range is inclusive.
• The default date range is one week up to and including today.
• Click ‘Find Now’
• All students matching the search criteria that have unexplained absences in the date range will be shown, and a note of whether they have been contacted by any method.
  
  
  
• To see the detail of the contact history, click on the 'Show detail' button.
  
  
  
• This list shows all contacts made through Schoolcomms Attendance relating to this student within the date range specified. The list includes each message by each contact method.
• Use the resizer at the bottom left hand corner to resize the preview on the screen.
• Click on ‘Page Setup’ to change the default page settings e.g. remove the header and footer or change the margins.
• Click ‘Print’ to print the list.
• Click ‘Close’ to return to the main screen.

NB. If a student is deleted because they have left the school, their contact history will be lost. Before deleting students it is advisable to display and print a copy of the history for your records.

Contact History By Message:

• Click on the Contact History by Message button on the left hand toolbar.
• Use the drop down calendars to select the dates if you wish, by clicking on the arrows.
• Click ‘Find Now’.
  
  
  
• Select the message that you wish to view.
• Click on ‘Show Detail’ or double click on your selection.
  
  
  
• A list of unexplained absences for which contact was made is shown on the screen.
• Click ‘Print’ to print the message details.
• Click ‘Page Setup’ to alter the page set up before printing.
• Click ‘Close’ to return to the main screen.
• All parents linked to the students named on the list, who were linked at the time of the message as prime parents will have been contacted.