The Attendance Overview brings your school’s attendance records and follow-up tasks together in one place. Use it to review absences, late arrivals and parent requests, or open a student’s profile for more detail. From the main dashboard, open Attendance Overview → Year Head Dashboard, or choose the attendance section you need.
Start with the date range. Check the selected date whenever you open or switch attendance sections. Use the date range to review earlier dates or a longer period.
In this guide
Click the screenshot to open the full-size image.
1. Requests that need your attention
Check for outstanding Permission to Leave requests and Please Checks as part of your daily attendance routine.
Approve Permission to Leave (PTL)
Review each request and approve it where appropriate. Approval:
- Confirms the request to the parent or guardian.
- Allows the student to sign out using the school’s Digital Sign In/Out device.
Approval is not sign-out. Record the actual departure using the Digital Sign In/Out device or the staff Sign Out action in Unique Schools. This records the departure time and supports the parent/guardian confirmation.
Read the guide to approving Permission to Leave
Respond to Please Checks
A parent or guardian may select Please Check after receiving an absence request if they believe their child should be marked present.
Check the student’s attendance and respond promptly so the family receives an answer and any attendance issue can be followed up.
Read the guide to responding to Please Checks
Was the student on a school activity? If attendance was not updated in time and the parent received an absence notification, use In Class – Cancelled → Mark as School Activity when responding to the Please Check.
2. Review absences and late arrivals
Absent Notes & Requests
Use Absent Notes & Requests to review absence notes and requests. You can also see:
- Total absence days for each student.
- Consecutive absence days — the number of days absent in a row.
These totals can help you identify students who may need follow-up or support.
Read the guide to managing Absent Notes & Requests
Lates and late detention
Use the Late tab in Attendance Overview (labelled Lates on the main dashboard) to review late arrivals. Filter by student, date or frequency to find the records you need.
You can also use the filters to identify repeated late arrivals and manage late detention where appropriate.
3. Open a Student Profile
For a closer look at one student’s attendance history and communications:
- Use Search Student Profile at the top of the dashboard to search by name.
- Select their name to open their Student Profile.
Read the Student Profile guide
4. Check absence thresholds and record differences
Absence Alerts
Review students who have reached your school’s configured absence-day thresholds, for example 5, 10, 15 or 20 days, and send the relevant Absence Alert to parents/guardians.
These milestone alerts are separate from the daily absence requests that ask parents to explain an unexplained absence.
Anomalies
The Anomalies section highlights differences between your school’s external attendance system and Unique Schools.
Review these differences to check whether an attendance record needs further investigation or correction.
5. Attendance settings
From the main dashboard, open Attendance Overview → Settings, then Disable Absence Notifications → View settings. Use this to pause daily absence notifications for selected dates and groups. This is different from the separate main-dashboard Settings section.
Read the Attendance Settings guide
Need help?
Email staffsupport@uniqueschools.ie or book a free Zoom training session.