Attendance sounds simple. A coach looks at the group and notes who came. But the way you record it shapes what you can do later: how you bill, what parents see, and whether you can spot a student drifting away before they leave.
Venue Manager offers six ways to take attendance. They come from two choices. First, how you mark each student. Second, whether you mark inside a scheduled session or on a regular class day. This guide explains both, and how to choose.
1. Three ways to mark a student
Present only. The coach taps the students who came. Everyone else is simply not marked. It is the fastest style, and it suits large groups where you mainly care about who turned up.
Present or absent. Every student gets a mark, one way or the other. It takes a few more taps, but it removes doubt. An unmarked student could mean absent or could mean the coach forgot. With present or absent, you always know.
Check-in and check-out. The coach records the time each student arrives and leaves, and the system works out the session length. It suits long sessions, camps and programmes where students come and go, and anywhere the time a student spends with you matters.
2. Session-based or regular classes
The second choice is about when attendance is taken.
Session-based. Attendance is marked inside a session that has started today. Sessions come from your weekly timetable, so each one has a date, a time, a batch and a coach. This links attendance to the sessions you actually ran.
Regular. Attendance is marked on a class day, without a scheduled session behind it. It suits academies that do not keep a formal timetable, or classes that run every day at the same time.
Put the two choices together and you get six modes:
- Session-based, present only.
- Session-based, present or absent.
- Session-based, check-in and check-out.
- Regular, present only.
- Regular, present or absent.
- Regular, check-in and check-out.
3. How to choose
Start with two questions.
Do you run a weekly timetable? If you already plan sessions by batch and coach, choose a session-based mode. You gain reports that compare attendance with sessions held, which is the quickest way to spot a session nobody marked. If you do not keep a timetable, a regular mode is simpler.
What do you need to know about each student? If you only need to know who came, present only is enough. If you need a clear record for every student, choose present or absent. If time on site matters, choose check-in and check-out.
Some typical fits:
- A cricket academy with fixed batches and a timetable: session-based, present or absent.
- A swimming school where parents want arrival times: session-based, check-in and check-out.
- A small badminton class that meets every evening: regular, present only.
- A holiday camp running all day: regular, check-in and check-out.
4. Make it fast for coaches
If attendance is slow, coaches skip it. Make the roll call quick:
- One roll for the space. Filter by class and batch, search by name, and sort A to Z.
- Coach-scoped access. Coaches see only the classes they are assigned to, so the list is short.
- The staff app. Coaches mark attendance on their phone at the side of the pitch or pool, including check-in for everyone at once.
One tap per student is the goal. Coaches can mark it on the web or in the staff app.
5. Let the timetable create the sessions
Session-based attendance works best when sessions appear on their own. Save a weekly timetable for each batch, and dated sessions are created for the whole term. Coaches open today's session and mark it. If the timetable changes, the generated sessions re-sync. See timetable and batches.
6. Registers without the paperwork
Attendance pays off when you use it. Venue Manager turns the marks into:
- A monthly register, the classic grid, generated for you.
- Class summaries.
- A per-student report: one student's month on a page.
All of them export to PDF or Excel. The dashboard also lists top and bottom attendees, so you can see who needs a nudge.
7. Put attendance to work
A few habits make attendance worth the effort:
- Check attendance against sessions held each week, and follow up any unmarked session with the coach.
- Look at bottom attendees each month and call their parents before the next renewal.
- Compare attendance with collections by batch. A batch where both are falling needs attention.
Parents can see attendance month by month in the parent portal, which answers the most common question at the gate before anyone asks it.
8. Which plan includes which modes
On the Classes Standard plan you get the three regular modes, without sessions. Professional adds the three session-based modes, along with the timetable, instructors and a website. Premium adds video feedback, observations and certificates. See pricing for current plans and limits.
Not sure which mode fits? Try them. Every paid plan is free for 15 days with all of that plan's features, and you can extend by 15 more days from inside the app. Read more about running an academy on Classes.
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