Recording absences

Who this is for: Office, Duty lead, Admin, Tenant owner
What you'll achieve: Record an absence, let the engine suggest cover, then publish from Today or Timetable

Requires role

absence.create

Before you begin

• The person exists in the staff directory and is active
• The duty day has been (or can be) built on Today or Timetable

Steps

1. Open Absences.
2. Choose the Person, date range (From / Until), and Reason (sick / training / appointment / other).
3. Set how much of each day is affected:
   • Single day: Coverage (full day, morning only, lunch only, afternoon only, or custom from/until times). Morning ends at 12:00 and afternoon starts at 13:15, so a midday lunch duty needs Lunch or Full day.
   • Multiple days: First day (all day from start, from time, morning from, or afternoon from) and Last day (all day until end, until time, morning until, or afternoon until). Middle days are treated as full days automatically.
4. Add optional Notes.
5. On a trust, choose Applies to: all schools (for example sick leave) or this school only (for example training here).
6. Select Record absence.
7. The engine creates a cover draft on every affected school. Review Today or Timetable at each school, then Publish day. When class cover is enabled, use Today to assign cover teachers for uncovered lessons. If the absent person has imported lessons, SchoolRota tells you how many lessons need class cover.

Partial-day absences only reassign duties that overlap the absent window. The same window drives lessons need cover on Today when lesson times are imported.

You can also mark someone off from the Today board with This post only, From this post onwards, or Whole day.

Cancel an absence

1. Find the absence in Recent absences. Search a name or reason if the list is long.
2. Cancel it.
3. Cover recomputes again. If that day was already published, the live board updates so their usual weekly posts come back (unless you had pinned someone else). If publish is blocked by cover policy, a draft stays on Today for review.

Book supply cover for a day

When a supply or agency teacher is coming in for one day, book them here rather than adding them as permanent staff. Chat can book a date range in one go (book_supply_cover with an end date). The form on Absences and Today books a single day at a time.

1. On Absences or Today, open Book supply.
2. Pick an existing supply teacher or supply teaching assistant, or Add new supply cover, type their name, and choose Add and book for this day.
3. Choose the Date and optional Notes, then select Book for this day.
4. Assign duties or run Rebuild day from Today or Timetable so the cover engine includes them.
5. Mark Confirm when they arrive, or Didn't show if they do not. No-shows leave the cover pool and their duties on that day's board are rebuilt.

Supply teachers are stored under Teaching Staff; supply teaching assistants under Teaching Assistants. That sets the right cover priority (TAs are typically asked sooner than teachers).

Supply teachers only appear in the cover pool on booked or confirmed days. Cancelled and didn't-show bookings do not. For regular supply staff across a trust, open Staff → Edit on the person and tick Supply pool next to each school they cover.

Supply vs permanent staff

Permanent staff are added under Staff and appear on the rota every working day. Supply bookings are date-specific: the person is eligible for cover only on booked or confirmed days.

Same-day workflow

flowchart LR
  Record[Record absence] --> Propose[Engine proposes cover]
  Propose --> Review[Review on Today or Timetable]
  Review --> Publish[Publish]
  Publish --> Notify[Notify staff]

Office staff can record; duty leads confirm and publish.

Long-term leave

For maternity, sabbatical, or other extended absence, use Staff → Edit → Long-term leave instead of this page. See Staff directory - Long-term leave.

What happens next

• Today board
• Notifications inbox

Troubleshooting

Problem	What to try
Person not listed	Confirm they are active in Staff
Draft unfilled posts after absence	Expected: adjust template or cover preference, or accept only-if-needed cover, then publish
No banner to Today	Open Today or Timetable manually and select the absence date