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Present by Default: All students appear on the roll as present, and you are only required to mark absent students. This is how most Activities are set up because, on any given Session, it is more likely that you'll only have a few students away, similar to a regular school lesson. The rolls will indicate they are present by default by instructing markers to mark students who are absent (see below).

Absent by Default: this means that all students appear on the roll as absent, and you are required to mark those students who are present. This roll marking style allows the marker to choose if a student is explained or unexplained absent, regardless of whether a pre-explained absence is present. This is useful if the student needs to give more notice of their absence or a student has an explained absence from school, but it isn't showing in Clipboard. The rolls will indicate they are absent by default by instructing markers to mark present students (see below).

We recommend the present by default roll marking style, as it is a more efficient method of taking attendance.

If the student has a pre-explained absence, either synced from the SIS or manually added into Clipboard, the student will show as potentially absent on the roll, shown by a yellow marker next to their name. The user will still need to mark them if they are Present (when using Absent by Default) or Absent (when using Present by Default). A secondary confirmation will appear to confirm if the absence is Explained or Unexplained.

Note: The roll-marking settings are customisable per Activity, so all rolls within that Activity will be marked according to that setting.

Note: Sessions created with optional attendance will require staff to mark students who are present, even if the roll settings for the Activity are set as present by default. You can read more in our Optional Attendance for Sessions article.

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