Brightwheel's Attendance feature allows you to internally track the whereabouts of each student throughout the day, in addition to checking staff in and out. Admins, Managers, Lead Staff, and Staff members can check students in and out, move them to different rooms that the student is assigned to, or mark them absent. Staff and Administrators can also track student attendance on the web.

Table of Contents:


Log Attendance on the Web

To check students in and out, or mark absent from the web:

  1. Under My School navigate to the Students tab OR the Rooms tab from the purple dashboard menu

    1. If on the Student tab, optionally filter for students by Attendance Status, Room, Student Name, or Enrollment Status

    2. If on the Rooms tab, click into the desired room and optionally filter by Student or Enrollment Status

  2. Click Check in or Mark absent next to the student

    1. Once checked in, click Move Room, or Check Out as needed

  3. View the attendance status under the Daily Attendance column. Rooms will be highlighted in green if the student is currently checked in to that room

  4. If you don't wish for parents to be notified of attendance actions logged on the web, notifications for this feature can be turned off in your check-in settings

Please note: Logging bulk attendance actions are not available on the web at this time. Navigate to the section Log Attendance on the Mobile App to do this in bulk via Attendance Mode.


Log Attendance on the Mobile App

Administrators and staff can track student attendance from the brightwheel mobile app using the Attendance Mode feature for one, or multiple students at once. Programs can easily move students between rooms, mark absent, and check in/out with just a few taps! We strongly suggest using the Kiosk Mode when student contacts need to check their child in and out.

Admins and Managers can click Rooms from the Administrator Home page and follow the steps below. Lead Staff and Staff can simply follow what's outlined below.

  1. Tap Attendance from the specified room screen on the brightwheel mobile app

  2. Switch between rooms using the drop-down at the top of the screen

  3. Select the student(s) you wish to take an attendance action for or tap Select All, if relevant

  4. To check a student in/out tap the Check In, or Check Out button at the bottom of the page

  5. To mark a student absent, tap the Absent button at the bottom of the page
    💡If you would like to add a note to the absentee record, navigate to the student's feed on the web or mobile and edit the record to add a note.

  6. To move a student between rooms, tap the Move Room button at the bottom of the screen. The student will be checked in to the room you move them to and checked out of the room they were previously in.

    💡 Students must be assigned to the room they're being moved to, the staff member must be assigned to both rooms to move a student to and from, and moving rooms does not result in parents getting a notification.

  7. Tap Close in the top left-hand corner to exit Attendance Mode and return to your specified room screen

You can repeat this process to check multiple students in and out. Please be aware check-in/out records cannot be logged for a future time or date.

Please Note: Once the steps above are completed, a teal "Checked-in" banner will appear near a student's profile bubble on the mobile app to alert staff that the student is checked into that room.


Attendance Notifications

By default, student contacts are not notified when attendance actions are made on the web, or via Attendance Mode which allow you to record the whereabouts of each student without alarming parents that their student has been checked out of a room. If you prefer, notifications for this feature can be turned on in your check-in settings.


Staff Attendance

Administrators can check staff in and staff can check themselves in via Attendance Mode. To learn more about staff check in, review our Staff Check-in Help Center resource.

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