If you are providing Flying Start Childcare or Early Years Education you must complete weekly attendance registers.
Monitoring attendance of childcare placements is important, and when a child is absent or was not brought, this should be recorded accurately, and any concerns raised in accordance with the Admission, Attendance and Transition Policy. There is also a requirement of the funding that we provide attendance figures to the Welsh Government.
Registers are produced by the Early Years Hub Team, using the information you provide on the Individual Placement Form (ICP).
At the start of every term, we will email you your register. If, once the new term has started, there is a new placement or a placement ends, you will need to send us a new ICP form. We will then email you a new register.
When submitting your register, please make sure you are using the most recent register we have sent you.
Your register should be submitted by 5pm every Friday for that week.
Your register will be locked, only allowing you to select the week commencing date and add the attendance codes for each child. Please do not try to amend any child details or add a child. If your register is incorrect, please contact the Early Years Hub to request any changes.
It is important that the correct codes are used against each child. These are automatically generated in a dropdown list. The table below explains each code and when to use it.
There should be no blank fields alongside any child.
Please note the video above does not include more recently added attendance codes. The latest codes are listed below.
| Codes | Description | Attendance category | When to use it (*all children should have 5 of these) |
| / | Present (AM) | Present | Use to indicate the child attended during the morning |
| \ | Present (PM) | Present | Use to indicate the child attended during the afternoon |
| L | Late | Present | Use if a child arrives at the setting 15 minutes or more after the start of the session, use this code. Settings should actively discourage late arrival and be alert to patterns of late arrival |
| V | Educational visit or trip | Present | Setting organised trips and visits |
| C | Other authorised circumstances | Authorised absence | An authorised absence that is not covered by any other code/description.
Use only for exceptional occasions, settings should consider each request individually taking the following into account:
Examples might include special occasions such as a sudden family emergency, family bereavement, prison visits, attending the wedding of a family member. (These examples are illustrative and not meant to be exhaustive.) |
| H | Family Holiday | Authorised absence | Use if a parent/carer has told you they will not be attending due to a being on holiday. |
| I | Illness | Authorised absence | Use if a parent/carer has told the setting that the child is ill and will not be attending. |
| M | Medical/Dental appointment | Authorised absence | Use if a parent/carer has told you they will not be attending due to a medical or dental appointment. |
| O | Child was not brought | Unauthorised absence | An unauthorised absence that is not covered by any other code/description.
Use if the parent/carer has not informed the setting that the child will be absent. Use also where the setting has been notified but the reason for absence does not fall into the description of ‘Other authorised circumstances’. Examples might include:
(These examples are illustrative and not meant to be exhaustive |
| R | Day set aside exclusively for religious observance | Authorised absence | Use for an absence to take part in any day set aside exclusively for religious observance by the religious body to which the parents belong, including religious festivals. Parents should be encouraged to give advance notice |
| Y | Partial or enforced closure | No attendance recorded | Use when the setting is closed due to inclement weather, heating or staffing issues.
Use for planned Inset Days. Use also if a child is not able to attend if you are working on reduced numbers due to staff shortages. |
| Z | Child not started at the setting | No attendance recorded | Use this code when the child has not yet started their placement. (Not due to start that week). If due to start but was not brought, this should be an unauthorised absence (O) |
| X | Reduced childcare placement | No attendance recorded | Use to indicate a reduced childcare placement. Your register will include the number of hours each child is funded to attend.
If a child is funded to attend less than 5 sessions, an X must be added to the other sessions to make up to 5. For example, a child attending Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning, the relevant attendance codes should be selected to show present or absent. As they are not attending all 5 sessions, an X must be added for the other two sessions, Thursday morning and Friday morning. We use this to monitor when children are not taking up all 5 sessions. |
| # | Session is not relevant to the child | No attendance recorded | Use this code for the 5 sessions in the week that are not relevant to the child.
For example, where a child is attending 5 morning sessions, the relevant attendance or absence code should be used for each of the morning sessions. A # should be used for all 5 afternoon sessions. Use also for bank holidays. |
Registers must be submitted weekly on a Friday by 5pm to earlyyearshub@caerphilly.gov.uk.
It is crucial that you submit your register on time. If you do not, your payment will be placed on hold.
You must submit the register using email encryption. This is required by law to protect personal information. We will send you your register using email encryption. This protection follows the life cycle of the email. Therefore, you can simply open the register in the email, complete it, reply to the email, attach the completed register, and send.
Please save the file name using the following format: Funding type – Setting Name – Week Commencing Date.
For example: Flying Start – Little People Childcare Setting – 17.04.2023
For any queries relating to the submission of registers please contact your Childcare Officer or the Early Years Hub Team.
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