MIS: How do I take the Free Breakfast Club register?

MIS

Overview

This article explains how to take the register if your school runs a Free Breakfast Club. 

The Free Breakfast Club Register feature lets you record daily attendance for pupils from Reception to Year 6 taking part in government-funded free breakfast clubs. 

Running a Free Breakfast Club is optional. If your school does not offer the provision, you do not need to use this register.

Free Breakfast Club attendance feeds into the school census. You can either enter a headcount directly as part of the census, or use this register to build up attendance data over time. 

Free Breakfast Club codes

The Free Breakfast Club Register uses its own set of codes, separate from the standard attendance and absence codes used elsewhere in MIS.

CodeMeaning
FBC0Not Attended. This is the default mark for every pupil until you record otherwise.
FBC1Attended Before Start Of Compulsory School Day.
FBC2Fully Closed - Staff Shortages.
FBC3Fully Closed - Unsuitable Premises.
FBC4Fully Closed - Other Reasons.
FBC5Partially Closed - Staff Shortages.
FBC6Partially Closed - Unsuitable Premises.
FBC7Partially Closed - Other Reasons.

Use the fully and partially closed codes with a bulk update if the Free Breakfast Club could not run for a session, rather than leaving affected pupils marked as not attended.

Prerequisites

  1. You must have the correct permissions to record attendance in MIS.
  2. The pupil must be in Reception to Year 6 to be eligible for a Free Breakfast Club mark. If you select a pupil or date that is not eligible, MIS displays an error and does not save the mark.

Open the Free Breakfast Club Register

Follow these steps to open the Free Breakfast Club Register in MIS:

  1. Select Manage.
  2. Select Attendance.
  3. Select Free Breakfast Club Register:

The Free Breakfast Club Register lists every eligible pupil, with a column for each day of the selected week:

Mark attendance for a pupil

The default mark for every pupil is FBC0 - Not Attended. Only mark a pupil if they attended the Free Breakfast Club that day. You do not need to mark pupils who did not attend.

Follow these steps to mark or change a pupil's attendance:

  1. Find the pupil in the Free Breakfast Club Register, and select the mark for the day you want to update. This shows as a dash if no mark has been recorded yet, or the pupil's current status if one has:

  2. From the drop-down that appears, select the code that applies (FBC0 - Not Attended the default value, or FBC1 - Attended Before Start Of Compulsory School Day):

  3. Select the check to confirm the entry, or select the cross to cancel:

The cell updates to show the pupil's status, for example, Present:

Repeat the steps above for each pupil as required (or use the bulk fill option when updating lots of pupils).

If MIS shows a Something went wrong message saying the pupil or date is not eligible for a Free Breakfast Club mark, check the pupil's year group and that the date falls within your school's Free Breakfast Club provision.

When the Free Breakfast Club Register opens, it shows the current week. Follow these steps to view a different week:

  1. Select the left or right arrow next to the date field to move back or forward one week at a time.
  2. Alternatively, select the calendar icon next to the date field to open a date picker and jump straight to a different week.

Update attendance in bulk

Use bulk updates to mark multiple pupils at once, or to close one or more sessions, for example, if the Free Breakfast Club could not run:

  1. Select the checkbox next to Full Name to select every pupil, or check individual pupils.

  2. Select Manage FBC bulk status:

  3. From Manage FBC bulk status:

    1. Select or enter the Start date for the update.
    2. Select or enter the End date for the update.
    3. Select the code you want to apply. As well as FBC0 - Not Attended and FBC1 - Attended Before Start Of Compulsory School Day, you can select a closure code if a session could not run, for example, FBC2 - Fully Closed - Staff Shortages.
    4. Under Overwrite existing data, choose what happens to pupils who already have a code within the selected date range:
      • Preserve existing marks, only update pupils without a code - keeps any marks already recorded, and only fills in pupils that do not yet have one. This is the default option.
      • Update all pupils - overwrites every pupil in the date range with the new code, including those that already have a mark.
    5. Select Confirm.

    6. A confirmation message appears, asking you to confirm the bulk action. Select Confirm to apply the changes, or Cancel to go back without saving:

Choosing Update all pupils overwrites existing marks for every pupil in the date range you set, including marks recorded individually. Check your date range carefully before you confirm.

View the code key

Follow these steps to see what each Free Breakfast Club code means:

  1. Select Code Key.

  2. The Code Key panel opens, listing each code and its meaning:

  3. Select the close icon to return to the register.

Tips and best practices

  1. Because the default mark is FBC0 - Not Attended, you only need to mark the pupils who attended the Free Breakfast Club, rather than working through the whole register.
  2. Use the closure codes, for example, Fully Closed - Staff Shortages, when the Free Breakfast Club could not run, rather than leaving pupils marked as not attended.
  3. When making bulk updates, leave Preserve existing marks, only update pupils without a code selected unless you specifically want to overwrite marks that have already been recorded.

Updated