Report a School Absence by App

No more queuing on the office phone: with SchuleVernetzt, parents report their child sick in under 10 seconds by app. The absence lands in the digital register straight away – no call, no note, no hassle.

Coming soon

  • GDPR-compliant
  • Hosted in Germany
  • Free for teachers

A product of SavePaper.work

Benefits

Why schools take sick notes online

Done in 10 seconds

Tap the child, choose ‘off sick today', done. No call, no waiting, no morning answerphone.

Instantly in the register

The sick note appears live for the class teacher – before the first lesson even starts.

Automatic reminder about proof

If your school asks for a doctor's note from a set day of absence, the app counts to that day and reminds parents in good time.

Health data protected

The reason for absence is encrypted and visible only to authorised staff – no WhatsApp detour.

How it works

How a sick note works in the app

In the morning a sick note takes less than a minute – from opening the app to the moment the form teacher sees the absence in the class register.

1 2 3 4
  1. 1

    Invite the parents

    The school sets up the classes and sends out invitation links. Parents register once and then see their own children – with no PIN list and no new password in the school bag.

  2. 2

    Report the child sick

    In the morning three details are enough: which child, which date range and, optionally, a short note. The report goes off before the bus arrives – in the browser just as in the app.

  3. 3

    The school takes it from there

    The report appears at once for the form teacher and the school office and is assigned to the affected periods in the class register. Nobody has to type up a slip or return a call.

  4. 4

    Add the doctor's note

    If the school requires a certificate from a certain day of absence, the app reminds in good time. A photo of the certificate can be uploaded directly and then hangs on the right absence.

In comparison

Reporting by app vs. phone calls and notes

SchuleVernetzt
Effort for parents10 seconds in the app
Office in the morningNo phone queue
Path to the registerAutomatic and instant
Data protectionEncrypted, role-based visibility
Calling the office
Effort for parentsCall, wait, try again
Office in the morningDozens of calls between 7 and 8 a.m.
Path to the registerSticky notes, manual entry
Data protectionNotes on open view or WhatsApp
In detail

Reporting absence by app in detail

Ten seconds instead of a phone queue

Between seven and eight in the morning the school office takes most of its calls for the day, and anyone who cannot get through tries twice more between breakfast and the commute. A report in the app needs three entries: child, date range and, optionally, a note. It works at half past six just as it does at quarter past eight, and it works when the office line is busy. For families without a smartphone the browser route stays open, and the office can still record a phone report itself. All three routes end in the same place, so no second, half-maintained list comes into being.

From the report to the absence record

A sick note only saves work once it reaches the class register. SchuleVernetzt assigns the reported date range to the affected lessons and marks them as excused – including when the report only comes in during the afternoon or covers several days in advance. In their overview, the form teacher then sees only what is genuinely open. If something changes because the child is well sooner than expected, the range can be shortened and the freed-up periods fall back to their normal state. At the end of the term the totals for excused and unexcused absences stand, without anyone having counted slips of paper.

Health data does not belong in a chat

In the EU and the UK, the information that a child is ill is health data and falls into the special categories under Article 9 GDPR, which carry stricter requirements. Outside that area the article number changes but the sensitivity does not, and a school still has to answer for who reads it. In a class messenger group everyone reads along, and on a note at the front desk just as much. SchuleVernetzt processes it in a closed channel, hosted inside the EU on servers in Germany, and shows it only to the roles that need it: the form teacher and the school office. Giving a reason for the illness is voluntary anyway – the school only needs to know that the absence was due to illness. The Article 28 data processing agreement is included, as is the procedural description. Retention is the one thing the software cannot decide for you: the GDPR names no period, and the actual figure comes from the education law your school sits under, so it is configured once per category for the whole school. In Germany those periods are state law and differ between the sixteen federal states; in England they follow the school's own records retention schedule.

Ready to go in a few steps

Create classes and onboard parents with an invitation link – that's it. From day one, sick notes flow digitally into the register, with no training and no new hardware.

FAQ

Common questions about reporting absence by app

Yes. Parents enter a date range; multi-day and after-the-fact reports are possible. The school can set a doctor's-note requirement from a given day.

That is your school's call, because the form a notification has to take is set in its attendance rules – and a digital report through the school's own system is accepted widely. What the app supplies is the part that has to hold up: a personal account behind every report, the time of arrival recorded with it, and a closed channel hosted inside the EU on servers in Germany. Health data is encrypted and processed by role; the Article 28 data processing agreement and the data protection pack are included.

Absence reporting also works in the browser. The office can additionally record a report manually – every route ends up in the same digital register.

Yes. As long as the school has not yet closed the period, a report can be shortened or withdrawn entirely – for example when the child is well sooner than expected. The affected periods then fall back to their normal state, and the form teacher sees the correction in the same overview.

No. Giving a reason is voluntary; the school only needs the information that the absence is due to illness. If something is entered anyway, the text is stored encrypted and is visible only to the roles that need it for the excuse. That restraint is deliberate: the less health detail a school holds, the less it has to protect.

Both people with parental responsibility can be given their own access to the same child and can submit sick notes. Every report is marked with the person who sent it, so duplicate reports stay recognisable. Who gets access is decided by the school when it sends the invitation; the system does not force any particular model.
Coming soon

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