Printing registers and badges for manual child attendance recording

ChurchSuite has an amazing children's check-in system available to you through ChurchSuite Connect (use the Quick Links on the Dashboard page, accessible by clicking the ChurchSuite logo in the top left corner of any page). However, you can also produce printed child badges, registers and other group reports to run a manual child check-in process if you wish.

In this article, we'll show you how to print children's group registers and name badges for your children and youth groups ahead of time, ready to use for your next group session. We also explore how you can process attendance details from printed registers back into the Children module's Attendance section, allowing you to use the module's comprehensive attendance reporting for your children and youth ministry.

Printing registers

Having previously set up your gathering(s) and groups (see related support article), head into the Children module, click into the Groups section and select the Gathering for which you wish to print registers.

From the gathering "View", and for each Group in turn, select Print register from the group Actions.

The Print register page opens and the PDF register is previewed. Depending on your browser, the PDF Download and Print tools are shown. Safari users will need to either right-click to "Open with Preview" or left-click on the PDF and print via the File options. The register can be optionally further filtered by Tags and include the Medical Short data for each child. You can Order by a child's first or last name. The Date suggested is the next upcoming due date for the Gathering, but you produce a register for other dates if you wish. From here you can easily produce registers for other Groups, without needing to return to the gathering "View" each time - click Generate to apply the selection changes and render an updated register:

The register comprises three sections. The first section lists the names of all members of the group. A section is also provided for visitors and a final page provides space to record team attendance and incident reporting for the session.

In addition to printed registers, your group leaders may find the group Summary report helpful - providing useful information about each child, including their sex, date of birth, parent contact details, address, medical short, additional needs and doctor fields. See the next section for more information.

Printing group summaries

As with printing registers, you can also print helpful group summaries for the group's leaders - providing useful additional information about the children in their group. Still working from a gathering "View" page showing the list of Groups select Print summary from the group Actions.

The Print summary page opens and the PDF summary is previewed for the selected group. The summary includes additional information about each child including the sex, date of birth, parent contact details, address, medical short, additional needs and doctor fields of all members of the group. Depending on your browser, the PDF Download and Print tools are shown. Safari users will need to either right-click to "Open with Preview" or left-click on the PDF and print via the File options. The summary can be optionally further filtered by Tags and you can Order by a child's first or last name. From here you can easily produce summaries for other Groups, without needing to return to the gathering "View" each time - click Generate to apply the selection changes and render an updated summary:

Printing child name badges

As with printing registers you can also print child badges. Still working from a gathering's "View" page showing the list of Groups, select Print badges from the group Actions.

The Print badges page opens and the PDF badges are previewed for the selected group. The badges include the names of all members of the group. Depending on your browser, the PDF Download and Print tools are shown. Safari users will need to either right-click to "Open with Preview" or left-click on the PDF and print via the File options.

You can further filter the badges by children Tags and customise the Badge Title and Badge Caption to show additional information on the badges, such as the Church name, Gathering name, Group name, Medical Short, Age, Barcode or Custom Fields. Note that only one selection is possible for the badge title (which prints above the child's name) and one for the badge caption (which prints beneath the child's name). Optionally untick Show Last Name to just show children's first names on the badges. Click Generate to apply the selection changes and render the updated badges.

From here you can easily produce summaries for other Groups, without needing to return to the gathering "View" each time - click Generate to apply the selection changes and render the updated badges:

Printing full details of children

As with printing registers, you can also print a Full Details report for each child in a group. Still working from a gathering's "View" page showing the list of Groups, select Print full details from the group Actions.

The Full Details report is displayed. The report includes all Children module information for all children who are assigned as members of the selected group in the selected gathering. Using the Fields filter you can customise the content of the report, selecting which pieces of information to include or exclude. Click Generate to apply filter changes and update the report. From the report, you can Communicate, add those in the report to a Tag or select Print report.

If you have further Full Details reports to print for other groups in the same gathering, you can do so from the same screen without needing to return to the gathering's "View" page each time; select each group in turn from the drop-down Group selector and click Generate to preview the report before printing.

Adding group attendance from printed registers

For churches and other organisations producing printed group registers, it's really easy to add that attendance information back into the Children module. This may be helpful where you're not yet ready to use the Child Check-In system or where it can't be used in your venue if internet access is a constraint. As we'll see in this section, you can add attendance for group and team members, but you can also add attendance for non-group members and visitors.

Working within the Attendance section of the Children module, click Add attendance.

On the Add attendance pop-up, begin by selecting the Group you are adding attendance for. Select the Session - or type a new session name. For example, if you have multiple services, you might distinguish the session names as "Morning Service 1" and "Morning Service 2", or "9:30 am Service" and "11:15 am Service". It's not necessary to include the date in the session naming convention. Aim to use the same session names each time you're recording attendance - this will help you with session attendance reporting for each of your gatherings and each of your services. Next, enter the attendance Date or click Didn't Meet. Clicking into the date field opens the date picker. Optionally add any pertinent Notes, perhaps the session theme, or something that arose during the session that needs follow-up.

Next, proceed with ticking the Children present in the group based on your printed registers. The list of children is derived from the selected group's known members - further information about adding children to groups can be found in the related support article. Note that you will be able to add attendance for other children and visitors in a moment.

Finally, tick the Team present in the group. The list of team members is derived from the group's previous team member attendance in the last 3 months, so may initially be empty. You'll be able to add attendance for further team members in a moment.

Once you have finished ticking the Children and Team in attendance for the group for the selected date click Save to add the attendance. You are taken to the attendance "View" page which shows all the details you've just selected/added. From this "View" page you can search/add additional children, visitors and team members - perhaps adding children who are not yet group members or those who attended ad hoc for this one session or visitors who attended the session or other team members.

When adding a child/visitor, use the Search and select a child - the list of matching results filters as you type. If no matching result is found - and having typed the child's full name (first name and last name), select the newly-typed name from the top of the list to add as a Visitor.

Children visitors are distinguished in the list of attendees with a V. See the related support article for further information on Managing visitors, including how to add other visitor contact details to a newly added visitor name.

If necessary, you can choose to Remove children, visitors or team members using the attendance Actions next to a person's name - perhaps if a child or team member has been incorrectly added. Select View changes to view a full attendance change log, which preserves the attendance data audit trail and changes made by Users.

Returning to the Attendance list, here you can Add attendance - perhaps for other groups that met. Notice also the attendance Actions to View, Edit or Delete and the Search and Advanced Search.

Any attendance Notes added for the group/session are distinguished by a "note icon". Hovering your cursor over the icon will surface the note in a pop-up - ideal for identifying things that need follow-up.

Finally, you can perform batch Actions on multiple selected attendance entries to Delete select attendances.

Note that deleting attendance is a destructive action that cannot be reversed. Careful consideration should be given to any safeguarding or child protection implications that may require you to keep attendance data. Note that you can use the Attendance Date report (in the Children module's Reports section) to generate an attendance data report for a selected date before permanent deletion.