Track children's attendance in Groups
Due to Planning Center's Terms of Service, children under 13 cannot log in to Church Center. This means they cannot participate in chats, view group resources, or appear on the group's Members tab. With those limitations in mind, you can still create groups with children if you need to keep attendance records.
In Planning Center, there are three ways to track attendance for children:
Use Check-Ins to track attendance.
Important
This is the most secure method of attendance tracking for children. Check-Ins records who checks someone in/out, shows names and photos of trusted adults, assigns unique, temporary security codes to match adults with children, surfaces medical notes and allergies, and has a built-in emergency texting feature.
Add children's profiles to the same groups as their families.
Create groups of children that include their classroom teacher. Often, this is for Sunday school-like purposes, where you only mark attendance and do not need labels/check-outs. The teachers can also have resources shared with them, like lesson plans or curricula.
Tip
Need to support the parents and guardians of a group of children? Create a parent group to share resources and allow them to connect with other parents!
Take attendance in Check-Ins
To track attendance for groups of children, use Check-Ins, which allows a parent or volunteer to check children in. This process requires access to Check-Ins. If you don't have access, ask an administrator to take this step or give you permission. Taking attendance in Check-Ins will not add any attendance data to Groups.
Create an event in Check-Ins and set up the appropriate times for the event and location for each grade/age.
Gather the devices needed to check children in and set up stations on those devices.
Tip
Have classroom leaders use a roster station to quickly take attendance and manage their classrooms!
Create family small groups
Children under 13 are hidden from the group's Members tab, so you can create a group that accounts for all family members and tracks attendance for adults and children without revealing any child's information.
The exception is that when a leader views the group or takes attendance for an event, they will see the child's profile information to accurately count everyone in attendance. Members with permission to take attendance will also see children listed on the attendance roster for each event.
Important
Parents cannot RSVP or participate in groups for their kids.
Create a parent group
Set up a parent group if you want to connect with parents through messaging or resources.
Create a group type for your parent groups. This allows you to set a group type manager and filter to these groups.
Create a group for each age range or grade you'd like to use, such as "first-grade parents " or "second-grade parents."
Add parents to the correct groups by allowing them to request to join, or use People lists and automations to add the right parents to the right groups.
Tip
Using a Registrations Signup to gather registrations for your classes? Create an automation on the signup that adds parents to a group!