Timetable¶
Who does this: The scheduler (an academic coordinator or the Vice Principal) · Teachers read and print their own Where: Timetable How often: Once before the year starts, then whenever the timetable changes
A timetable is one class's week: for each school day and each period, the subject, the teacher and the room. The school's timetable is the set of them, one per class. Each can be printed for the class, and each teacher's week can be printed for the teacher.
Before you start¶
The timetable is built from things recorded elsewhere. Check them first:
| What | Where | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Periods, with the breaks | Timetable → Configuration → Periods | They are the columns of the week. The school has one set for every grade. |
| Working days | School → Academic Calendar → the year | They are the rows. A lesson cannot be put on a day the school is closed. |
| Teaching assignments | Staff → Teaching Assignments | A teacher can only be given a lesson in a subject and class they are assigned to. |
| Each class's own room | School → Sections | A lesson takes the class's room unless you choose another. |
Building a class's timetable¶
- Timetable → Class Timetables → New.
- Choose the class. The academic year is the running one, and Effective From is the first day the timetable runs.
- On the Week page, click a cell. Choose the subject.
- If one teacher is assigned to that subject for the class, they are filled in. If several are, choose one. If nobody is, the lesson is saved with no teacher, and the timetable counts it under Without a Teacher.
- The room is the class's own. Change it for a lesson held somewhere else, such as the laboratory.
- Save. Click a lesson to change it, or Remove it.
The Lessons page shows the same week as a list, which is quicker for typing many lessons in a row.
Breaks
A break is a narrow grey column. No lesson can be put in it.
Clashes¶
A teacher cannot be with two classes in the same period, and neither can a room. While a timetable is a draft, a clash does not stop you saving: building a timetable always passes through a few. The lesson is marked in red, and pointing at it says which class it clashes with.
A draft is compared with every other class's timetable, draft or published.
A timetable with a clash cannot be published.
Publishing¶
Press Publish. From then on:
- every member of staff can see the timetable, and each teacher finds their lessons under Timetable → My Timetable;
- its lessons can no longer be changed.
To publish the whole school at once, select the timetables in the list and choose Publish from the action menu. This is also how two classes swap a teacher: neither new timetable can be published before the other, but both can be published together.
Changing a timetable during the year¶
Do not edit it. Open the published timetable and press New Version. This makes a draft copy. Change the draft, set the day it takes effect, and publish it. The timetable it replaces is kept, marked Replaced, with the last day it ran, so the school can still say who taught the class on any past day.
Reset to Draft is only for a mistake noticed straight after publishing.
Teaching load¶
Timetable → Teaching Load lists every teaching assignment with two numbers: Periods per Week, which is what was planned, and Scheduled, which is what the timetable gives. They are highlighted when they differ.
The school can set the most periods a teacher may teach in a week (on the school's record, under Timetable), and a different limit for one teacher (on their staff record, under Teaching). A timetable that puts a teacher over the limit cannot be published. With no limit set, nothing is checked.
Printing¶
Both sheets are printed on the school's letterhead, landscape, with the days down the side and the periods across the top.
| Sheet | How | Shows |
|---|---|---|
| Class timetable | Print on the timetable, or Timetable → Print Timetables → Per Class | Each lesson's subject and teacher, and the room when it is not the class's own |
| Teacher timetable | Timetable → Print Timetables → Per Teacher | Each lesson's subject, class and room, and the teacher's periods a week |
In Print Timetables, leave the classes or teachers empty to print all of them in one file, one to a page. A teacher can print their own timetable; the scheduler can print anyone's.
A draft can be printed from its own screen, to check it. It is labelled Draft. The teacher's sheet only ever shows published lessons.
Starting next year's timetable¶
Select this year's timetables in the list and choose Copy to a Year. Each is copied as a draft for the new year. A lesson keeps its teacher only if next year's teaching assignments still give them that subject and class; the others are left without a teacher for you to fill.
What is not here yet¶
- Two classes sharing one lesson, or one class split between two teachers in the same period. Tell us if the school does either.
- The timetable on the parent and teacher portals.
- Finding a substitute for an absent teacher.
- Reports on teaching load and room use.