Timetabling for Schools

Cost-effective curriculum development and innovative timetabling solutions.

Timetable Writing and Support

This service gives you time for complete focus on teaching, learning and provision across all areas of your leadership and support teams. We will carry out a review of your curriculum and staffing, and design your curriculum model for use in your management system. We will consult with senior and middle leaders to complete a full design brief. Post review, we will recommend efficiency savings and improvements for your schedule, followed by a complete write and scheduling of all aspects of your timetable. This includes reporting back on any decisions that fall outside of the scope of the project brief with an explanation of the decision. We will then adjust and make requested amendments to the structure, staffing and rooming at any time, and in consultation with your senior and middle leaders, up to the launch and final review of timetable.

 Post timetable write, we will make changes requested by your organisation through the year. These will be written into your timetable at no additional cost, including a re-write if necessary.

Process

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Jan / Feb

Agree curriculum model

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Feb / Mar

Agree structures that will give the most flexibility and that are, usually, the most cost-effective

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April / May

Review and support the options process 

Write draft timetable plan

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May

Discuss with leaders and redraft

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May / June

Meet and work with middle leaders to refine and redraft

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June

Finalise – Complete

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June / July

Resolve individual niggles

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August

Review post summer results

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Sept

Launch

Common Mistakes
  • Start too late
  • Low involvement from middle leaders and staff
  • Leave scheduling to admin staff – limited senior team oversight
  • Use automated software too much that reduces choice
  • Not using all the flexibility that is available within the model and structures
  • Allowing low priorities to drive aspects of the timetable
  • Not considering every child’s experience of a school day
  • Not considering every teacher’s experience of a school day
Benefits
  • Your leaders can focus on the pupils and the running of the school
  • Staff remain focused on their main priority – their pupils
  • Experience of a wide variety of structures, models and systems – you don’t know what is possible, if you have never experienced it
  • Your middle leaders are fully engaged in the process, it is theirs to own and work with
  • Cost savings
  • Improved scheduling impacting the pupils’ experience, even down to considering pupil movement and flows of people within buildings
  • Improved teacher wellbeing. Teachers are involved in process, listened to, and their school day analysed to ensure no work overload or pressure points within a cycle that may lead to absence or stress
  • External oversight to ensure nothing is missed, and you launch on time
  • Expert advice and support
  • Our expertise and experience allows us to work quicker than if you attempt to do the work internally. If you are up against it… we can complete within a week
Cost Savings
  • Consider your leadership time of planning / analysing / writing / meeting staff – it won’t be less than our standard cost.

Your leadership costs will be in the region of £400 per day – plus admin support and the impact on pupils of a senior leader being focused elsewhere.

If this cost is greater than approximately 10-12 days of your leader’s time, we will be a cost neutral or better solution.

  • If you are looking for savings within your curriculum delivery, as a result of our reorganisation of a curriculum, we have brought a school out of a considerable deficit within a year.

Talk to us about potential savings, but do not be afraid of asking us to look for £300,000 – £500,000 of savings – we’ve identified this level of savings for schools before.

Questions asked of the school
  • What do you want to achieve?
  • What are your non-negotiables within your curriculum?
  • Are there any known time restrictions?
  • Who will be the school’s main contact?

We will also ask questions about curriculum and structure, although we can also collect this from your system if necessary.

Frequently Asked Questions

How quickly can you produce our timetable?

The quickest a timetable could be produced would be a week but this would be in an emergency situation for a school. Ideally, we would like to be able to work with you over a longer period of time to ensure that the timetable is constructed efficiently and effectively and that staff are involved in the process.

What software do you use to timetable?

We can timetable into all major timetabling software including Nova T6 and Scheduler. We can also timetable using our own custom-designed system if you don’t have dedicated timetabling software or an electronic management system.

Does it matter what MIS my school uses?

No, we can timetable in all major timetabling software.

Will you work onsite or remotely?

It will be a combination of both. Some of the work can be done remotely but it is also important that we spend some of the time onsite working with your staff.

If you’d like to discuss how our timetabling service can support your curriculum, improve your staffing efficiencies and save you money, arrange a conversation with us today.