School Timetable Maker

Setting up the school

The Setup tab holds everything the timetable is built from. Each part is saved as you type.

• School days — tap the days the school works. A day can have fewer periods than the rest, such as a Saturday that ends after the fourth period; the later periods of that day are closed and never filled.
• Periods and breaks — the page starts with eight periods of 40 minutes from 9:00, a 10-minute Break after the second and a 40-minute Lunch after the fifth, so the day ends at 3:10. Change any name or time, add a period or a break, or open Make all the periods from a start time to set the whole day at once. Making the periods again keeps every period in its place on the timetable.
• Subjects and Teachers — type or paste the names. Each gets a short name, such as Maths or SS, used where a paper is tight; change it in the small box.
• Classes — type them, or let Classes 1 to 10, divisions A B add 1 A, 1 B, 2 A and so on in one go. Each class can have its class teacher.

A timetable holds up to 80 classes, 150 teachers, 40 subjects and 16 periods a day.

Each class's plan

On the Plan tab, give each class the subjects it is taught, the teacher for each and how many periods a week. The total is checked against the week: with five days of eight periods and a Saturday of four, a class has 44 periods, and a plan of 46 is shown in red. Copy the plan of another class saves typing for parallel divisions — with or without the teachers. A subject taught in two groups, such as two second languages, can have two rows.

Under the plan, every teacher's planned periods a week are added up across the classes, so an overloaded teacher shows before any timetable is made.

Filling the timetable

The Timetable tab shows one class at a time: the days down the side, the periods across, the breaks as narrow strips. Tap a period to choose from the class's plan — each choice shows how many of its periods are placed already, and a teacher who is in another class at that time is marked busy. You can still put them there, but the period turns red and names the other class until one of them is moved. Swap with another period exchanges two periods of the class.

Fill this class automatically and Fill every class put the plans into the empty periods. They never put a teacher in two classes at once, never use a closed period and never move a period you placed by hand. Each subject is spread over the week: a subject with 7 periods over 6 days gets one or two a day, and a third only when there is no other way. When the busiest teachers make a period impossible to place, the fill first tries moving one of its own new periods to make room, and whatever still does not fit is named in the message rather than forced. Every fill can be undone straight away.

The teachers

The Teachers tab shows any teacher's week, with their periods each day, and marks a period red if they are in two classes at once. Who is free? answers the morning question when a teacher is on leave: choose the day and the period, and every teacher without a class then is listed, the one with the fewest periods that day first, so the substitution goes to whoever has the lightest day.

Printing and sharing

Every paper is A4 sideways and comes as a PDF or straight from the printer:

• A class timetable — the week's grid in colour by subject, with each period's time, and the subjects with their teachers and periods a week listed underneath. Share this class's timetable sends it to the class's WhatsApp group from a phone.
• Every class — one page for each class, for the notice boards.
• Whole school, a page a day — every class's periods for one day on a page, for the staff room.
• A teacher's timetable and Every teacher — the classes and subjects each teacher has in each period.
• Workload — every teacher's periods each day, the week's total and the planned total, with any difference in red.

Keeping the timetable safe

The timetable is saved in this browser on this device; nothing is uploaded and the PDFs are made on the device. Save a backup file before big changes and keep it in Drive or email: Open backup file puts the timetable back on any device, replacing what is there. Start a new timetable clears the page for another school or next year.