Build your school's weekly timetable, step by step.
Seven steps to build the grid for your classes, from headcount per level to placing every session — on paper, in a spreadsheet, or with a tool.
What to gather before building your school's timetable
Before opening a single spreadsheet, gather this information: it is enough to build a complete timetable, with or without software.
- The list of open levels and the expected headcount for each
- The number of available rooms and the maximum class size
- The list of subjects and their weekly hours per level
- The list of teachers, their subjects and their known unavailability
- The school's opening hours and any shortened days of the week
The seven-step procedure to build the timetable for your classes
Seven steps to build your classes' weekly timetable on paper, with no software at all — ScolaritéPlus's free timetable generator can then take over the longest calculation.
In a hurry? Generate this grid directly with ScolaritéPlus's free tool.
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List the levels and the headcount for each
Count the pupils expected in every level, from preschool to the last year of high school, before any other decision. This figure drives how many classes you will need to open and everything that follows.
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Split each level into classes using the maximum size you set
Divide the headcount of each level by the maximum class size you have chosen, rounding up to the next whole number. A class of thirty-five pupils in primary school does not carry the same constraint as one of twenty-five in preschool.
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Fix the day's time slots and the shortened days
Fix the list of time slots for the day, from the first to the last, and flag the days when the week ends earlier, often Friday. These slots become the columns of the whole grid.
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Fix the weekly hours for each subject
Assign every subject a number of hours per week and per level, in line with the curriculum your school has chosen. This volume decides how many sessions must fit into the week for each class.
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Register the teachers, their subjects and their levels
List every teacher with the subjects they can take on and the levels they are assigned to. A teacher covering several subjects or levels widens the placement possibilities, but also complicates how the constraints cross each other.
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Record each teacher's unavailability, slot by slot
Note, for every teacher, the slots when they are not available: part-time schedule, teaching at another school, a reserved day. The more precise this list, the fewer sessions the final placement will leave unresolved.
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Place the sessions, spot the blockers and publish the grid
All that remains is to cross the slots, the subjects and the availabilities to fill every cell of the grid, class by class. This is the longest step to do by hand: ScolaritéPlus's free timetable generator performs this crossing in the browser within seconds, names the blockers preventing a complete placement, and produces two printable grids, one per class and one per teacher.
Frequently asked questions about building a school timetable
The questions school leaders ask most often when building their timetable.
How much time should be planned to build a school's timetable?
Allow several hours for a first manual build, and more still if your school has many teachers shared across several levels.
The following years go faster: the structure of levels and slots changes little from one year to the next.
What should be done when a teacher does not have enough free slots for their hours?
First check that their declared unavailability is accurate, then consider splitting the subject with a second teacher or adjusting the weekly hours.
How should a shortened Friday or weekday be handled?
Declare that shortened weekday with a reduced number of slots right from the time-slot step, before placing a single session, so the grid accounts for it everywhere.
How should the available rooms be shared between classes?
Count the number of rooms available at each slot and cap the number of classes that can occupy that slot in parallel to that number.
Where can a free tool to build this timetable be found?
ScolaritéPlus's free timetable generator builds this grid directly in the browser, with no install and no account to create.
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