Diary of a headteacher: The timetabling challenge

The summer term is a busy period. Staffing, timetabling and forward-planning occupy our time, and ensuring this work is successfully completed secures the foundations for the forthcoming academic year.

I am always glad to see the back of the teacher resignation deadline so we can finalise how we will be deploying our teachers from September. Most heads will tell you that they simply cannot afford to run their school with any surplus teaching periods within their staffing model, so it is critical to ensure the person writing the timetable produces a model that is efficient and cost-effective.

I always give my timetable writer some principles to work from, such as not splitting groups between teachers, keeping teachers within their specialist subject and, where possible, teachers staying with the same classes throughout key stage 4. This is not always possible, but it does at least give us a framework from which to work from.