News Update #3: Timetable Network

After many years involved in the scheduling of schools I often repeat with school leaders a conversation about the expectations of a leadership team and the resulting timetable delivered at the beginning of the academic year. Expectations are often expressed as disappointment with structures not meeting "requirements" that have not always been articulated, while the problems described are often linked to long held expectations without consideration of the structure because the organisation of learners is not understood. I often find there is a mismatch in the conversation between middle leaders, subject heads and senior leaders. Let me illustrate this with some examples.

As a school leader do you identify with any of the following timetabling concerns or have you had this said to you by middle leaders in your organisation? If you have heard these said over the past few weeks, I feel your pain, but some can be easily prevented, other are more difficult.

1. There are too many classes with more than one teacher, 'split classes', that were not intended to be that way.
2. There is an imbalance in minority subjects across a multi week timetable, i.e. music has both lessons in Week 1 but none in Week two.
3. There are teachers who are teaching multiple subjects or subjects outside of their specialism.
4. There are members of staff who are teaching in multiple rooms across the day moving constantly between rooms or sites.
5. A 'whoever is available' teaching approach has been used for subjects in the timetable where the subject lead like Personal and Social Education has half the staff to communicate with. Or retake classes are taught by our weakest teachers.
6. Why is there an inability to schedule team meetings into the schedule?
7. There are too many teaching staff with unused teaching time, or there is no equity or sharing of surplus time.
8. A single subject, e.g. PE, seems to drive the design of the curriculum with changing rooms and resourcing impacting decisions made about the whole curriculum.
9. A small group of staff seem to always get the "top sets." or teach examination year groups and have increased levels of gained time when examinations are complete.
10. Why is there such a difference in the class size between different bands in a year group?
11. How can we create more flexibility for learners with English as an Alternate Language (EAL) or Special Educational Needs or Disability (SEND) needs?
12. We seem to have holes in the timetable where learners don't have classes, rooms or teachers.

Working with our SMARTcurriculum delivery partners I review the conversations with school leaders every year where the above issues are the most often described. There are many more issues that I can described but these are the most common. We see issues related to the unintended bias of leaders to their own subject passion, poorly populated data systems that make system delivery very difficult and the inconsistent application of system thinking, particularly toward staff load decisions. On top of this are the challenges of the agility of the schedule to respond to the major challenges caused by regional teacher recruitment issues and adaption decisions made based on teachers employed, or not, to the reality of the position 4 months later where change to meet the curriculum needs and staffing change because so much is different and how to predict.

We are seeing more schools requesting complete or partial in-year timetable rewrites and major redrafting based on things not working satisfactorily or change being so significant that there is a need to revisit the structures, which only adds to the disruption. Often in these cases there is a need to change and often micro fixing the current schedule makes things worse rather than better.

What solutions are possible?

• Schedule a review - get an expert to review your practices to consider change in following years. A new set of eyes will bring a perspective that can impact the quality of you provision bringing experience across a wider range of schools and structures. Macro view is often difficult where you are deep in the issue. Many I work with value the helicopter view even as a quick view to suggest moves forward. Highly stressed staff will not be thinking strategically and its often difficult to get the objectivity you need.

• We have created the SMARTcurriculum Timetabling Forum, developing sessions focused on sharing understanding and practice for senior leaders. The three academic terms represent three stages; Strategy, Planning and Implementation. We will deal with applying the strategies across the school and their impact on subjects, planning of the model, cycle and staff profile with recruitment impacts and timeline, and implementation of the timetable, trouble shooting and the impact of adaptions. 8 one and a half hour sessions throughout the academic year all for a reasonable flat subscription fee subscription. Join at any time cycle through the year. A private LinkedIn Group available for colleagues to collaborate and seek help and share good practice.
• Ask for help with a rewrite. If this is the best solution there are ways to reduce the impact across the school. Having said that a whole rewrite is rarely necessary unless you want to change the day structure so talk to us before you get to this point of change. I once worked with a school who had experience 16 published timetables in the first 3 weeks of term, the staff were exhausted and the school was out of control. It is the situation that no leader want to experience but it is often indicative that other things are not in place.

I say to leaders often that "Timetabling is not Curriculum Design and Curriculum Design is not timetabling." Both are necessary but they are separate and distinct disciplines. Curriculum Design includes population design principles, staff profile planning including loading determination and policy, delivery principles and expectations. Timetabling delivers these principles, manages compromises needed where the level of certainty and requirements are secured. These are the elements we will cover in the forum to develop practice that will enable you to understand the structures and their impact while building confidence in managing requests from middle leaders within your organisation who rightly have a single focus while you manage how they fit together.

Save the Date: Friday, 18th October

Time: 07:45 AM

Friday Focus: Thinking Outside the Box for 2-11 Year Olds

Join us for an exciting and insightful discussion on the importance of laying firm foundations in education for young learners! ??

We are thrilled to welcome our special guests:

?? Emma Tibbitts & Mark Orrow-Whiting , from Foundations First, passionate advocates for focusing on foundational development in education. They’ll share their insights on character-building and introduce their concept of the SIX foundation stones—the 6 I’s.

?? Gemma Thurston , Headteacher at Kents Hill Infant Academy (South Essex Academy Trust). With over five years of leadership experience, Gemma has guided her school from special measures to achieving a 'Good' Ofsted rating. Her expertise lies in curriculum and SEND, and she brings a wealth of knowledge from her years of improving educational standards.

?? Malcolm Greenhalgh , Director of Education at Incyte International Ltd. With over 25 years of experience, Malcolm’s action-based research highlights the value of learner-centred strategies for pupil well-being and academic achievement.

?? Jan Dubiel , a world-renowned early years specialist, with nearly two decades of expertise. He currently serves as Primary Improvement Adviser with a specialism in Early Years Foundation Stage.

Don't miss out on this opportunity to learn from these educational leaders about how we can better support the next generation of learners!

Register here: https://www.dhirubhai.net/events/fridayfocus-thinkingoutsidetheb7251590590088253442/theater/