The Friday afternoon rebuild
On Friday the director of studies opens last week's timetable, crosses out the students who finish today, adds the arrivals from the booking list, checks for extensions that came in by email, and tries to keep class sizes under your limit without splitting groups that work well together.
It takes the whole afternoon. Then on Monday a late agent booking lands, two students extend by a week at the last minute, and one arrival's flight is delayed until Tuesday. The timetable pinned on the staffroom wall is out of date by nine o'clock.
Why rolling starts make this hard
A school with fixed term dates builds classes once a term. A school with rolling Monday starts builds them every week, from information that sits in different places.
- Bookings and their start and end dates live in the student system, or in an agent booking spreadsheet.
- Extensions and early departures arrive by email to whoever is on reception.
- Current levels are in the director of studies' head or last week's sheet.
- Course types differ: general English, intensive, exam preparation, one-to-one additions.
- Room sizes and teacher availability set hard limits on how many classes you can run.
None of this is difficult on its own. It is the weekly re-gathering that eats the time, and the fact that a change after Friday means doing part of it again by hand.
The effect on students and teachers
Students notice an unstable timetable. Classes that split and merge every week mean new faces and a teacher who has to rebuild the group dynamic. Teachers get their lists late and cannot plan. A class that goes over your size limit because an extension was missed is the kind of thing students mention in their feedback and agents mention to other students.
It also hides a business question. If you cannot quickly see how many students you will have at each level over the next four weeks, it is hard to decide whether to hire a freelance teacher or open another class.
The weekly planner we build
- The planner reads confirmed bookings from your student system, booking spreadsheet or agent portal and knows every student's start date, end date and course type.
- Current levels come from placement results and any approved level changes, so the planner knows where each continuing student sits.
- For next week, it lists who stays, who leaves and who arrives, per level and course type.
- It drafts classes within your maximum class size, keeping continuing students together where it can and placing new arrivals where there is space.
- Room capacity and teacher availability are checked, and anything that does not fit is flagged instead of forced.
- The director of studies drags students between classes if needed, then publishes. Teachers get their lists and students get their room.
- Changes after publishing, such as an extension on Monday morning, update the plan and flag only the classes affected.
| Change | What the planner does |
|---|---|
| New booking for Monday | Adds the student to the arrivals list, pending placement |
| Extension by a week | Keeps the student in their class for another week |
| Early departure | Removes them from the date they leave and frees the space |
| Delayed flight | Keeps their place, marks them as arriving later |
| Class over the size limit | Flags it and suggests where to split |
A four week forward view by level comes with it, so decisions about extra teachers can be made on numbers rather than a feeling.
What Friday looks like afterwards
The draft for next week is there on Friday morning. The director of studies spends a short time moving a few students for reasons the planner cannot know, like two friends who should not sit together, and publishes. Monday's late changes adjust the plan instead of restarting it.
Teachers see their class list before the weekend. The staffroom timetable is printed from the same data, so it matches what the student system says.
Is this your Friday?
- The weekly class list is rebuilt by hand from last week's sheet.
- Extensions and early departures arrive by email and get missed.
- Classes go over your size limit because of late changes.
- Teachers get their lists on Monday morning.
- You cannot easily see student numbers per level for the next month.