Practical solutions for scheduling challenges that schools frequently encounter. This guide covers real-world scenarios, explains why certain limits exist, and provides recommended workarounds.
Scheduling Double / Consecutive Periods
Scenario
You want a subject like English (8 periods/week) split into 4 single periods and 2 double (back-to-back) periods per week.
Recommended Approach: Use Pre-Assignments
Pre-assignments give you full control over exactly when double periods happen:
- Go to Pre-Assignments and click Create Pre-Assignment
- Select Fixed Schedule as the type
- Choose the subject (e.g., English) and the teacher
- Select the grade and section (e.g., Grade 8A)
- In the time slot grid, click two consecutive periods on the same day — for example, Monday Period 3 + Monday Period 4 (first double), Wednesday Period 1 + Wednesday Period 2 (second double)
- Save the pre-assignment
This locks in 2 double periods (4 slots). The remaining 4 English periods are distributed automatically as single periods across the rest of the week.
You can repeat this for any grade/section that needs the same arrangement.
Alternative: Let the Generator Handle It
The timetable generator already prefers placing consecutive periods when a subject has a high number of lessons per week. With 8 English periods, it will naturally try to group some together. However, the exact number of doubles is not guaranteed — so if you need precisely 4 singles + 2 doubles, pre-assignments are the way to go.
Scheduling Free Periods / Classes Without a Teacher
Scenario
You want some periods in the timetable to have no teacher assigned — for self-study time, library periods, or free periods.
Option A: Reduce Total Periods (Simplest)
Reduce the total periods per week for that grade. For example, if your bell schedule has 45 slots per week but you only assign 40 periods worth of subjects, the generator automatically leaves 5 slots empty. These become your free periods. No extra setup needed.
Option B: Create a "Free Period" Subject (Explicit)
If you want free periods to show up explicitly in the timetable:
- Create a teacher named "Free Period" (or "Self Study", "Library", etc.)
- Create a subject with the same name
- Assign this teacher and subject to the grades that need it, with the desired number of periods per week
- The generator schedules these just like any other subject — they appear clearly in both class and teacher timetable views
Option C: Placeholder for Unconfirmed Teachers
If you have a subject but the teacher hasn't been confirmed yet, the system requires a teacher before generation. As a temporary workaround:
- Create a placeholder teacher (e.g., "TBD" or "To Be Assigned")
- Assign them to the subject
- Once you know the actual teacher, use Replace Teacher on the Timetable Generation page to swap them in without regenerating
In most cases, reducing the total periods per week (Option A) is the cleanest solution.
Subject Group Limit (8 Subjects)
Scenario
You need more than 8 subjects in a subject group.
Why the Limit Exists
Subject groups are designed specifically for electives — where students in the same grade choose between a set of subjects (e.g., French or Sanskrit, or a choice of instruments). The generator needs to schedule all subjects in a group into the same time slot across sections, so the more subjects in a group, the more constraints the algorithm has to juggle. Beyond 8, this creates significant bottlenecks — slots get blocked, and generation is more likely to fail or produce suboptimal results.
Workaround: Use a Custom Subject Instead
If your use case is not a true elective (students choosing one from many), try this approach:
- Create a custom subject — Instead of adding it to a group, create a standalone subject (e.g., "Skill Period" or "Activity Block") under Subjects
- Assign the teacher who will be responsible for that period
- Use a Fixed Schedule pre-assignment — Pin this subject to the specific time slots you want
- Use the description/notes field to document which teacher handles which activity — teachers are usually notified separately about their specific responsibilities within that period
This approach gives you full control over scheduling without creating bottlenecks in the generator. It works well for activity periods, skill blocks, club rotations, and similar arrangements that involve many teachers or sub-activities.
Subject groups work best when kept focused on true elective choices with up to 8 options.
Fixed Schedule: One Grade, One Teacher
Scenario
You want to create a Fixed Schedule pre-assignment covering multiple grades or multiple teachers.
Why It's One Grade, One Teacher
Fixed Schedule is the most rigid pre-assignment type — it pins one specific teacher to one specific grade section at exact time slots. This precision is what makes it reliable: the generator knows exactly who teaches what, where, and when. Allowing multiple teachers and grades would create ambiguous combinations (which teacher goes to which grade?) and undermine the purpose of a "fixed" schedule.
How to Cover Multiple Grades
Create a separate Fixed Schedule pre-assignment for each grade section. For example, if you want the same teacher teaching English at Period 1 for Grade 8A, 8B, and 8C:
- Create a Fixed Schedule for Grade 8A — English, Teacher X, Monday Period 1
- Create a Fixed Schedule for Grade 8B — English, Teacher X, Tuesday Period 1
- Create a Fixed Schedule for Grade 8C — English, Teacher X, Wednesday Period 1
Each one is explicit and conflict-free.
When to Use Other Types Instead
- Team Teaching — When one or more teachers teach the same subject to multiple grade groups simultaneously. No grade limit, 1-20 teachers.
- Class Teacher — When each grade's homeroom teacher should automatically be assigned. No grade limit, no teacher selection needed. Ideal for Assembly, Dispersal, or any period where the class teacher must be present.
Why Class Teacher Pre-Assignments Require a Subject
Scenario
When creating a Class Teacher pre-assignment, the form asks you to select a subject. This seems unnecessary since the teacher is assigned automatically — why is a subject needed?
Explanation
The Class Teacher pre-assignment is designed for assigning class teachers to specific period types — such as Dispersal, Assembly, or any period where the class teacher must report to their class. The subject tells the generator what to label those periods in the timetable.
For example, if you have a Dispersal period at the end of the day and you want each class's assigned class teacher to automatically take that period:
- Create a pre-assignment with type Class Teacher
- Select the subject (e.g., Dispersal)
- Select the grades
- Choose the time slots
The system then automatically assigns each grade's class teacher to those Dispersal periods during generation. This can be done for multiple classes at once.
Note: Homeroom is handled separately and does not require a pre-assignment — class teachers are automatically assigned to Homeroom periods during generation.
Finding the Master View
Scenario
You want a bird's-eye view of the entire school timetable — all classes or all teachers in a single grid.
Where to Find It
Go to Timetable > Master View from the left sidebar. The Master View shows all grades side-by-side in a scrollable grid, organized by bell time schedule.
The grid displays:
- All grades across the top
- Periods/times down the left side
- Subject and teacher in each cell
- Color-coded subjects for easy scanning
Exporting the Master View
The Master View supports Excel export. Click the "Export Excel" button at the top of each schedule section. The exported file includes:
- All grades side-by-side with day columns
- Period rows with subject and teacher information
- A separate "Teachers" sheet mapping teacher initials to their full names
Excel handles wide tables well and lets you print or adjust the layout as needed.
For individual class or teacher timetables, use View by Class or View by Teacher — these support PNG, Excel, and ICS exports.
Printing Timetables
Scenario
You need physical printouts of timetables for notice boards, staff rooms, or administrative records.
For Individual Timetables
Use View by Class or View by Teacher:
- PNG export — Best for printing a single timetable. Clean, formatted image that prints well on A4/Letter paper.
- Excel export — Best when you need to adjust layout, add notes, or customize before printing.
- Bulk download (ZIP) — Download all class or all teacher timetables at once as PNG or Excel files.
For the Whole School at a Glance
Use Master View > Export Excel. This gives you the entire school timetable in a spreadsheet that you can format and print as needed.
For Sharing Digitally
- Email — Send individual timetables directly to teachers or parents from the View by Class/Teacher pages.
- ICS export — Import timetable into Google Calendar, Outlook, or Apple Calendar.
- Google Calendar — Direct "Add to Google Calendar" option available on each timetable.
Different Subjects for Different Sections (Streams)
Scenario
You want Grade 10A to study Science subjects and Grade 10B to study Commerce subjects — different curricula for different sections of the same grade.
How It Works
By default, all sections of a grade share the same curriculum. When you assign subjects to "Grade 10", both 10A and 10B get the same subjects and periods. For senior grades that split into streams, TimeIt360 has a purpose-built setup so each stream can carry its own subjects and teachers.
Recommended: Tag streams with a shared grade level
Add each stream as its own grade/section (e.g. Stream "Science", "Commerce", "Humanities", optionally with a section letter), and on each one tick "Part of a senior stream (grade level)" and give them all the same grade level (e.g. "12"). Each stream keeps its own subjects and teachers — so Science can have Physics and Chemistry while Commerce has Accountancy and Economics — and because they share a level, the generator co-schedules their option groups correctly.
The grade level is a dropdown: the first stream creates the level, and every other stream picks that same value from the list, so the levels always match exactly. Already have the sections set up? Just edit each one, tick the box, and select the shared level — nothing to re-enter. The Grades table's Grade Level column shows which sections are linked.
See Grades — Senior Grade with Streams for the full walkthrough.
💡 Keep all streams of a grade under the same grade level (e.g. "12") using this flow, rather than creating separately named grades like "Grade 12-Science" and "Grade 12-Commerce". Streams set up as sections of one grade let the generator co-schedule their option groups properly.
Why Does My Timetable Have Empty Slots?
Scenario
After generating a timetable, some periods show as empty/free even though you didn't explicitly set them up.
Intentional Free Periods
If your bell schedule has 45 slots per week but you only assign 40 periods worth of subjects to a grade, the generator fills 40 slots and leaves 5 empty. These become free periods automatically — no extra setup needed. This is the simplest way to build in free periods, self-study time, or buffer slots.
Unintentional Gaps
If a subject is assigned to a grade (e.g., English, 6 periods/week) but no teacher is assigned to that subject-grade combination, the generator cannot schedule it. Those 6 periods remain empty, and a warning is logged during generation.
How to fix: Go to Teacher→Subject Assignments, find the subject-grade combo that has no teacher, and assign one. Then regenerate.
Teacher-Subject Assignment Freedom
Scenario
You're wondering whether there are restrictions on which subjects a teacher can be assigned to, or how many subjects/grades a single teacher can handle.
No Qualification Restrictions
TimeIt360 does not enforce teacher qualifications — any teacher can be assigned to any subject. This is by design. Schools have full freedom to decide who teaches what, based on their own staffing decisions and teacher capabilities.
No Limits on Subjects or Grades Per Teacher
There is no cap on how many subjects or grades a single teacher can be assigned to. This is important for early years and primary schools, where "mother teachers" or homeroom teachers handle all subjects for their class.
The Teacher Workload tab on the Timetable Generation page helps you monitor whether a teacher is over-assigned relative to their available capacity — but it does not prevent assignments.
Subject in Multiple Groups
Scenario
You want to include the same subject (e.g., "Computer Science") in two different subject groups — for example, in both a "Science Electives" group and a "Technology Electives" group.
This Is Allowed
A subject can belong to multiple groups. There is no restriction preventing the same subject from appearing in different subject groups. This gives you flexibility to offer overlapping elective choices across different grade levels or streams.