Frequently Asked Questions ... How do I?...
How are the schedules rotated? Is it done randomly, or is there a systematic and fair approach applied to the rotation?
Sequential and Spread Rotation modes are rotated in the fairest manner possible. First, they prioritise the avoidance of any student or staff unavailabilities, followed by avoiding scheduling student lessons for the same time each week/fortnight.
For every week/fortnight rotation of Sequential Rotation modes, the student is placed in the following next-best time slot compared to their previous allocation. However, if student/staff unavailabilities have been entered, this pattern may be harder to discern.
In Spread Rotation Schedules, each student is allocated a time slot furthest away from their previous slots.
Using Fixed Rotation, the lesson times do not change from week to week.
How do I create a Fixed Mode Rotating Schedule?
Fixed Mode operates by duplicating the first week. If students can’t be scheduled in the first week of a Fixed Mode rotation, they won’t be scheduled at all. As a workaround, you could begin the rotation a week early or in a week when all students are available to be scheduled. Create the rotation and then delete the unused Sessions in the spreadsheet once they are published.
In the first week of the proposed rotation, check for Student Unavailabilities. This will help identify any issues with why some students aren’t included in the rotation.
Observe any warning signs that appear to indicate clashes. This is useful to see when creating a Fixed Mode rotation because the set Session times will overrule clashes, as shown below:
Please check that you begin the Rotating Schedule on the first calendar day of your Available Blocks for Staff (e.g., Monday) and end it on the last calendar day of your Available blocks for Staff (e.g., Thursday). Rotating Schedules that are commenced or ended on a calendar date within e.g. Monday and Thursday, will not allow enough time to allocate Sessions to all students for the term.
In some cases, when student/staff unavailabilities, public holidays, pre-explained absences, and student/staff session clashes are taken into account, allocating all students to Sessions within the currently defined staff availability times is impossible.
When can I edit my Rotating Schedule?
At every step of the process, you are given the option to edit the schedule.
Click the 'back' lower right-hand button to revisit the Rotation, Staff and Student pages.
You may also drag-and-drop Sessions to new times and dates before clicking 'Populate Spreadsheet'. At this stage, a modal may pop up to warn you about existing clashes at the new Session time. Below are some examples of clashes detected:
The term has commenced, and I have new and discontinued students now. How do I accommodate this in my Schedule?
Once your Sessions have been published and appear in the Schedule menu, click on the Session > Actions > Edit Rotation to edit the Rotating Schedule. This will take you back into the Rotating Schedule flow. It will ask you which date you want your edits to take effect. Start the edit from the day before your first edited Session.
Can I delete my Rotating Schedule?
To delete a Rotating Schedule, go back into the Rotating Schedule editing flow (click Edit Rotation), set the Session and Rotation frequency to Weekly, change the Rotation Time Period to one week only, and then delete all students other than one. Publish this Rotating Schedule and then delete those Sessions.
Can I rotate most students and fix some students' times for before-school and after-school lessons?
Yes, you can! Schedule rotating students using the Sequential or Spread Mode and schedule other fixed-time students by creating either a new, separate Fixed Mode Rotating Schedule or a Series of Sessions. If you have any fixed Sessions to schedule, creating them first is best. Ensure you don't include the fixed student lesson times within the Rotating Schedule's Sequential or Spread mode Available Blocks for Staff.
How do I edit the Rotating series of Sessions in my Schedule once the term has begun?
Once your Sessions have been published and appear in the Schedule menu, you can edit the Rotating Schedule by clicking on the Session > Actions > Edit Rotation. This will take you back into the Rotating Schedule flow. Please be aware that if you change parameters such as the number of students taught or the length of lessons, Session times for all students within the schedule will be affected.
I tutor students who are assigned to different Activities, but I want to schedule all students within one Rotating Schedule.
Manager and Admin users may create a new Activity and list all students with the tutor as a workaround for this scenario. For example, list all clarinet and saxophone students under one Activity, 'Mr. Brown - Clarinet/Sax Tuition'.
Alternatively, you may create a separate Rotating Schedule for every Activity/instrument, allocating different Staff Availability for every Schedule. Please ensure your Staff Availability in each separate Schedule doesn't overlap.
I want my Rotating Schedule to rotate students only within one day and not over the total number of days staff are available. How do I set this up?
You would set up one Rotating Schedule for each day - set the 'Available Blocks for Staff' to e.g. Monday 9:00 am - 12:00 pm, then the second Rotating Schedule to Tuesday 9:00 am - 12:00 pm, etc.
What are the benefits of using Fixed Mode Rotating Schedules for students with permanent lesson times versus creating a Series of Sessions?
Fixed Mode Rotating Schedules allow you to edit every Schedule aspect, including an individual Session's Title. A Series of Sessions will not allow you to edit the Title of only one of the Series.
Fixed Mode Rotating Schedules: If you have a student who discontinues lessons, you can delete them and add another student’s name to this timeslot instead, similar to deleting a Series of Sessions and creating a new Series of Sessions for the new student.
Fixed Mode Rotating Schedules allow the creation of many Fixed Sessions for all students simultaneously. A Series of Sessions is created for one student at a time.
How can I delete some Sessions from my Rotating Schedule?
You can delete individual Rotating Schedule Sessions the same way you would any other Session. If you need to delete several at once, switch to table view in the top right of your Schedule, set your date range, filter down to the Sessions you want, and delete them in bulk. Check out our article on How to Bulk Delete Sessions Using Table View for a full walkthrough.
Tips and Tricks!
If you want certain students to rotate within one day, create separate Rotating Schedules for each separate day you teach.
To schedule breaks during the day, set your daily Available Blocks for Staff around them. Students will be rotated over all of the blocks you list in the one Rotating Schedule rather than being rotated within every Block.
Ensure you create separate Rotating Schedules for students in each Activity.
Public Holidays: When there is a Public Holiday clash and no extra time is given within the Rotating Timetable to make up those lessons, schedule for the full term as if there were no Public Holiday clash. The RS will show the error 'There is not enough available staff time allocated to fit all student Sessions within the rotation'.
All other weeks will create Sessions other than the week of the Public Holiday. Manually populate the public holiday week’s Sessions within the spreadsheet before publishing, adding your make-up lesson times for a time outside your Available Blocks for Staff, subject to your availability. Clashes will still be detected when entering this information in the spreadsheet.
Or, create and publish separate Rotating Schedules for the weeks before and after public holidays. Then, manually add all lessons once the Rotating Schedule has been published for the week affected. However, clashes will not be detected.
Use case unsuited to Rotating Schedules:
When the school stipulates that the student isn't allowed to miss more than one academic subject every term and the subject times change every week/fortnight, the Admin User would need to enter all, e.g., seven weeks of Maths lesson unavailabilities for one student. If you enter too many Student Unavailabilities, the Rotating Schedule may find it difficult to assign Sessions that don't clash with other parameters.