Timetable for an All-Age School

School’s Name:Springfield All Age

Principal’s Name:Mrs. Lorna Alexander

A timetable for school could be described as a sequential list of times in which activities and lessons will take place. The Webster Comprehensive dictionary defines timetable as a tabular statement of the times in which certain things are to take place.

Developing a time table could be challenging aspect of administration as the administrator/principal has the task of bringing together subjects, teachers, classes, rooms and school equipment.

In order to avoid disorganization within the school a timetable is necessary. In developing a timetable there are certain principles that an administrator needs to focus on. One such principle is that the timetable should provide for teaching each day, for a certain amount of time, example, in Jamaica at least five hours of contact period are required. Setting the length of each period in accordance with age of students is very important.

It is necessary to distribute the teaching time allocated to each subject in a manner that suits its needs. Another important principle in developing a timetable is to allocate as much as possible the most suited for each kind of specialization, for example music, physical education, etc. It should be such that the teaching/learning process can take place in the most suitable place. Try to match needs with resources.

Plan should be design so that the break periods for younger children are more than that of older children. It should be taken into considerations those practical subjects like Physical Education should not follow immediately after physical activities like recess or a long walk to school.

Finally, place those subjects requiring deep concentration early in the day, not necessarily first period in the day. The can be put immediately following short breaks.

Below are steps that could be followed in developing a timetable:

1. Select the best time to begin school, break for lunch and play, and close school each day.

2. Decide on the best length of lesson periods.

3. Fill in all the activities that begin at a fixed time daily, for example, assembly, registration, breaks, lunch, etc.

4. Fill in those lesson periods that cannot be altered from a specific time; for example, if there are radio or television educational broadcast lessons, those periods taken by specialist or outside teachers and lessons requiring special room.

5. Enter those subjects requiring the best periods in the day for concentration. Do not allocate more periods than the time allows for.

6. Enter other subjects similarly.

7. Check the timetable for the total number of periods for class per week, as these should all be the same.

8. Check to make sure that every subject gets its correct allocation of periods in accordance with the time analysis.

9. Try out the timetable for a time, for example, a week to make sure there are no mistakes or to make the necessary adjustments.

These are basically the principles and steps that are used at my school in developing our timetable.

Sample Timetable:

Timetable Grade 7-9

Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
8:30-9:00	Roll Call	Roll Call	Roll Call	Roll Call	Roll Call
9:00-9:30	Language/usage	Mathematics	Composition	Mathematics	General Knowledge
9:30-9:50	Vocabulary Work	Language/Usage	Reading	Reading	Spelling
9:50-10:30	Reading	Reading	Mathematics	Comprehension	Mathematics
10:30-10:45	Break	Break	Break	Break	Break
10:45-11:25	Mathematics	Poetry	Dictation Skills	Language/Usage	Language/Usage
11:25-12:00	Music	Letter Writing	Family Life Education	Poetry	Art and Craft
12:00-1:00	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch
1:00-1:45	Social Studies	Science	Religious Education	Science	Reading
1:45-2:25	Vocabulary Work	Physical Education	Word Analysis	Spelling	Clubs
2:25-3:15	Comprehension	Reading	Reading	Sewing	Clubs
3:15-3:30	Dismissal	Dismissal	Dismissal	Dismissal	Dismissal

This report was submitted by Winsome Coke, a student in EDAD 410, The Principalship, in Mandeville, August, 2002

How to Prepare a Timetable for a High School

The information was gathered from a member of the committee who prepares the timetable at a high school in the parish of St. Elizabeth. This process of preparing the timetable is done once per year.

Step one:

The principle allocates the subjects for each grade level in the school.

Step two:

The head of each department at the school then assigns the member of sessions and grade for each teacher in the department. For example, Mrs. Blake will teach thirty sessions for the week to grades seven and eight for the subject Spanish.

NB. The number of possible sessions for the week for any teacher is forty-five.

Step three:

The list with the number of sessions and grade for each teacher is then sent to the vice principal. The vice principle then checks the balance to see if the work load is distributed evenly to the teachers against the number of sessions allocated to each class for the week. The vice principal then records this information in a book.

Step four:

The book with this information them goes to a timetable committee. The members of this committee are all teachers at the school and are selected by the principle. This committee then prepares the timetable.

Step five:

The timetable committee takes the book along with the workload and the plot information for each class onto a monster sheet with all the grades in the school and the subjects they do along with the teacher who teaches it. It is then re-checker by each member of the committee to ensure that there are no classes.

Step six:

Individual sheets are then made for each teacher, which is submitted to the department heads who distribute them to the teachers.

This report was submitted by Claudine Walters, a student in EDAD 410, The Principalship, in Mandeville, August, 2002