How to make a school timetable, step by step

6 min read

Building the timetable is one of the hardest jobs at the start of the year: dozens of teachers, classes and rules, where one small change causes a clash somewhere else. This guide splits the work into seven clear steps that help whether you build it by hand or with software.

1. Collect the basic data

Teachers with their departments and job titles, classes by grade and section, subjects with their weekly periods per grade from the study plan, and special rooms such as labs, computer rooms and sports halls.

2. Set the week and bell times

School days (Sunday–Thursday or Saturday–Thursday), periods per day, the start and end of each period, breaks and prayer time. Prepare Ramadan and exam bell schedules now too.

3. Assign lessons to teachers

Link every subject in every class to its teacher and check each teacher's weekly total stays within the load for their job title. This shows staff shortages or surpluses before you start.

4. Write down the constraints

Teachers' unavailable times (reductions, admin duties), double lessons, subjects that must not be last, the most periods of a subject a day, and lessons that need a particular room. Fewer, clearer rules make an easier timetable.

5. Place the hardest lessons first

Start with the most constrained lessons: teachers shared between stages, labs, double lessons and reduced teachers. Then the big subjects such as Arabic and maths, and single-period subjects last.

6. Check clashes and balance

No teacher in two classes at once, each subject spread over different days, no teacher with long runs of back-to-back lessons and no long gaps in their day.

7. Print, publish and follow up

Print the master, class and teacher timetables, send each teacher theirs, and set up a daily routine for cover lessons and duties — the timetable lives with you all year.

Tips

Don't start placing lessons before every teacher's load adds up on paper.
Lock the lessons agreed with the administration before regenerating so they stay put.
Save a version before any big change so you can go back.
In Gadwaly steps 5 and 6 are automatic: the generator places the hardest lessons first, checks every clash and explains any lesson it couldn't place.