After creating a Timetable within a Project this guide looks at the Block Planning tab within the Timetable.
The Block Planning page provides feedback on the minimum requirements for the Relationships, Subject Information, and Staffing pages. Users can create the Timetable structure in the Review page, and then make Blocks and Bands accordingly for them to appear in the Curriculum Plan page.
This guide covers how to:
- Review minimum requirements by Year Group
- Create the timetable Band structure
- Assign Classes to selected Bands in Class Distribution
- How to generate Blocks
- Review Footer
Tip: Alternatively, use the Curriculum Plan page to make the Blocks and Bands directly in there.
The minimum permissions required to create a Timetable are found in the Timetable Module from Config > Setup > Roles and Permissions > Choose Role>Edit>Timetable > Timetable App.
For further guidance on wTimetable see here.
Go to Modules>wTimetable to open Projects>click on your Project Name>then click on your Timetable. Block Planning is the fourth tab.
Review minimum requirements by Year Group
Click on a Year Group to review the feedback.If the Year Group does not meet the minimum requirements it will appear in red, and a red message appears below Year Group selector informing the user which Subjects they do not have enough planned resource for.
Hover over the i to see what action is recommended. e.g.
- Review Contact Times on the Staffing page for these Subjects.
- Review the Subject Information page, consider using Linear Blocks or grouping Subjects together to enable flexibility where Staff resources are limited.
Consider using Bands for enabling fewer Staff to be scheduled.
- Staff Number displays the number of Staff with Contact Time assigned to that year group in the Staffing page.
- Total Contact Time displays the Contact Time assigned to that Year Group in the Staffing page.
Create the Timetable Band Structure
Blocks and Classes can be distributed once the number of Bands has been set for the timetable structure. The Number of Pupils is based on the number of Pupils in the Subject Information page.
- Enter the number of Bands in the timetable structure.
- Click the Apply button to apply the number of Bands to the timetable structure.
Assign classes to selected bands in Class Distribution
The Class Distribution popup allows users to assign the number of classes to selected Bands.
Click the edit/pencil icon for a Block to open the Class Distribution popup.
Choose whether to Split to Bands or Cross Bands.
Split Bands allows you to allocate the number of Classes in a Block to the selected Band(s).
- Enter the number of classes required per Band – the sum of the number of classes per Band should equal the total Number of Classes.
- Click Save.
Cross Bands allows you to spread a Block across one or more Bands
- Tick the consecutive Bands where this Block should appear.
- Click Save.
Tip: For limited options which belong to separate Bands – just tick the Bands that are appropriate to it.
Number of Classes (ready only) can be amended in Subject Information page.
Number of Bands (ready only) can be amended in Review page.
How to generate Blocks
This action is done on a year-by-year basis and applies the Blocks in the Block Planning page to the Curriculum Plan page.
Click on Generate Blocks
A success message will appear and the Blocks will be generated in the Curriculum Plan page.
For subsequent use of Generate Blocks, a new version of the Timetable is created, and the previous version is saved as a Backup.The user will be asked to Confirm that they agree to create Bands and Blocks for the selected Year Group in a new Timetable version
- Note: If the number of Bands has been increased in the Review page, the corresponding Year Group’s Subject Information page will be disabled to prevent corruption of the process. To restore the Subject Information page requires the Year Group to be Reset. This will also reset the Review page back to one Band
Block Planning Footer
The Footer of the table displays;
- Periods
- Classes
- Totals – total number of sessions required for the Block (sum of Periods x Classes)
Note: Index numbers are Periods for Linear Blocks and Class Count for other Blocks.