Timetable
Generating a class's week, adding and changing breaks, and changing, moving and swapping lessons by hand.
Where to find it, and who can change it
Open My Teaching → Timetable in the sidebar, or the Timetable tile on a campus dashboard, and choose the class and arm from "Class". Every timetable belongs to one arm — JSS 1 A and JSS 1 B each have their own. By default the School Administrator, Principal and Campus Administrator can build and change timetables; other staff who can open the page see the week read-only, with no buttons to change it.
Before you generate
The timetable is built from work you have already done in Academic Configuration: the class's subjects, a teacher assigned to each subject for this arm, and a current academic year. A subject with no teacher assigned is left out of the generated week, so assign teachers first on the Subject & Teacher Mapping page. If no current academic year is set, the page tells you and will not generate.
1. Generate the week
Press "Generate Timetable" (it reads "Regenerate" once the class has one). Tick the "Working days" your school runs — Saturday is there if you teach on Saturdays — then set "Day starts at", "Lessons per day" and "Lesson length (min)", and press "Generate". Lessons are shared out as evenly as possible between the class's subjects, and no teacher is ever given two classes at the same time. If a subject could not get all its lessons without a clash, a note lists it as short by a number of periods; add those by hand as described below.
2. Add breaks — short break, recess, lunch
In the same window, under "Breaks", press "Add break" for each break in your day. Give it a "Name" (for example Short Break, Recess or Lunch), choose which lesson it comes "After lesson", and set its "Minutes". A new timetable starts with one 30-minute break after the fourth lesson, which you can change or remove. You can have up to four breaks a day, each after a different lesson, and never after the last one. Every lesson after a break starts later by the break's length, so the whole day moves with it. Breaks show as amber bands across the week, and no lesson can be placed in one.
Changing breaks later, without regenerating
Press "Breaks" at the top of the page, or click any break on the timetable. Each break is listed with its "Name" and "Minutes": change either and press "Save", or press "Remove" to take it out. Under "Add a break", give the new one a "Name", choose which lesson it comes "After lesson", set its "Minutes" and press "Add break". A break applies to every day. Every lesson after it moves later by its length — or earlier, when a break is shortened or removed — and keeps its subject and teacher, so lessons you have arranged by hand stay arranged. If moving them would put a teacher in two classes at once, or move a lesson HR has arranged cover for, the change is refused with the reason and nothing moves. This also works on a timetable made before breaks were available: its day is worked out from its lessons the first time you add one.
3. Change a lesson's subject or teacher
Click any lesson to open "Edit lesson". Choose a different "Subject" and the teacher assigned to that subject for this arm is filled in for you; you can pick someone else under "Teacher" if you need to. Press "Save Changes". The lesson keeps its day and time.
4. Move or swap lessons
Drag a lesson onto an empty period to move it there, or onto another lesson to swap the two — each takes the other's place. If you are using a keyboard or a phone, open the lesson instead and use "Move to another period": each period in the list says whether it is free or which lesson you would swap with. Choose one and press "Move". Lessons can only be moved into the class's own periods, never into a break.
5. Remove a lesson, or fill an empty period
Open a lesson and press "Remove Lesson", then "Remove" to confirm. The period stays on the timetable, empty, so you can put a different subject in it. To fill an empty period, click it to open "Add lesson", choose the "Subject" and "Teacher", and press "Add Lesson".
What the timetable will not let you do
It refuses, and says why, rather than letting the week go wrong: a teacher cannot be given two classes at the same time; a class cannot have two lessons at once; a lesson cannot go into a break or run across two periods; and a lesson in an archived arm cannot be changed or moved. If a teacher is on leave and HR has already arranged cover for one of their lessons, that lesson cannot be removed or moved, and its teacher cannot be changed, until the cover is stood down in HR — otherwise the substitute would be booked for a lesson that no longer exists. Changing only the subject is still allowed. When anything is refused, the lesson stays exactly where it was.
Regenerating
Pressing "Regenerate" replaces the class's whole week, including any lessons you have changed or moved by hand, and the window warns you before you do. It opens with the class's current days, times and breaks already filled in, so regenerating does not quietly lose your breaks. To add, change or remove a break you do not need to regenerate at all — use "Breaks" instead, which keeps every lesson you have arranged.
Colours, the count and printing
Each subject has its own colour everywhere on the week, and the key above the grid lists each subject with the number of lessons it has. The count at the top — for example 39 of 40 periods filled — shows at a glance whether any period is still empty. Press "Export PDF" for a printable copy of the week, with the breaks printed as bands, ready to pin up in the classroom or share with parents.
Still stuck?
Email info@tocel.ng and tell us which guide you were following.