Timetable config
Define a weekly grid for a timetable group — working days, daily hours, period length, and breaks — inside the school schedule.
A timetable config describes the shape of a school week for one or more timetable groups: which days you teach, the hours of the day, how long a period lasts, and when breaks fall. The generator divides this into a grid of time slots and places every lesson into it.
It sits inside the year-wide School schedule. The school schedule is the outer default; a timetable config may match it or use a narrower day (fewer days, shorter hours, or different extra breaks).
Who this is for
Administrators defining the weekly grid used by timetable groups.
Two layers: school schedule and timetable config
| Layer | Where | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| School schedule | Settings → Academic → School schedule | Global default for the year — working days, open hours, default period length, shared breaks. |
| Timetable config | Academic → Timetable → Config → Time Grid | Grid attached to a group (e.g. primary vs secondary). Must fit inside the school schedule. |
When you create a new timetable config, the form is pre-filled from the school schedule. You can then tighten it for specific levels — for example Grade 1 finishes earlier and has two short breaks, while Grades 2–3 keep a longer day.
Validation
A timetable config cannot teach on a weekday the school schedule marks closed, cannot start before or end after school hours, and must not clash with school-wide breaks. Fix the school schedule first if the outer window is wrong.
Where this lives
Go to Academic → Timetable → Config. The page has several tabs:
| Tab | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Time Grid | The configs themselves — days, hours, period length, breaks (this article). |
| Teaching load | How many lessons each subject needs per week. See Teaching load. |
| Teachers / Rooms / Homerooms / Class Hours | Availability, limits, and room policies. See Scheduling setup. |
Before you start
- An academic year must be selected.
- The School schedule for that year should be set — new configs inherit from it, and saves are checked against it.
Create a timetable config
Open the Time Grid tab
Go to Academic → Timetable → Config, stay on Time Grid, and click Add config (or open the existing one to edit it).
Fill in the details
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Yes | A label for this config, e.g. Primary 2025–26. |
| Working days | Yes | The days this config teaches (e.g. Monday–Friday). Must be among the school schedule working days. |
| Daily hours | Yes | Start and end of the teaching day for this config, e.g. 08:00–17:00. Must fit inside school hours. |
| Period length | Yes | How many minutes a period lasts, e.g. 45. |
| Max periods per day | Yes | The most periods a class can have in a single day. |
| Half-day divider | No | The time that splits morning from afternoon, e.g. 12:00. |
| Breaks | No | Times when no lessons are placed. School-wide breaks are included as a starting point; you can add more that do not clash with them. |
Save
The config is saved for the selected academic year. Attach it when you create or edit a timetable group.
How the grid is built
From the config, the system works out the time slots a lesson can occupy. For example, an 08:00–17:00 day with 45-minute periods and a 12:00–13:00 lunch break produces a row of morning slots, a protected lunch, and a row of afternoon slots. Every lesson the generator places lands in one of these slots.
Breaks are protected
No lesson is ever placed over a break. Use breaks for lunch, recess, prayer, or any time those levels should be free.
The half-day divider
The half-day divider is the moment your day splits into a morning and an afternoon (often midday). Setting it unlocks rules that work per half-day rather than per whole day — for example "a teacher who is in for the morning should have at least two lessons that morning". If you leave it empty, those half-day rules simply don't apply.
Using more than one config
You can create several configs for the same year — for example one grid for primary and another for secondary — as long as each stays inside the school schedule. Each timetable group uses one config.
Tips and best practices
- Set the school schedule first, then create configs that match or narrow it.
- Match the period length to how those levels actually teach; it's hard to change once timetables are built on it.
- Put shared breaks on the school schedule; put level-specific extras on the timetable config.
- Set the half-day divider if you want morning/afternoon balance rules; otherwise leave it empty.