Tes Timetable case studies

John Taylor Free School is an 11-18 new secondary academy set in the heart of a new community of Branston Locks area of Burton on Trent housing development. The school is housed in a brand-new building that will eventually accommodate 1550 students. Tes Timetable became involved with the school as it prepared to take in its second year of 240 students.

The task of generating a timetable can often seem daunting to the inexperienced. So when Kennet School Deputy Headteacher, Chris Ellison, was assigned the role of school timetabler, he decided to enlist specialist support from Tes Timetable.

Our school adopted Tes Timetable initially in 2016 on the recommendation of an Australian colleague. After two years of working with the Timetable and team for a positive outcome, we agreed to document our experiences of the changes that resulted and hope it may interest other schools.

The Magna Carta School took the Tes Timetable challenge and compared its performance to that of their existing timetabling software, SIMS Nova T6, with impressive and conclusive results.

In September 2016, Teesdale School in County Durham, joined the North East Learning Trust. It was a move that saw big changes for not only the staff and students, but also the overarching curriculum design: the timetable.