Staggered Timetables

[Jawloms]

We are having a new building built which we will move in to in 2013. There are rumours (which are now in the local press which is why I feel comfortable about putting it on a public forum) about us using a staggered timetable. Does anyone use one or know where one is used? Is it any good?

 

Thank you

 

Stuart

[nickbro]

What i'd do is just use nova-t6 to change the room for a specific class/classes and send back to SIMS on the day that room becomes available

[Jawloms]

Thank you for the reply, but I didn't mean within SIMS, I meant how do the kids/staff cope with it? Do they like it etc?

[nickbro]

When our new extension came online back when I was in school (2002), it happened after Easter, but was confusing for the students as they had to find where the new rooms where. Some staff seemed to be confused as well.

 

They just about managed to cope with it.

 

We also had a new block come online last year, it was only a 1 classroom hut building that was recommissioned, but even that proved complicated, teachers were cycled from one room to another, and confused the form classes. Thankfully one of them was a sixth form class and they were fine with it, the others, not so much. It's easier when it's towards the end of the year as the kids have gotten to know their timetable and where they are meant to be

[Jawloms]

I think perhaps I'm not making myself very clear. They are suggesting that as the new build is going to be a bit of a squeeze, they have some students learning from 8.30 - 3, and some learning from 10 - 4.30, or similar.

 

Felixstowe: School day may be staggered at new academy - News - Evening Star

[nickbro]

Ah, appologies, makes more sense now.

[TechMonkey]

I've seen them used in India, Tibet and South Africa.... Probably not very helpful to you though

[Achandler]

I thought it meant that the lessoons would be staggered almost like operating 2 schools within one school, to avoid clashes (say 20 minutes out), surely soem kids starting later then others and ending later still ends up with all kids in at lunch and inevitably a big squeeze.

 

I prefer my idea of what I thought a staggered timetable was.

[DAZZD88]

We have just started using that system here. Teachers aren't keen on it, support staff aren't keen on it but management love it. Don't really know what the kids think apart from the fact that everyone is confused.

 

Basically, our system works something like this.

• 8.30-9.30 Lesson 1
  
• 9.30-10.30 Lesson 2
  
• 10.30-10.45 Assembly time (I think)
  
• 10.45-11.00 Break time (may be assembly time)
  
• 11.00-12.00 Lesson 3
  

Now, this is where it gets a bit tricky...

• 12.00-1.00 Could be lesson 4
  
• 12.00-12.30 Could be lunch (depends what year group you're in)
  
• 1.00-1.30 Lunch (if you had lesson 4 at 12.00)
  
• 12.30-1.30 Lesson 4 (if you had your lunch at 12.00)
  

This gets a bit simpler now

• 1.30-2.30 Lesson 5 (last lesson of the day)
  

 

We now have to have extended schools (thats costs parents money) where the kids do clubs and what not until about 3.30 which means that the kids whose parents are still at work are looked after in school.

 

However, there are week As and Bs which means that the lessons they get on Wednesday one week will not be the same as the next week etc... You can probably see why I don't much care for this new system. Good things that have come from it are that there are less kids on the yard during breaks which means that you can safely walk across without getting a football smashed off your head. Big downsides include a reduced window of opportunity for us to do sneaky repairs or installs of hardware or software.

 

 

That's what you were meaning, yes?

[Jawloms]

That seems to be exactly what they're proposing from the sounds of it, not what I thought.

 

The funny thing about all this is that there were two high schools in Felixstowe who used to run different timetables. As we have started working closer together over the last few years we have sync'd our timetables so they run at the same timeslots. Now we are one academy but still on our original two sites a mile apart. When we move in to our new building in 2013 and properly become one, we're going to have to split the timetable!

 

Thank you very much for your feedback.

[TechMonkey]

We have just started using that system here. Teachers aren't keen on it, support staff aren't keen on it but management love it. Don't really know what the kids think apart from the fact that everyone is confused.

 

Basically, our system works something like this.

• 8.30-9.30 Lesson 1
  
• 9.30-10.30 Lesson 2
  
• 10.30-10.45 Assembly time (I think)
  
• 10.45-11.00 Break time (may be assembly time)
  
• 11.00-12.00 Lesson 3
  

Now, this is where it gets a bit tricky...

• 12.00-1.00 Could be lesson 4
  
• 12.00-12.30 Could be lunch (depends what year group you're in)
  
• 1.00-1.30 Lunch (if you had lesson 4 at 12.00)
  
• 12.30-1.30 Lesson 4 (if you had your lunch at 12.00)
  

This gets a bit simpler now

• 1.30-2.30 Lesson 5 (last lesson of the day)
  

 

We now have to have extended schools (thats costs parents money) where the kids do clubs and what not until about 3.30 which means that the kids whose parents are still at work are looked after in school.

 

However, there are week As and Bs which means that the lessons they get on Wednesday one week will not be the same as the next week etc... You can probably see why I don't much care for this new system. Good things that have come from it are that there are less kids on the yard during breaks which means that you can safely walk across without getting a football smashed off your head. Big downsides include a reduced window of opportunity for us to do sneaky repairs or installs of hardware or software.

 

 

That's what you were meaning, yes?

 

Ah ha, if that is what you mean then yes we run that here but a 3 way split.

- Year 7 always have the middle section as lunch so their lesson is interrupted

- Year 8 & 10 are grouped together & have either sections 1&2 or 2&3 as their lesson

- Year 9 & 11 are grouped together & have the opposite to 8&10.

 

It works but does cause confusion every now and then.

[coconurtaler]

What about a staggered start and end time like the newspaper article suggests? Does anyone have that?