Timetable Frustration

[LiamRose]

Hi all,

Just looking for some advice really. I'm relatively early in my career. I've just had my timetable through for next year and, honestly, I'm very disappointed and frustrated. I had a conversation with the HoD earlier in the year where we agreed I would have certain year groups, to find out today that isn't the case. There was no further conversation to say "sorry, it can't happen due to XYZ", so I'm feeling a bit taken aback. I'm aware there is nothing that can be done now as the timetable is essentially finalised. I'm just looking for advice on how to deal with this type of disappointment - at the moment all the things I was looking forward to for next year have fallen through and this was the final blow. Really feeling like I don't want to return in September.

Thanks in advance!

It's fairly typical for early discussions with HoDs to not always translate into the final timetable. The person doing the timetable has lots to factor in and some of that will include changes to staff circumstances that wouldn't automatically be shared. Someone could be pregnant but not ready to announce to the school, might have put a flexible working request in, a class has had to be moved around in your subject to reflect a change in another subject, to name a few examples.

It seems like there must be a backstory if you're feeling like not getting the classes you want means you don't want to return in September.

You’re right that there’s unlikely to be much you can do now, but you could still raise this with your HOD to find out why. As @LolaSmiles says, there will be lots of different influences on the timetable so it’s very unlikely to be deliberate, but perhaps understanding the changes will help you accept them.

Which year groups did you want? And which did you get?

When I say earlier in the year, it was quite recently. I know, there could be a whole host of reasons behind it. There is some back story- it's more that it is going to have an impact on my career and any movement or progression, though quite a long story to get to that conclusion!

Think I just need to spend some time sulking (privately, not at school) and move on with it. It is what it is and there isn't much I can do about it now!

With reference to career progression, reading between the lines, is this a situation where you've done your NQT and maybe NQT+1 year, have only taught Year 10 and you were hoping for Year 11? Or you've been largely KS3 based and were hoping for GCSE?

If it's that sort of situation then you're probably better staying where you are and establishing if there's anything you need to do in order to be given Year 11/GCSE. If you're in a big, core department with big cohorts then it might be that there's something you need to develop, whereas if you're in a small department with only 2 GCSE classes they may be less likely to give their exam classes to someone early in their career if the choice is between a new teacher vs someone well-established, experienced and gets good results.

I hate it when that happens.
It's probably too late to change it, so grin and bear it... but if there's anything you can do (observations... more cpd) that will make it more likely you'll get it next year, go for it. Keep gently pushing.

I'm sorry that your timetable isn't what you were hoping for. It is disappointing when it isn't what we wanted.

I can say though, as an assistant HoD, timetabling is truly an art form. It took me and the HoD many hours to do ours. There were some requests that we simply couldn't meet and I do understand some will be disappointed. However,I can hand on heart say that we have made it as fair as possible and done the best for the pupils to ensure maximum impact.

Without knowing which year groups and why, I can't give specific advice. I would suggest you look at CPD in the area you are hoping have eventually, perhaps see if you can observe some lessons or run some revision sessions.

Normally a draft timetable is out at the end of May half term. It can then be tweaked. It will never be perfect for everyone but timetabling is truly a dark art that few ever truly understand.

The funniest is when parents come in demanding to tweak things to suit Johnny. On one occasion our timetabler had a meeting with a ‘top-notch business consultant which resulted in many giggles in SLT afterwards.

Ft teachers, part timers, subject rooms, class sizes, priority items ….. can’t sort that out with an excel spreadsheet on an tablet 😂

Keep talking to your HoD. It could be what you agreed with the HoD is what was passed onto timetable guru.