Timetabling and planning

BY MOHAN DHALL

All parents would like the school year to be one of academic success and growth in self-confidence for their children. To achieve this, it is often wise for some time to be allocated towards planning for the year ahead. This helps manage the transition from holidays to school and also assists in ensuring that time is well utilised during the school term.

Students themselves are used to timetables and plans. The school day is structured around timetables and each day follows a predictable pattern, each week or fortnight is repeated, and the student has a sense of what to expect.

Settling in

In the first instance, a student will need to settle into their new class(es). For students in primary school this will mean adjusting to a new teacher, new classroom rules and expectations.

For students in high school, there are different kinds of adjustments. For those entering Year 7 there is a major transition that needs to be understood.

Students are going from being the leaders of their primary school to being the youngest in high school. Other features of settling into Year 7 include:

• Moving from having 1 full time classroom teacher to a day divided into ‘sessions’ or ‘periods’. There can be up to 8 sessions per day each of around 42 minutes or 4 sessions per day of just over 70 minutes

• Moving to having many teachers instead of one teacher. This means learning to adapt to up to 13 or 14 different teachers, varied classroom expectations, different teaching styles and different classroom cohorts

• Moving from being in a cohort of 30 to 60, to moving to a year level of up to 200 students who come from numerous schools and backgrounds.

• Changing the friendship group as new friends are made and older friends may find other new peers. Moreover, some friends may be going to other schools and thus there will be a change to the friendship circle.

• Subject specialisation is another aspect of Year 7 that students will have to get used to when they transition to high school.

For students entering Year 9 there will be the opportunity to study elective subjects, which is a further specialisation that students need to adjust to. For students entering the senior years there is academic pressure that students will feel, coming both from school staff and also from their peers. Years 11 and 12 are serious years and cannot be treated lightly.

Structuring time

Given the changes and transitions from one year to the next, the need to structure time becomes apparent. This means having an ‘after-school’ timetable that is followed in the afternoon and evening, once the school day is over.

It may seem odd to expect students to do academic work at the end of the school day. However, the expectation from school is that a little bit of academic time be allocated whether for homework, research, revision or reading, for a few nights per week.

Of course, many students will also have other structured activities such as music or dance classes, tutoring, sports training and so forth. These activities also take time and are often scheduled after school hours. Thus, there is quite a lot of complexity to manage.

Prioritising tasks

A crucial skill for students to learn is that of prioritising. Learning to prioritise means learning how to manage tasks in terms of order of importance. This can be tricky and can take a while to learn because it is common for external factors to dictate what is done and when. That is, homework that is due will take on a higher priority in the student’s mind than revising for next week’s quiz.

As students gain experience they should learn that doing steady work even when there are no demands from school, is very important. This is because academic work done is never wasted and a student who keeps up to date by reading over the days’ notes each evening will be ‘working ahead’ and minimising later stress.

Creating a timetable

High school students are encouraged to have a timetable that runs from 4pm until 9pm (or later for senior students) on weekdays. Students need a break from school, time to eat and refresh, and time for just ‘chilling’. This is crucial to integrate into the 4pm to 9pm time slot. They might have a favourite television show, they will need time to have dinner and so on. Apart from this between an hour and up to 3 hours (for senior students with no other activities), should be possible to structure for schoolwork from Monday to Thursday. Friday should be a night off.

It should also be very possible for students of all high school years to spend a total of 4 hours or more over the weekend that are allocated to school.

To create a timetable, students need to create a table that shows the days of the week and the hours from 4pm until 9pm. The first thing that must be done is for students to write in any and all activities that they know. Cricket training or tutoring, for example, must be written in place into the timetable. Thereafter it should be clear where there is room to allocate time for study and homework.

Using colour on the timetable

It can be very helpful for students to use colour when marking in time for study. This means homework can be allocated one colour, revision another colour and reading a third colour. In this way the timetable becomes highly visual and easy to read.

Taking ownership

If students create their own timetable under supervision and with support where required, they have the opportunity to demonstrate ownership over it. When students take ownership over what they do they tend to take things more seriously and personalise what they do. They are more likely to value the timetable and follow it. In this way, a student is firstly accountable to himself or herself. This is very important, as it is a basic aspect of maturing as a student.

Accountability and timetabling

Many students do not like to be told what to do, particularly as they mature. The advantage of timetabling is that they are accountable to their own structure. This does not mean that parents have no role. Parents play a crucial role in oversight, monitoring, supporting and guiding.

Thus, if a student makes two copies of the timetable, one can be placed on the fridge and parents can encourage that it be adhered to. A parent can also inquire about how maths is going, or reading, or whatever has been done when their child has spent time in their room.

Time spent alone may or may not be productive time

Note that just because a student spends time alone in their room in following their timetable does not mean that this time is productive. Parents should not be put off from asking to see what was done during this time.

Some students do not like to include their parents, and simply say that they followed the timetable. But parents need to ensure that they are not being ‘shut out’. Asking for inclusion is appropriate, but it must not come across as being aggressive or intrusive. Rather it should be supportive and encouraging.

In summary

Adjusting to the school year can take some time. It is important that students get time to settle. After-hours timetables can be useful in helping students to structure their time so that it is productive and so that they can achieve their academic goals.