Timetable Daily: How to split a class for merging with other classes

Modified on Thu, 14 Aug at 12:59 AM

Occasionally, when there are no teachers available to cover a class for an absent teacher, a Daily Organiser may be required to split the class into small groups and distribute the students in those groups across existing classes for supervision. This document details the new 'Split class' option as well as the manual process.

IMPORTANT: This feature uses a Supervision event type to split classes for merging with other classes. Although Timetable Daily sends merged class information when syncing to other information systems, not all systems will accept supervision events, therefore the merged classes may not be displayed in some systems. If in doubt, please check with your information system before using this feature.

Split a class for merging using the 'Split class' option

A new option called 'Split class' has been added to the Options menu (accessed via the three dots in a cover cell) on the Covers page.

Selecting this option will open the following dialog:

The details of the selected class will be displayed, including the number of students who are in the class in that period. This number will not include any students who are attending an event in that period.

The number of groups into which the class is to be split should be entered in the 'Groups Number' field.

Selecting 'Split class' will then cancel the class and remove it from the covers screen, automatically create the designated number of registered supervision events, divide the students alphabetically into these events and add 1 additional teacher to each event. Renaming the events and moving students between groups can be done via the Event tab.

Although no teacher will be assigned to the event, the additional teachers will ensure that the events appear on the covers page, ready for merging with other classes. Note that the merging process is not automated. The Daily Organiser should use the 'Merge' option to select the class with which each group should be merged.

For details on how to merge a class, see this document: Timetable Daily: Lesson Merge

NOTE: If the need arises to reinstate the original class that was split, simply delete the supervision events that were created automatically.

Steps to split a class for supervision across existing classes manually

The following information details the manual steps to split a class into small groups for merging with other classes.

Although this can be achieved using the above 'Split class' option, the manual process may be preferred if the Daily organiser wishes to name the groups specifically, to divide the class in an order that is not necessarily alphabetical or to keep the cancelled class displayed on the covers screen.

Cancel the class that is required to be split. This can be done by using the options menu and selecting 'Cancel lesson'.
In the Events tab create the required number of supervision type partial day events in the required period, one for each group of students. You can use the 'Clone' feature to speed up this step. Make each event a registered event and select a small number of students from the cancelled class for each event. Add 1 'additional' teacher so that the event appears on the covers page for merging. No room is required.
On the Covers page, these events will appear and can be merged with existing classes by using the 'Merge' option from the cover options menu (the three dots).

Note: If the supervision events are no longer required and the original class needs to be covered, firstly delete the supervision events via the events tab and then cover the class as usual via the covers tab.

Related Knowledge Base Articles

For information on how to merge classes from the Covers screen: Timetable Daily: Lesson Merge

For information on suggested method for merging classes due to High Absenteeism: A Suggested Method for Merging Classes due to High Absenteeism

For information on how to create an event: Timetable Daily: Events Tab