How to Build a Dance School Timetable Without Batch Clashes

Build your dance school timetable around the batches with the fewest workable times, then fit other classes around them. Before publishing, check that overlapping batches have separate teachers and suitable rooms, and that students can attend their assigned classes. Leave one or two weekly slots for make-ups or rehearsals, then confirm provisional classes once you know enrollment numbers.

What order should you build the timetable in?

Schedule fixed batches first, foundation and intermediate batches next, and classes with confirmed flexibility last. A fixed batch has few scheduling options because of its teacher, duration or students’ available times.

Start with a sheet listing each batch’s teacher, duration, room needs, expected headcount and available times. Ask students about times they cannot attend. For children, ask the parent about sibling classes and whether they need simultaneous or back-to-back lessons. Collect online students’ time zones and available hours in their local time.

Build the timetable in this order:

1. Place exam cohorts, arangetram preparation and senior batches that require your direct teaching. Include any online batch with only one workable time across its students’ time zones.
2. Add foundation and intermediate batches. For each student likely to move up, check that the next batch has a place and meets at a time they can attend. Keep adjacent levels at different times if students need to attend both during a transition.
3. Fit adult beginners, additional practice and other programs into the remaining suitable slots, after confirming availability. An adult student’s work hours may make their batch as difficult to move as an exam cohort.

Reserve one or two weekly slots for make-ups or extra rehearsals. Each slot needs an available teacher and a suitable room. An empty room is no use for a supervised class if both teachers are already teaching.

How do you check for batch clashes?

Check overlapping classes for shared teachers, unsuitable rooms and students who need to attend both. Keep the student list beside the timetable so you can check individual schedules.

Before approving an overlap, check:

• Teacher: Each class needs an available teacher qualified to teach that batch.
• Room: Each class needs enough space for its expected headcount. Allow for equipment and setup time.
• Progression: Each likely promoted student needs an available place in a next-level batch they can attend. Check temporary attendance at both levels too.
• Siblings: Check whether the proposed times match the parent’s request for simultaneous or back-to-back classes.
• Online attendance: Check the class time in every student’s local time, including dates around daylight-saving changes where they apply.
• Capacity: Allow for expected promotions and confirmed new students. Do not promise a transfer into a full batch.

Keep sibling requests beside the children’s names and review them whenever you move a class. Apply the same scheduling rules to all parents.

When planning online classes across time zones, check whether your proposed evening slot falls during school or work for students elsewhere.

Example timetable with three rooms and two teachers

One guru and one junior teacher can teach at most two supervised batches at once in this example. Room C remains unused unless another qualified teacher is available.

Assume Room A holds the larger batches, Room B suits foundation classes, and the junior teacher is qualified to teach the batches assigned below. The times and durations are examples.

The Saturday gaps give teachers time to finish one class before starting another. Check that you can manage the full teaching day, including breaks, before using this schedule.

A Foundation 1 student could move to the Saturday-afternoon or Thursday intermediate batch, subject to space and availability. A parent with one child in Foundation 2 and another in the senior batch can bring both at the same time.

The Thursday make-up slot has the guru assigned. Keep it out of regular enrollment if you intend to reserve it for make-ups.

When should you publish the timetable?

Publish fixed batches before enrollment opens and mark unconfirmed class times as provisional. Give students a date when you will confirm those remaining classes.

Use the enrollment numbers to decide whether each provisional batch fits its assigned room. Confirm its teacher before adding it to the final timetable, including any additional class proposed during enrollment.

Send one final timetable with term dates, class times, teachers and rooms. Include the time zone for online batches and a version date so students can identify an old screenshot.

Keep one master timetable. Before moving a published class, check every batch affected by the change for clashes. Update the master record and message the affected students, or parents of children, with the new day, time, room and effective date.

Questions studio owners ask

How do I schedule siblings’ dance classes together?

Simultaneous classes need separate teachers and rooms. For back-to-back classes, use adjacent slots and arrange somewhere appropriate for the waiting child. Ask the parent which option works for them before assigning times.

Can I run three dance batches with two teachers?

Two teachers cannot supervise three simultaneous batches; they can run three batches in staggered slots, provided each is qualified for their assigned batch. Count an online class as a teacher assignment too; that teacher is unavailable for another class at the same time.

How close to term should I confirm provisional class times?

Confirm provisional class times about one week before term begins. Tell students that date when you publish provisional times, so they know when their class schedule will be settled.