How to set up a class timetable families can follow

A timetable is usually the first thing a new family looks at, and it often decides whether they join. If it is hard to read, or the classes they want clash with the school run, they may simply go elsewhere. A clear weekly plan makes it easy for parents and students to choose a class and to remember when it starts. This guide works for any kind of weekly class, whether you teach karate to children, run a yoga studio or coach small fitness groups on your own.

Start with the week your students live in

Before you place a single class, think about when your students are actually free. Most children can only come after school, so weekday afternoons and early evenings, along with Saturday mornings, are usually the busiest times. Adults tend to come before work, at lunchtime or in the evening, and a yoga class at 7am can be just as popular as one at 7pm. Look at when your current students come, and put your busiest classes in the slots that suit the most people.

Then look for clashes. Families with more than one child often want classes that run at the same time or one straight after the other, so that they only make one trip. A children's karate class at 5pm followed by a teenagers' class at 6pm suits a family with a younger and an older child, while running both at 5pm only works if you have the space and the staff. The same is true for adults, because a parent who can take a class while their child is in another one is much more likely to stay with you.

Keep class names simple

Class names should tell people who the class is for and what level it is. Names such as Kids Karate, Beginners Yoga, Junior Street Dance and Adult Circuits are easy to understand at a glance, and nobody has to ask what they mean. Clever names can be fun, but if a parent cannot tell whether Little Tigers is for four-year-olds or ten-year-olds, they will have to ask, and some of them will not bother.

If you run the same class more than once a week, give it exactly the same name each time. A family looking for Beginners Yoga can then see straight away that it runs on Tuesday evening and Saturday morning, and choose the session that suits them. It also makes your own records easier to read, because every session of the same class sits together.

Use a standard class length

A standard length, such as 45 or 60 minutes, makes the whole week easier to plan. Classes start and finish at predictable times, there is room for a short changeover between them, and families can work out when to arrive and when to collect. Parents who drop off one child and wait for another will notice quickly if your timings start to drift.

Some classes need a different length, and that is fine. An advanced class may run for 90 minutes, and a class for very young children may only last 30. When a class is longer or shorter than usual, make that clear next to its name or start time, so that nobody turns up at the wrong moment.

Set a limit for every class

Every class has a number of students it can teach safely and well, and that number depends on your space, the activity and the age of the students. Decide the limit for each class before you publish the timetable, and keep to it. When a class is full, families know to look for another session instead of turning up and finding there is no room.

Limits also help you plan. If a Monday class keeps filling up, that is a strong sign that a second session would be welcome. Our guide on how to choose a class size explains in more detail how to pick the right number.

Show the whole week in one place

Families should not have to ask which classes run on which days. Show the full week on a single page, with the day, the start time, the length, the instructor and how many seats are left in each class. A weekly view that starts on Monday matches the way most people plan, and it lets a parent see at once how your classes fit around school, work and everything else.

Keep the timetable up to date. An old timetable on a website or a noticeboard causes more confusion than having none at all, because families will trust it and turn up at the wrong time. When something changes, change it in one place and make sure that is the place families look.

Review the timetable each term

A timetable is never really finished. A few weeks into each term, look at which classes are always full and which stay quiet. A class that is always full might need a second session or a bigger room, and a class that never fills might work better at a different time or merged with a similar one.

Ask families what they think as well. A short question at the end of term, such as which other times would suit them, often turns up a gap you had not thought of. It might be a Sunday morning class for children who are busy every weekday, or an early class for adults who want to train before work.

How VPage helps

In VPage, every class has a day, a start time, a length, an instructor, a monthly price and a capacity. Classes with the same name are grouped together, so families can see every session of Kids Karate or Beginners Yoga in one place. Parents and students see a weekly calendar that starts on Monday, with the instructor and the number of seats left for each class. Register your school to set up your timetable.