Custom shift planning software for education support staff
Appfront builds software for schools that want to plan the work of their support staff. Caretakers, teaching assistants, pastoral support staff, library staff and invigilators are assigned shifts by location and by day, within their contracts. During exam weeks, invigilation is planned by room and time, and when someone calls in sick, the planner can see straight away who can cover. This way every location stays open and staffed, without a round of phone calls first thing in the morning.
What is shift planning software for school support staff?
A school doesn't run on teachers alone. Caretakers open and lock the buildings, teaching assistants and pastoral staff support lessons and practical rooms, reception and the library need to be staffed, and exam weeks require invigilators. These staff often work across several sites, on different contracts, and their work follows the timetable and the exam schedule.
In practice, support staff rotas sit in a spreadsheet for each site, separate from the timetable. In exam week, invigilation is arranged at the last minute by email. When someone is off sick, a team leader phones around for cover. Whether someone has stayed within their contracted hours is worked out at the end of the year. And reception at a small site is sometimes left unstaffed.
We build custom because schools differ: how many locations, which roles, how annual workload or appointments are tracked, and which systems you use for timetabling and staff. Which agreements on hours and deployment apply follows your collective agreement and your own policies; the software calculates with them.
Shifts by location
Who opens, locks up, staffs reception and supports practical rooms, per site and per day.
Invigilation in exam weeks
Invigilators scheduled by room and time from the exam timetable, not at the last minute.
Cover arranged quickly
When someone is off sick, a suggestion of who can cover, within availability and hours.
How we build your shift planning software for school support staff
We start with your school: which sites, which roles, which shifts must be covered every day, and how planning and cover work today. The knowledge of who can do what often sits with a few team leaders. We record it per employee, so the software can make a suggestion that holds up, even when the team leader is absent.
Your sites, roles, shifts, contracts and systems.
Staff with their availability, and shifts by location.
Shifts scheduled, and monitoring linked to the inspection roster.
Cover for sickness, hours against contract, and ongoing management.
What education support staff scheduling software actually does
The components below appear at almost every school. Which ones you need depends on your locations.
Employees
Role, contract and availability.
Services
Per location and per day.
Invigilation
Linked to the inspection roster.
Hours
Against the annual workload or contract.
Cover
Suggestions of who can cover.
Overview
Staffed per location and per day.
Who we build education support staff scheduling software for
The software is designed for schools that schedule their education support staff.
Secondary education
Multiple locations and test weeks. Invigilation is the core.
MBO (vocational colleges)
Many practical rooms. The teaching assistants matter most.
School boards
Staff across schools. Oversight is what's needed.
Team leaders
Daily staffing. Cover is the core.
Test your idea first: a working prototype in 1 day
With OneDayBuild, we turn your idea into something tangible in one day for €1,150, so you can see whether further development is worth the investment. Decide to go ahead with the full build? Then we credit the full cost.
Explore OneDayBuild →Technology and integrations
This page is about planning education support staff. For timetabling, see our page on timetabling software for education. For operations, see our page on an education ERP, and for lesson cancellations, see our page on an app for teaching hours and lesson cancellations. You can read about our approach at building custom software.
Why choose Appfront for your education support staff scheduling software?
A location that doesn't open, or an exam room without an invigilator, affects the whole school. We build on that: shifts per location, invigilation planned on time, and cover arranged quickly.
Always staffed
Every location, every day.
Calm test weeks
Invigilation planned on time.
Hours monitored
Within the contract.
Security and privacy in education support staff scheduling software
The software holds data on staff, their availability and absence. Access is set by role: an employee sees their own shifts, and reasons for absence are visible only to those who are permitted to see them.
The software runs in a European data centre, with encrypted storage, daily back-ups and sign-in with a second factor.
Frequently asked questions about education support staff scheduling software
Questions schools ask before getting started.
It schedules the shifts of caretakers, teaching assistants, teaching assistants for special needs and other support staff per location and per day, plans invigilation during test weeks, tracks hours against contracts, and suggests who can cover when someone is ill.
Timetabling software schedules lessons, teachers, classes and rooms. This software schedules support staff, who follow the lesson and exam timetables but have their own shifts, such as opening and closing, reception and invigilation.
The exam timetable sets the rooms and times for each test. The software assigns invigilators to these within their availability and hours, and shows where someone is still missing.
When someone reports sick, the planner sees which shifts become open and receives a suggestion of who can cover, based on availability, location, role and hours. The employee receives the shift on their phone.
Yes. For each employee, the software counts the scheduled hours against the contract or annual workload, and warns about over- or under-scheduling. Which agreements apply follows your collective agreement and your own arrangements. At year end there is an overview per employee, without any manual calculation.
Yes, provided your timetabling system has an interface or export. The timetable and test schedule determine where support is needed, and staff records can come from your HR system.
Ask that first. Some rostering packages can also schedule support staff, and that may be enough. Custom work makes sense if your planning currently lives in spreadsheets per location, or if invigilation and cover involve a lot of manual effort.
Every location staffed, every test week running smoothly?
Tell us how many locations you have, which roles you plan for, and how invigilation and cover currently work. We'll show you what the planning could look like.