School duty rota software. Built for UK schools.

• Weekly template, then a daily board you can change before the first bell
• Lunch sittings for KS1 and KS2 without mixing them up with staff breaks
• Clash-aware cover when someone calls in sick
• Hosted in London, with a DPA and Cyber Essentials

What a UK duty rota actually is

Most English primaries still run break and lunch on a paper sheet or a shared spreadsheet. The person who knows first aid, phonics cover and who is already on a post is usually the head, SENCO or office manager. SchoolRota keeps that judgement, and takes the reprinting and chasing off their morning.

Who it is for

Primary, nursery, secondary and special schools that roster support staff. Midday supervisors, TAs, office staff and a small leadership team can all appear on the same board. Teaching staff stay on the teaching timetable you import, so cover does not double-book a lesson.

What it does not replace

It is not a curriculum timetabler, and it does not phone a supply agency. You import teaching slots so duty sits around lessons, and you can mark supply on the day so the PDF stays right. The 5 hours figure is from that worked example, not a promise for every school. The cost of the time uses England (outside London) leadership pay from the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document 2025/26.

What a UK duty rota usually names

The useful sheet names a person, a post and a time. In a primary that is often the yard, the dining hall, the gate and a corridor, at morning break and at lunch. Midday supervisors and TAs sit on the same plan. KS1 and KS2 lunch sittings are separate posts, not one column called lunch. First aid is a skill on the person, so you are not hunting the margin of yesterday's printout when a child comes in from the yard.

Wet play is the indoor version of those posts, written down before it rains. Morning gate and home-time gate get a line each, because the person free at 08:45 is often teaching at 15:15. A secondary uses the same idea with different names: break duty, lunch, late gate, a corridor. Playground duty is the primary version of this in more detail.

Different days can carry different posts. Monday's swimming coach is not on Friday's gate. You keep that in the weekly pattern, rather than rebuilding the file each Sunday night. Staff who only work some days are simply not on the rows for the days they are out. You do not need a second spreadsheet for job-shares.

How the board works on a normal morning

You keep a weekly template. Each day starts as a copy of that template. If nobody is off, you publish it. If someone is off, the empty post stays visible and the board proposes a name, with the reason you can check: free, already teaching, already on the gate, already covered twice this week, missing first aid. Staff see the day once you publish it, and not before.

Publish once. Midday supervisors get a PDF they can open on a phone without an account. People with a login can also open My schedule. The previous version stays in the revision history, so a question in June is not a reconstruction from memory. Same-day cover is the same board when the absence is a lesson as well as a duty. The hours in a small primary are set out in the 15-staff example.

Duty rota and the teaching timetable

The duty rota is who is on a post. The teaching timetable is the lessons. SchoolRota imports teaching slots so a TA is not put on the yard during a phonics group, and a teacher is not given the gate during a lesson. It does not build next year's curriculum timetable, and it does not ring a supply agency.

Week A and week B are two patterns, not two files that drift apart. If you still want the argument for leaving the spreadsheet alone, the cover spreadsheet page is the honest version. A step-by-step for building the first week is how to create a school duty rota. The 5 hours in the small-primary model is a floor, not a promise. A school that only reprints the sheet on a Friday will sit under it. A school that rebuilds it every morning will sit over it.

Common questions

Is SchoolRota only for UK schools?

It is built around UK language and hosting in London, with GBP checkout for UK schools. US schools can use the same product with roster wording and USD pricing.

Does it replace the teaching timetable?

No. Import teaching slots so duty and lesson cover work around lessons. SchoolRota is support staff rota and cover software, not a curriculum timetabler.

How long does a duty rota take each week?

In the 15-staff primary example, at least 5 hours: the standing break and lunch rota, same-day sickness, reprinting the sheet and sending it round. Larger schools sit above that. The full breakdown is on the primary case study.

Can midday supervisors see the rota without a login?

Yes. Publish a PDF and email it. They do not need an account to know where they are standing.

Can we set up different duty areas for different days?

Yes. The weekly template can put swimming on Tuesday and a different gate pattern on Friday. You are not stuck with one identical day copied five times.

How does wet play work?

Write the indoor posts on the same rota, before it rains. There is no separate weather button. Publish the rain plan as a list, so nobody has to agree it in the corridor.

Can staff see their duty on a phone?

Yes. The published PDF opens on a phone without a login. Staff with an account can also open My schedule.

See also what a duty rota is, playground duty, same-day cover, SEN and special schools, the staff app, the 15-staff primary example and UK pricing.