What is a school duty rota? The sheet most schools still print.

• A named person, a post and a time, not a vague team label
• Break and lunch treated separately, including split sittings
• A weekly pattern, and a daily copy when the pattern breaks
• Different from the teaching timetable, and different from lesson cover

What usually goes on the sheet

Posts first: yard, hall, gate, corridor, late gate. Then the slots, often 10:30 and a split lunch. Then the name, plus the thing that actually matters that day, such as first aid or a child who cannot be left. If the sheet only says 'Team A', people still walk to the office to ask who that is.

Who tends to own it

In a small primary it is often the head, the SENCO or the office manager, because they know who is already on a 1:1 and who did the wet-play gate yesterday. A deputy or a senior midday supervisor may hold the pen. The hours do not shrink just because the job title changes. In our 15-staff primary example that work is at least 5 hours a week.

Duty, cover and the teaching timetable

Duty is the planned post. Cover is what you do when the planned person is absent. The teaching timetable is the lessons, which you import so a TA is not put on the yard during a phonics group. SchoolRota is for the first two. It does not build the curriculum timetable, and it does not book supply with an agency.

Why the sheet still looks like it did twenty years ago

Duty rotas moved from a pencilled wall chart to a spreadsheet, and then stopped. The format did not change because the job did not change: a named adult, a patch of ground or a room, a time, and a backup when that adult is off. What changed is the number of things hanging off the same names. Interventions, split lunch, first aid, a child who cannot be left. The rota person, often a head, a deputy, a SENCO or an office colleague, is the one who can see all of that at 07:40.

Schools kept the sheet because it was good enough on a quiet week. It is the quiet week that makes the bad morning feel like a surprise.

What goes on the rota, line by line

Break duty, lunch duty, gate, corridor, hall, first aid, wet play, and the supervision of an intervention if that session is part of the day rather than an afterthought. Each line needs a name. 'Team A' tells nobody where to stand. Split sittings need their own lines, or Reception and KS2 end up in the same queue.

A playground duty rota is this list for a primary yard. Duty rota software is what you use when reprinting the list has become the job. Building the first one from scratch is how to create a school duty rota.

When duty, cover or the timetable moves

The three documents move together. The teaching timetable is the lessons, which have to be respected so you do not take someone out of a class to stand on the yard. When one of the three changes, the other two usually need a look. A teacher off sick changes cover and may change a duty. A wet morning changes duty and should not silently cancel a reading group. Leave the September sheet on the wall in November and people will stand where September put them, which is how a 'current' rota becomes a decoration.

How to plan school cover is the change. The duty page is the plan. They are not the same document, even when a school scribbles both on one sheet.

A sheet with no names is not a rota

If the only version anyone trusts is the one in the rota person's head, the paper is a prop. Write the name. Write the time. Write the thing that stops a bad swap, such as first aid or a child who cannot be left. Then decide where that single version lives: a PDF, a wall, or both, as long as they match. The 15-staff primary example puts at least 5 hours a week on keeping that version true. The hours do not shrink because you called the file a template.

Common questions

Is a duty rota the same as a teaching timetable?

No. The timetable is lessons. The duty rota is who is on the playground, in the hall or on the gate while those lessons run.

What is the difference between duty and cover?

Duty is the plan for a normal day. Cover is the change when someone is off, late or already with a pupil. Many schools scribble cover onto the same sheet.

Do midday supervisors need a login?

They need the sheet. A published PDF in their inbox is enough. An account is for the person who changes the rota.

Who is responsible for the duty rota?

Whoever is allowed to decide. In a small primary that is often the head, the deputy, the SENCO or the office manager. A senior midday supervisor may hold the pen day to day. The hours do not shrink because the job title changes.

How often should a duty rota be updated?

The weekly pattern changes when the school day changes. The daily copy changes on any morning someone is off. Leaving the September sheet up in November is how people stand in the wrong place.

Is a duty rota a legal requirement?

Schools have to supervise pupils and manage health and safety. There is not a single statute that says 'you must pin this spreadsheet'. There is also no DfE ratio for break and lunch once children are outside the early years framework. The rota is how you show who was meant to be there. A practical note on ratios is school staffing ratios.

See also duty rota software, playground duty, same-day cover and the 15-staff primary example.