Plan once, seen everywhere.
Every teacher lands on the real next lesson from the scheme. Skip or move one and shared classes stay in step — and HoDs get a calm overview without chasing a soul.
Less stress each weekFor secondary school departments
Reduce workload. More organised.
Less stress when every class stays on the right lesson, whatever the school year throws at it. Teachers get time back, and nobody carries the plan in their head.
The demo is a made-up school you can click around safely. To use your own timetable, start 30 days free.
Works on desktop, iPad & tablets
Workload and wellbeingLess stress when the calendar shifts.
One skip moves the rest of the year, so nobody rebuilds the spreadsheet every half-term.
For shared classesStay in step automatically.
Co-teachers see the same sequence, with a clear alert when something changes.
For Heads of DepartmentSee who’s behind without chasing.
Year overview and trackers come from normal use, not another monitoring form.
One place for the whole department
Five ways it gives your department time back.
The timetable is just the start. Planning, resources, equipment, cover and your day-to-day jobs all live in the one place your team already opens every morning.
Every lesson’s files, one click.
Link your department’s SharePoint or Drive once, and each lesson tile opens the actual slides or worksheet — under each teacher’s own login, so cover staff get them too.
All in one placeOrder equipment from your timetable.
Tick the kit a lesson needs; it reaches the technician against the right class and week, who marks it ready. No request form, nothing lost in an inbox.
Technicians in the loopCover, sorted school-wide.
Mark an absence, assign the lessons to a cover slot, and supply staff sign in to the day’s classes, rooms and resources — with a printable handout as backup.
Whole-school coverYour diary and to-do list, by week.
Keep your diary and jobs right beside the timetable, not in another app. Add a job to any week, tick it off, and drag jobs between weeks when plans shift.
Everything in one placeA supported start
Useful from the first week.
A pilot begins with the plans your department already has. We shape the workspace around your timetable, not the other way round.
Bring your timetable and schemes.
Start from the classes, rooms, staffing and curriculum sequences already used by your department.
Review the matched plan.
Check lesson sequences, shared classes, closures and rotations before anyone needs to use it.
Invite the department.
Teachers open straight onto their own week with a short, practical introduction.
The rule for every pilot: if it creates an extra reporting task for teachers, it has missed the point.
Responsible by design
A small pilot should come with clear answers.
Smart Planner is designed around department planning data, not pupil profiles. Before wider rollout, authentication, retention and support requirements should be agreed clearly with your school.
Minimal data
The core planner works with classes, teachers, rooms and curriculum sequences without pupil records.
Controlled pilot
Begin with one department, named staff and a clearly agreed purpose before considering wider use.
Practical exports
Teachers can keep useful plans portable through calendar export and print-friendly views.
Implementation support
Setup, onboarding and a review point are part of the pilot, not problems left for the school to solve.
Procurement-ready roadmap: school SSO, role-based access, audit history, documented retention and a clear data-processing agreement are required before a full commercial rollout.
See it, then pilot it
Try the sample school. Then prove it in one half-term.
Play with Northgate Academy first, a locked made-up school you can click around safely. When you want your own timetable and staff, start a focused department pilot.
- Demo = made-up school only
- Trial = your real timetable
- 30 days free, no card
- Then pay by invoice or card
Questions, answered
Before you bring it to the department.
The useful questions are usually about stress, workload, setup and trust, not feature lists.
Can I try it with my own school?
Not in the public demo. Try the demo is a locked made-up school (Northgate Academy) you can play with freely, and Start again resets it. You can’t import your own timetable there. A department pilot is how we set up your real school.
How does it help with stress and workload?
The stressful part of schemes of work is keeping them true when the calendar isn’t. Skip a lesson after a fire drill or INSET day and the rest of the year moves for that class, co-teachers included, so nobody rebuilds the plan by hand or quietly drifts out of step.
How much time does it save?
Compared with spreadsheet planning, most teachers save around 30 minutes per week: less time finding the right tab, updating cells and chasing shared-class handovers. The department view is created from normal use, not a separate reporting task.
Is Smart Planner another lesson-planning platform?
No. It does not replace lesson resources, your curriculum or teacher judgement. It connects the timetable to the sequence your department has already agreed, so everyone can see what is being taught next.
Does it create more work for teachers?
No. Reducing workload is the point. Teachers open onto their own week, use the next lesson already shown, and only touch the plan when reality changes. The department picture is created from normal use rather than a separate report.
How are shared classes handled?
The sequence belongs to the class, not the individual teacher. If a co-teacher skips a lesson, your view updates and you’re told what changed, so shared classes stay aligned without a corridor catch-up.
What does setup involve?
A pilot starts with your timetable, staffing, rooms, schemes of work, closures and any known rotations. The matched plan is reviewed with the department before staff are invited.
Does it need pupil data?
No pupil records are needed for the core planning workflow. A commercial rollout would document exactly what data is processed, who can access it and how long it is retained before your school commits.
What happens after the pilot?
The department reviews adoption, coordination time, stress load and whether the previous tracking process can be retired. Wider rollout should only follow if the pilot demonstrates a clear workload and wellbeing benefit.
Less stress next week, for the whole department.
Play with the sample school first. Then decide whether a focused department pilot is right for your school.