School Facility Timetable Planning Questions Checklist

Write down the shape of the teaching day as it stands, including breaks and lunch, without adjusting it to suit the proposal.

The existing day is the constraint everything else fits around, and proposals that quietly assume a different one rarely survive contact with staff.

Note which year groups or classes would use the facility at each point in the day, and mark where two of them would want it at once.

The clash points are the whole argument for or against a facility, and they can be identified before any drawing exists.

Record how the space would be used at break and lunch, since that is often when it is busiest and least structured.

Unstructured use places different demands on surfaces, storage and staffing than lessons do, and it is easily left out of a brief.

What supervision is required at unstructured times is determined by the relevant authority and the school's own arrangements, not by a facility brief.

Note the parts of the year when noise near teaching spaces matters more than usual, such as assessment periods.

Noise sensitive periods shape where a facility can reasonably sit in relation to classrooms, and only the school knows when they fall.

Record whether any lessons need the space uninterrupted, and what happens at present when somebody walks through one.

A route across a teaching space is one of the most common regrets on a school site, and it is settled at layout stage.

Mark which parts of the day genuinely cannot move and which are habits that could change if there were a reason.

Distinguishing fixed from habitual is what gives a designer room to work, and only staff are able to draw that line.

Walk the route a class would take from its teaching space to the facility, and note what it passes and how far it feels.

Travel time comes out of teaching time, and it is the objection most likely to be raised once a facility is in use.

Record where pupils would change, and whether that is on the way to the facility or somewhere else entirely.

Changing arrangements decide the practical shape of a lesson, and they are frequently considered after the facility rather than with it.

Note what has to be carried to the facility for each activity, and who is expected to carry it.

Equipment that travels with a class means storage in two places, which is a decision better made than discovered.

Record whether the route crosses another lesson, a car park or an area open to visitors, and describe what happens there now.

Whether a route across a school site is suitable is assessed by qualified professionals and the relevant authority, taking the whole site into account.

Note what the route is like in rain, and whether pupils would arrive already wet or carrying mud onto a surface.

The condition people arrive in decides how a surface wears and how much cleaning the facility quietly creates for somebody.

Consider what happens when a class returns late to the next lesson, and how often that already occurs on this site.

Recurring lateness is a timetable fault rather than a behaviour problem, and the cause is usually distance or changeover.

Write down what happens to the facility during school holidays, including whether anybody visits the site at all.

Unvisited periods are when damage goes unnoticed, and they shape both security arrangements and maintenance planning.

Note whether outside groups use or have asked to use the site during holidays, and what came of those requests.

Holiday demand is the strongest argument for shared use, and the evidence usually sits in an email nobody kept.

Record which activities run only in part of the year, and what the space is used for the rest of the time.

A facility used in one season alone is hard to justify, and knowing the off season use is what makes a proposal robust.

Note which periods the school currently uses for work on site, and whether facility upkeep would have to fit into them.

Upkeep that can only happen when pupils are away is a real constraint, and it belongs in the conversation early rather than late.

Consider the busiest points of the year for the site, such as sports days or open events, and what each of those brings with it.

What an event with visitors requires at a school site is confirmed with the relevant authority and qualified professionals before it is planned.

Record which parts of the year the space is unusable because of ground conditions, and whether that has changed recently.

How long the space is out of use is the clearest evidence for or against a change of surface, and staff already know it.

List the clubs and activities that already run after the teaching day, who runs them and where they take place.

Existing after school activity is the demand a proposal builds on, and it is often spread across several staff calendars.

Note which groups from outside the school use the site, on what basis, and who originally arranged it.

Whether a school site may be used by outside groups, and on what terms, is established with the relevant authority and the landowner.

Record where an outside group would arrive while pupils are still on site, and describe what happens at that point at present.

Arrangements where visitors and pupils are on site at the same time are matters for the relevant authority and the school's own policies.

Write down who is on site at the end of an evening session and who is responsible for locking up afterwards.

Evening use depends on one or two willing people, and naming them shows how fragile the arrangement really is.

Note whether an outside group could reach the facility without passing through the rest of the school, and describe that route.

Whether the facility can be used separately from the school is the single biggest factor in whether shared use works at all.

Decide and record how school use and outside use are prioritised when both want the same slot, and who tells whom.

The rule matters less than having one, and it is far easier to agree before there is a booking somebody stands to lose.

Write down where lessons actually go when the outdoor space cannot be used, and what is displaced when that happens.

The fallback space is the real constraint on outdoor teaching, and its overloading stays invisible until somebody writes it down.

Note how often the fallback is needed across the year, based on what staff remember rather than on an assumption.

Staff recollection is imperfect, but it is the only record most schools hold and it is far better than nothing.

Record who decides that conditions are unsuitable, and at what point in the day that decision is normally made.

Whether ground or weather conditions are suitable for an activity is judged by the staff responsible and the relevant governing body guidance.

Consider whether any covered or sheltered space exists, and what it is currently used for at those times.

Shelter is among the most requested and least specified elements of a school facility brief.

Note what else stops when the fallback space is taken, since a wet day usually displaces more than one lesson.

The full effect of a wet day is only visible once the chain of displacement has been followed through.

Record where wet kit and muddy footwear end up on those days, and who is left dealing with them.

Mud and wet clothing are the part of outdoor teaching that lands on staff, and they influence where a facility should sit.

Write down who would be responsible for each use of the facility, and mark where that is a single person with no cover.

Staffing and supervision requirements for pupils are determined by the relevant authority and the school's own policies, not by a facility plan.

Note which activities depend on a member of staff with particular skills, and what happens when that person is absent.

Specialist dependency is a common reason facilities go unused, and it is rarely mentioned anywhere in a proposal.

Record who can open the facility at each point in the day, and how somebody covering would get in.

Access held by one person is the most common reason a booked session simply does not happen.

Note when site staff are present, and whether use of the facility would extend beyond those hours.

What arrangements are needed when a site is used outside normal staffing is confirmed with the relevant authority and the landowner.

Consider how one group tells the next that something is broken or missing, and whether that route exists in writing anywhere.

Faults reported informally between adults get lost, and the next class discovers them instead.

Record where volunteers are relied on, and treat any checks or arrangements they need as a question for others rather than a conclusion.

Any checks required for adults working with pupils are set by the relevant authority, and nothing recorded here establishes what is needed.

Talk a typical day through with the staff who would deliver it, and note every point at which they hesitate.

Hesitation from experienced staff marks the parts of a plan that do not work, more reliably than any formal review.

Talk through the most awkward day of the year rather than the easiest, since that is what the facility has to survive.

Designing for the typical day produces a facility that fails at exactly the moments people remember afterwards.

Where possible, try the intended pattern in whatever space exists now, and record what actually went wrong.

A trial in an imperfect space still exposes the changeover and travel problems, which are the ones that persist.

Ask staff what would make them stop using the facility, and record the answers without arguing with any of them.

Facilities fall out of use for small practical reasons, and the people who would abandon them know exactly what those are.

Write down every assumption the timetable relies on, including staffing, access and the fallback space.

Unwritten assumptions are inherited by whoever comes next, who has no way of knowing which of them mattered.

Take the timetable, the clash points and the assumptions to qualified professionals and the relevant authority as questions.

A timetable is design information, and handing it over early is what stops a facility being designed for a school that does not exist.