Duty rota for small private schools with RotaCloud

In a small school the deputy head often builds the duty rota and cover in a spreadsheet, then rewrites it every time someone's ill or on a trip. Two hours a week is about 8.6 hours a month of senior time, and a duty left uncovered is a supervision gap.

RotaCloud is rota and scheduling software with a mobile app, staff availability, shift swapping and holiday management. Set up each duty (gate, break, lunch, after-school club) as a shift, assign staff for the term, and staff see their duties in the app. When someone is out on a trip or ill, the deputy reassigns the duty and staff can request swaps for approval rather than by email.

A small independent prep school in Somerset has 18 staff, including teachers, teaching assistants and wraparound staff, and the deputy head runs duties and cover in a spreadsheet.

About $250£188€224A$361C$353 a month of senior time saved, against $53£40€48A$77C$75 for RotaCloud. That's 1.25 hours a week x 4.3, about 5.4 hours, at an assumed $47£35€42A$67C$66 an hour. RotaCloud's 11 to 20 employee band is $53£40€48A$77C$75 a month on Standard; check the price if you include more staff.

1. 1Start RotaCloud's 30-day free trial and add the staff who do duties.
2. 2Create each duty as a shift with its place and times.
3. 3Build the term's duty pattern and publish it.
4. 4Set a swap rule: swaps approved by the deputy, only between staff suitable for that duty.
5. 5Reassign duties for trips and absences in the app the day before, not on the morning.

• RotaCloud doesn't know ratios, first-aid cover or who is cleared to supervise early years; the deputy still checks each day against the school's policies.
• Pricing counts everyone on the system; adding more than 20 people moves the school into a higher band.
• Teachers on fixed timetables may resist another app; start with duties and wraparound, where it saves most.