Seating Plans is a classroom management tool to help you organise students, manage behaviour, and support effective teaching. Use this guide to get the most from the seating plan tool - from editing layouts to recording behaviour and copying plans between rooms.
Choosing a Template:
When creating a seating plan, teachers can choose from a set of pre-made room Templates that have been created by your school to reflect specific classroom layouts. Simply click on your selected Template to enter the Seating Plan Layout.
If you don’t see a template that suits your classroom, please contact your Compass Sponsor to request that it be added.
View Mode vs. Edit Mode
When you click into your seating plan, you will notice that there are two modes: View Mode and Edit Mode. When you open your seating plan, it will automatically default to View Mode. 'View Mode' is for your day to day actions on your Seating Plan (e.g. adding Chronicle entries and comments) as opposed to Edit Mode where you can edit layout and change the seating of the students etc. By keeping the menus separate, it will ensure that teachers do not accidentally edit the seating plan when using it in the classroom.
Seating Plans: A Guide for Teachers
The video below provides an overview for teachers on how to place students and edit seating arrangements within their classroom. The written instructions that follow are designed to complement the video and offer step-by-step guidance.
Placing Students within a Seating Plan
When seating students, you will need to switch to Edit Mode by clicking 'Edit seating plan' in the bottom right hand corner. Teachers can assign students to the seats by clicking on their names and then selecting a desk. Once seated, the student will be highlighted in green in the left hand panel.
To place multiple students at once, use the Auto-Place feature. This automatically assigns students to seats based on a preset seating arrangement. Simply open the Seating Arrangement dropdown menu to choose your preferred layout and the order in which students are placed.
You can also choose to skip specific students during this process if you'd prefer to assign their seats manually later.
When you have finished seating students, ensure that you click Save or Save & Close which will return the screen to View Mode.
Viewing Student Details
You can view the student details by hovering over their name on the completed seating plan. Hover over the students’ profile picture to view their attendance tiles, roll flags and contact details.
NOTE: If you prefer to display your seating plan in the classroom, use the 'Hide Student Details' mode toggle on the right side of your Seating Plan to blur roll flags and other sensitive student information.
Editing the Seating Plan
When in View Mode, you cannot click and edit the seating plan. To switch to edit mode, click the 'Edit seating plan' button on the bottom right hand corner to change the layout.
If you need to change the seating assignments, this can be done by clicking on a seated students and clicking 'Unplace students'.
To override an existing seat assignment, first select the student you want to place from the side panel. Then, click on a desk that already has a student assigned to it.
A confirmation message will appear asking you to confirm that you want to replace the current student in that seat.
If you are rearranging the seating for the whole class, you can 'Unplace all students' using the button at the bottom of the screen.
Note: UNPLACE ALL must be typed in all capitals when confirming this action.
If you would like to make changes to the classroom layout, you can add or delete seats from your seating plan. This can be done individually or in bulk by multi-selecting seats. Further customisation can be achieved by changing the direction of the seats or adding/removing rows and columns to better reflect your classroom setup.
Adding Comments
You can add a comment to a seated student to provide additional context if your class is being covered.
If a comment has been added, this is indicated on the Seating plan with a speech bubble icon. If you change the place of the student, the comment will remain attached to that student.
An overall comment can also be added to the Seating Plan itself, using the speech bubble icon in the bottom left hand side. Adding a comment will allow you to leave a cover note pertaining to this seating plan. Once a comment is added, a red dot will appear next to the speech bubble.
Recording Chronicle Entries
To add Chronicle entries to the students profile, click on a student, or select multiple students (if required). Click 'Add Chronicle entry'.
Clicking on this will open the Chronicle entry pop-up. The student(s) will be automatically added on the right hand side, and you can simply select the relevant Chronicle template from the drop down menu.
Copying Class Seating Plans
If your class moves to a different room or location, you can easily copy an existing seating plan so that student seat assignments stay the same - no need to recreate the layout from scratch.
To do so, click 'Add Seating Plan' and enter a name for the new plan. Under Layout Settings, select 'Copy class seating plan'. Choose the existing seating plan that you would like to copy. A list of any available plans will appear. Choose the one you would like to duplicate. Click 'Save' to apply the layout to the new room.
NOTE: This feature is only available for the same class. It cannot be used to copy seating plans between different classes.
Multiple Seating Plans:
The new Copy Classroom Seating Plans functionality also allows you to have multiple Seating Plans on your Class Page. You are now able to set up or copy multiple seating plans and switch between them as required.
