Buyer guide
How to choose school timetabling software, and when Bell Path fits.
We built Bell Path, so this is not a neutral ranking. It is our honest guide to what matters when a primary school chooses timetabling software, what to ask each vendor, and where we fit.
See side-by-side comparisons with Tes Timetable (formerly Edval) and TimetableMaster.
What you are looking for
You are shortlisting, and you want to know what to ask each vendor.
Most schools arrive here with two or three product names and no easy way to line them up, because almost nobody in this market publishes prices, limits, or what happens after the timetable is generated.
You probably want reassurance that the tool you pick will not create more work than it saves. That is a fair bar. Most school leaders have been burned at least once by a system that looked good in a demo and fell apart once real staffing went in.
We built Bell Path, so we are not neutral. The most useful thing we can do is tell you what matters when choosing timetabling software for a primary school, and say plainly where Bell Path fits and where another tool might suit you better.
At a glance
Every option on your shortlist, side by side.
Bell Path’s own column keeps its crosses. Each column links to a full comparison with sources.
Slide the table sideways to see every product.
| What buyers ask | Bell PathThis product | Tes TimetablePreviously Edval | Timetabling SolutionsWith Daily Organiser | DayGridAustralian primary | aSc TimetablesInternational | FETFree, open source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Built just for Australian primary schoolsDesigned around the primary week from the start | Yes. Bell Path does nothing else | Partly. A primary offering inside a broader timetabling brand | No. Public focus is strongest on secondary timetabling | Yes. Also built for Australian primary schools | No. Built for schools worldwide, with no Australian-specific logic | No. General-purpose, built for no country in particular |
| Planning time (APT, RFF) built in and checkedEach teacher’s planning time delivered and checked before the timetable goes out | Yes. State entitlements enforced as hard minimums, unless the school records a staff agreement for a lower figure | Ask. Not detailed on public pages when we checked. Ask Tes | Ask. Public positioning centres on secondary. Ask about primary entitlements | Ask. Not detailed on public pages when we checked. Ask DayGrid | Manual. General teacher-load settings you set up yourself to approximate an entitlement | Manual. You model every Australian rule yourself as general constraints |
| Daily cover for absent teachersThe morning’s absences turned into a cover plan | Yes. Included for every school, from the same timetable | Partly. Tes documents a Daily module in its Premium packages. Ask what yours includes | Partly. Daily Organiser is a separate module you buy | No. Not part of DayGrid’s published scope when we checked | Yes. Substitution management is documented | No. FET generates timetables and stops there |
| Yard duty rostersPlayground supervision balanced across the term | Yes. With a whole-year fairness record | Partly. Edval documents automated duty rosters. Ask what your package covers | No. Not mentioned on the public Daily Organiser page when we checked | Yes | No. No Australian yard-duty concept | No |
| Wet day plansIndoor supervision when it rains | Yes | No. Not shown on public pages when we checked | No. Not shown on public pages when we checked | No. Not shown on public pages when we checked | No. Not shown on public pages when we checked | No |
| A school leader can run it themselvesNo timetabling course, consultant, or technical owner needed | Yes. Guided setup in plain language, about half an hour | Ask. An established suite with specialist support pathways | Ask. Training and positioning assume a trained timetabler | Yes. Self-serve, with a guided setup session offered | Ask. A general program you learn yourself | No. Realistically needs a technical owner |
| Try before you payWhat you can see of your own school before you pay | Partly. Setup and a generated preview of your school’s real timetable are free. A subscription unlocks the full week, sharing and downloads | No. Demo-led, with no public trial stated | No. No public trial stated | Yes. 30-day full-access trial, no credit card | Yes. Unlimited free trial, with exports watermarked until purchase | Yes. Free and open source, permanently |
| Pricing published on the websiteA number you can put in front of your business manager today | Yes. Founding and standard pricing published | Ask. Expect a demo and a quote | Ask. Typically by quote. The Daily Organiser module lists a price | Yes. Published, from $1,495 a year | Ask. Compare current quotes rather than headline figures | Yes. Free |
| School data hosted in AustraliaWhere your school’s information physically lives | No. Not currently offered. Tell us if your school requires it | Ask. Ask the vendor | Ask. Ask the vendor | Yes. Public pages state school data is hosted in Australia | Partly. The desktop version keeps data on your computer. Ask about the online version | Yes. Runs on your own computer, so data stays wherever you put it |
| The detail | See a real week | Full comparison | Full comparison | Full comparison | Full comparison | Full comparison |
Each mark summarises what the vendor’s own public pages said when we reviewed them in July and August 2026. A No can mean the feature is not offered, or only that it is not shown publicly. Hover a mark for the detail. The linked comparisons carry the sources, and product pages change, so confirm with each vendor before you decide.
Questions to ask
What to ask any vendor before you choose.
Ask these of every product on your shortlist, including Bell Path.
Does the software understand primary-school rules (part-timers, job-shares, planning time, specialist rotations, meetings and rooms), or does it treat them as workarounds?
Can you see why the timetable looks the way it does, or is the result a black box?
Does it handle what happens after the timetable is published (daily cover, duty, event changes), or does the school need separate tools?
Is staff data stored in Australia, and does the vendor meet your state procurement and privacy requirements?
Can you import existing school data and export timetables in formats staff use?
What does support look like: is it a help desk queue or access to someone who understands school scheduling?
Is the pricing transparent, or will it change once you depend on the tool?
What it does
From school setup to a timetable you can explain with confidence.
What it handles
- Part-time teachers, job-shares, dual-role specialists and negotiated arrangements as part of the normal setup
- Checks you can read: which rules passed, which clashes remain, and a summary you can show staff
- Daily cover, yard duty, wet day plans, event timetables and an operations calendar in the same place
- Privacy documentation and a school approval pack for your procurement review
- Staff-facing exports and published staff views, plus supported requests, time-in-lieu claims, duty swaps, and notification preferences; timetable editing stays with the planner
- Documented support for setup, export, cover and timetable questions
Why schools choose Bell Path
- Bell Path is built for Australian primary schools, not a secondary or corporate tool with a primary-school coat of paint
- You can see which rules passed, which clashes remain, and what changed between versions, so you can stand behind the result
- The timetable, cover, duty, events and staff views live in one place, with no side systems
- Prices are published on the website, so finance can check them before anyone calls you
Related stories
Stories from schools like yours.
Each story is built from the patterns schools describe to us. Names and identifying details are left out.
Three job-share pairs and one specialist who also taught a class.
The assistant principal was holding the job-share and specialist arrangements in spreadsheets and her own memory. She entered them into Bell Path once, then reviewed one timetable instead of four drafts.
A timetable the assistant principal could defend before term started.
Every time one detail changed, the whole draft needed another night of checking. She entered the real rules into Bell Path once, then reviewed the result instead of rebuilding it.
FAQ
Questions schools ask before they start.
Is this page a genuine buyer guide or a sales pitch?
It is both. We built Bell Path, so we are not neutral, but the questions on this page are the ones primary schools need answered. Our comparison pages say plainly when another tool might be a better fit.
When is Bell Path not the right choice?
Bell Path is not built for secondary schools, universities, or corporate shift rostering. If your school runs a secondary timetable with subject-line electives and period-based scheduling, a tool like Tes Timetable (powered by Edval) or Timetabler is likely a better fit. Bell Path is built only around the rules a primary school runs on.
How does Bell Path compare to Tes Timetable (formerly Edval) or TimetableMaster?
We have side-by-side comparison pages for both. In short, Bell Path is narrower (it is built only for Australian primary schools) while Tes Timetable, powered by Edval, and TimetableMaster serve a broader range of schools. You are choosing between depth and breadth.
What should I ask any timetabling vendor before buying?
Ask how it handles part-time teachers and job-shares. Ask whether you can see why the timetable came out the way it did. Ask what happens after the timetable is published. Ask where your data is stored. Ask what support looks like. The answers separate tools that understand your problem from tools that just fill boxes.
How much does school timetabling software cost in Australia?
Most vendors do not publish a price, so you have to ask for a quote. Bell Path publishes its prices: eight annual tiers set by enrolment, starting at $679 a year for a school of up to 100 students, with no setup, training or build fees. The full table is on the pricing page.
Can I see Bell Path before making a decision?
Yes. You can open the sample school and see a full generated week without signing up, take the guided tour, or contact us to talk through your school. We will tell you if Bell Path is not the right fit.
Also compare
How Bell Path stacks up against other options.
Bell Path vs TimetableMaster
Both products build school timetables. Bell Path is built only for Australian primary schools. TimetableMaster describes itself as an AI-powered scheduling platform for schools, colleges, universities and coaching institutes. That difference in focus is most of the comparison.
Bell Path vs Tes Timetable, powered by Edval
Bell Path is a guided timetabling product for Australian primary schools that you run yourself. Edval is a long-established Australian timetabling suite that now sits under the Tes brand as Tes Timetable, powered by Edval. This page is for a primary school weighing one against the other.
Free guides
Practical reading before you decide anything.
Guides written for Australian primary school leaders. No sign-up required.
The school timetable checklist: what to check before staff see it.
Before staff see a new timetable, check every per-person promise (planning time to the minute, part-timer days, job-share handovers) and every structural one (rooms, meetings, duty coverage, bell times). Staff judge a timetable by the errors they find, not by the hundreds of sessions that were right. Run this checklist first and the timetable stays out of the staffroom conversation.
How much does school timetabling software cost in Australia?
School timetabling software in Australia is usually priced per school per year, flat or tiered by enrolment, and almost no vendor publishes the figure. Bell Path does. This guide explains how the pricing works, where the hidden costs sit, and how to compare options, including staying on spreadsheets.
Ready when you are
Publish a timetable you can trust.
Bell Path builds the timetable from the details you give it, checks it before staff see it, and keeps working through the term for cover and duty rosters.
See side-by-side comparisons with Tes Timetable (formerly Edval) and TimetableMaster.