Eight ways for a teacher to ask for kit
Every page here is the same system underneath: the same stock list, the same practicals, the same prep room board. Only the first step changes. Try each one, then look at the board to see what the technician gets.
All of them scale the kit list to the class, check stock against what everyone else has booked, refuse a double-booked room, ask for the risk assessment tick, and flag short notice.
Menu
Browse the practicals like a menu, with a picture, safety notes and prep time on each card. Pick one and it offers your next lessons that fit the year group. One tap fills in the day, period, room and class.
Good for newer staff who don't know the names yet, and for seeing what's possible.
OpenTray
The stock list as tiles, by category. Tap items onto a tray and say whether each is per group or for the whole class. Or start from a practical and take things off, add things on.
The best answer for "just a few bits" and for teachers who like to tweak a set practical. More taps for a standard one.
OpenSix steps
The original step-by-step: one question per screen with big buttons. Which class, which lesson, what are you doing, how many groups, anything extra, send.
Built for a phone in a corridor. Slower than the three-step version, but nobody can get lost in it.
OpenThree steps
Three questions that fold up as you answer them: which lesson, what are you doing, check and send. The lesson list is your next two weeks. Practical tiles show stock for that slot and whether the class has done it before. The check screen can send the same thing to your other classes at once.
Built for a phone in a corridor. The draft saves itself, so an interruption costs nothing, and there's an Undo after sending.
OpenPlanner
Practical cards above, your week below. Drag a card onto a lesson, or tap the card and then the lesson. A small sheet confirms the groups and the risk assessment.
Quickest way to plan a whole week in one sitting. Dragging needs a mouse, so on a phone it falls back to tapping.
OpenTimetable
Your week as a grid. Click a lesson and the date, period, room and class are already known. The practical on the scheme for that year group is preselected.
Suits teachers who think in lessons. Needs a timetable export from the school's system to be real.
OpenScheme of work
The scheme already says what Year 9 does this week. The page lists your Year 9 lessons under it with a Book button each, or one for the lot.
Fewest taps of all. Only as good as the scheme, so the dropdown on each card is the escape hatch.
OpenQuick entry
One line of text, read by the page into the form. Also the plain form underneath for anyone who'd rather fill it in.
Fast when it reads you right. It will sometimes get a field wrong, so you have to check.
OpenThe technician side
Everything a teacher sends lands on the prep room's own pages: the requests board with the day's pick list, stock with editable levels against what's booked, the practical bank, the department week and reports. They start from the prep room desk.
Which one?
If the menu is the one that feels right, build it as the home page and give it two neighbours: the tray for loose items and adjusted practicals, and the planner for anyone setting up a whole week. All three share the same "next lessons that fit" idea, which is where the timetable earns its keep. The three-step page is the same menu flow cut into screens, so it could be the phone layout of the menu rather than a separate page. The six-step one is there to compare against it.