Class placement shouldn’t take a week

Every year, the same problem. Hundreds of students need to go into classes. Gender balance. Reading levels spread evenly. Special needs hours shared fairly. Siblings together. Conflicts apart. Parent requests honoured where possible. You move one student and three constraints break. You get close enough, give up, and hope the staffroom doesn’t revolt.

Balanced Allocate places your entire cohort in seconds — and proves it’s fair.

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32 students. 4 classes. 7 constraint types.

Greenfield Primary needs to form four Year 3 classes from 32 incoming students. The placement coordinator has to satisfy all of these simultaneously:

Every class 40–60% female
Reading levels (Advanced, Proficient, Basic, Below Basic) spread evenly across all classes
No class carries more than 25 IEP hours
Siblings in the same class
Documented behavioural conflicts in separate classes
Parent teacher requests honoured
Even class sizes

The teachers have opinions. The parents have requests. The deputy principal has policy. One spreadsheet can’t hold all of it at once. The solver can.

How it works in practice

Step 1: Upload your student list

The same spreadsheet you already maintain. Student names, gender, reading level, IEP hours, sibling links, conflict flags, parent requests. CSV or Excel.

Step 2: Set your rules

Gender quota: 40–60% female in every class. Balance: reading levels spread evenly. Budget: max 25 IEP hours per class. Relationships: siblings together, conflicts apart. Pins: parent-requested students go to their requested teacher. Five minutes of clicking — no formulas, no code.

Step 3: Get your classes

Each class has 7–9 students. Gender is balanced. Reading levels are spread. No class exceeds 25 IEP hours. The Patel sisters are together. Liam and his conflict partner are in different classes. Parent-requested students are with their preferred teacher.

Step 4: Prove it’s fair

The Validation tab checks every rule and shows pass or fail. The Analytics tab lets you explore any column across classes — reading level distribution, gender split, special needs load. When the principal asks how placements were decided, hand them the PDF. Every constraint is documented.

The result

Without Balanced Allocate: three teachers, two days, one wall covered in sticky notes. Complaints in week two when parents compare class lists. No audit trail. “We did our best” is the only explanation.

With Balanced Allocate: one coordinator, every constraint documented. A full validation report showing exactly why each student is where they are. The placement is defensible because it’s provably fair.

Not just classroom placement

The same tool handles any allocation problem in education:

Scholarship selection: Choose the best 12 recipients from 200 applicants while meeting Indigenous, regional, and gender equity quotas within a fixed budget
Composite classes: Split 90 students across three multi-age classes balanced by year level, ability, and behaviour
Camp or excursion groups: Form cabin groups with friends together, allergies spread, and gender balanced
Elective blocks: Allocate 300 students to subject lines respecting preferences, class caps, and prerequisite requirements
Next year’s placement: Save this year’s rules and reload them with a fresh student list — same policy, new cohort

Try it yourself

Download the Balanced Allocate User Guide with this, plus additional full examples, walkthroughs, constraints and dataset formats. The data used in this example is also available for download below.

Class Placement Allocation