Classroom Seating Chart Maker

Paste a class list, choose rows, groups or a horseshoe, and print a seating chart. Lock the seats that should not move, then shuffle the rest.


24 names. Up to 60, and anything longer than 24 characters is trimmed.
Download SVG
Every shuffle is a fresh arrangement. To get one back, type the seed shown below the buttons into the seed box. Seats per group only affects the Groups layout.
This is the 24 seat chart for seed 703470. Enter that seed again with the same class list and layout to reprint exactly this arrangement.
FRONT OF THE ROOMNoah1Arthur2Jacob3Mia4Ava5Theo6Oliver7Oscar8Grace9Henry10Amelia11Poppy12Isla13Freya14Daisy15Leo16Muhammad17Rosie18Elsie19George20Charlie21Evie22Lily23Jack24

Lock a seat before you shuffle again

Tick anyone who should stay exactly where they are, then shuffle. Locked seats keep their occupant and only the rest of the class moves, so you can fix the two who need to be at the front and still randomise everybody else. Locked seats are outlined in blue on the chart.

How the chart is built

The seating is worked out on our server and drawn as a vector in millimetres, so the page works with JavaScript switched off and the printed sheet comes out at true size rather than at whatever scale the browser feels like. Names are shuffled with a Fisher-Yates shuffle, which is the one that gives every arrangement an equal chance; the naive version of shuffling that most people write by hand quietly favours some orders over others. Locked seats are filled first and their occupants are taken out of the pool, so the remaining names always fit the remaining seats exactly and nobody is ever left standing.

Three layouts, three different rooms

These are genuinely different geometries rather than three styles of the same grid. Rows is the traditional arrangement, so many seats across and as many rows as it takes, everybody facing the front. Groups clusters desks into tables of two to six, seated two abreast, with a wide gap between clusters so the tables read as separate tables. Horseshoe puts a chosen number of seats along the bottom and splits the rest up the two sides, leaving the front of the room open, which is the arrangement for discussion and for anything where the class needs to see each other rather than just the board.

Seeds, or reprinting the same chart

Every shuffle comes from a seed, and the seed is shown with the result. Type the same seed with the same class list and the same layout and you get exactly the same chart, next week or next term, on this computer or another one. That is what makes it practical to hand out a chart on Monday and reprint it on Friday without anybody moving. A seed can be a word rather than a number, so autumn-term works as well as 481029. Adding or removing a name changes the arrangement, because there is a different number of seats to fill.

Worth knowing

  • Seats are numbered from the top left, and the numbers stay put when you shuffle, so seat 7 is always the same chair.
  • The dashed line marks the front of the room, so the sheet cannot be read the wrong way round.
  • The drawing is measured in millimetres, so printing at 100% and not fit to page gives a true size sheet.
  • The SVG download is a vector, so it can be dropped into a document or edited afterwards without going blurry.
  • Nothing is stored. The class list is used to draw the chart and is discarded as soon as the page has been sent.

Frequently asked questions

Tick their name in the list under the chart and shuffle again. Locked seats keep their occupant while everyone else moves, and they are outlined in blue on the chart so you can see at a glance who is fixed. You can lock as many as you like, including all of them if you just want to print what is already there.

Yes, that is what the seed is for. Note the seed shown under the buttons, then enter it again with the same class list and layout and you get an identical chart. Seeds can be words, so something like autumn-term is easier to remember than a six digit number.

Up to 60 names, which covers a lecture group as well as a class. Names longer than 24 characters are trimmed so they still fit inside a seat, and the type size is chosen from the longest name in the list so that every seat is set in the same size and nothing is clipped.

Rows is the traditional grid with everybody facing the board. Groups clusters desks into tables of two to six for group work. Horseshoe leaves the front open and runs seats up both sides, which suits discussion and anything where pupils need to see each other. Seats per group only changes the Groups layout.

Yes. It uses a Fisher-Yates shuffle, which produces every possible arrangement with equal probability. It is seeded, so the same seed reproduces the same chart, which means it is deliberately predictable if you know the seed. That is the right trade for a classroom and the wrong one for anything that has to be unguessable.

Press Print the chart and everything except the chart is hidden, so the sheet comes out on its own with no menus or headings around it. The drawing is sized in millimetres, so as long as your printer is set to 100% and not to fit to page it prints at true size.

The names are sent to our server to draw the chart and are thrown away the moment the page has been sent back. Nothing is stored, nothing is logged against you and there is no account. If you would rather not send real names at all, initials or first names only work perfectly well.

Because there is now a different number of seats to fill, so the shuffle has a different problem to solve even with the same seed. If you need to add somebody without disturbing the rest, lock the seats you want to keep before you shuffle.

How do you make a classroom seating chart?

Paste the class list one name per line, pick rows, groups or horseshoe, and the chart is drawn straight away. Lock any seat that should not move, then shuffle the rest. Every chart has a seed, so the same arrangement can be reprinted later, and the sheet prints at true size.