Half term is an important opportunity for teachers to switch off, rest and recharge.
But for many teachers, it can also be helpful to spend a small amount of time getting organised for the weeks ahead — particularly if it means avoiding a stressful Sunday evening before returning to school.
The key is not to spend the entire break working.
Instead, a few focused preparation tasks can make the next half term feel much more manageable.
From organising teaching resources to preparing retrieval activities and checking what topics are coming up next, here are some practical ways teachers can get ahead with lesson planning over half term without sacrificing the whole break.
1. Look Ahead at the Next Few Weeks
Before creating individual lessons, take a quick look at what is coming up.
Consider:
- Which topics will you be teaching?
- Are there any assessments approaching?
- Are there school events that will affect lessons?
- Are there topics that require additional resources?
- Are there any classes that may need extra support or revision?
A simple overview of the next few weeks can help you identify where preparation will be most useful.
You do not necessarily need to plan every lesson in detail.
Knowing what is coming next can make returning to school feel much more organised.
2. Identify the Lessons That Will Take the Most Preparation
Not every lesson requires the same amount of planning.
Some may already have established resources, while others require:
- new worksheets;
- practical activities;
- case studies;
- differentiated tasks;
- revision materials; or
- digital activities.
Instead of trying to prepare everything, identify the lessons that are likely to take the most time.
Getting just one or two of these organised during half term can reduce pressure later.
3. Find Resources Before You Need Them
One of the most time-consuming parts of lesson planning can be searching for suitable teaching resources.
Half term can be a useful opportunity to build a small bank of resources for upcoming topics.
For example, you might look for:
- worksheets;
- retrieval quizzes;
- revision activities;
- homework;
- exam-style questions;
- digital activities;
- self-marking tasks; or
- cover resources.
Saving useful resources in clearly labelled folders means you can find them quickly when you need them.
A simple structure such as:
Subject → Year Group → Topic → Resource Type
can save significant time later.
4. Prepare Your Lesson Starters in Batches
Creating a new starter for every lesson can quickly become another repetitive planning task.
Instead, prepare several retrieval activities at once.
For example, you might create five short starters based on:
- previous lessons;
- key terminology;
- common misconceptions;
- important facts;
- prior topics; or
- upcoming assessments.
These could include:
- five-question quizzes;
- true-or-false activities;
- key-word definitions;
- multiple-choice questions;
- odd-one-out questions; or
- short retrieval grids.
Batching similar activities together is often quicker than preparing them individually throughout the school week.
5. Prepare for the First Day Back
You do not need the entire next half term planned.
Sometimes simply having the first day back organised can make a big difference.
Prepare:
- your first lesson;
- any printing;
- digital resources;
- homework;
- starter activities; and
- anything pupils will need when they arrive.
That means you can finish half term knowing you are ready to return without spending the final evening preparing.
6. Check Where Your Classes Are Up To
Half term provides a natural point to review progress.
Ask yourself:
- What have pupils understood well?
- Which topics caused difficulty?
- Are there misconceptions that need revisiting?
- Which pupils may need additional support?
- Is there anything that should be retrieved again after the break?
You can then use the first few lessons back to revisit important knowledge.
This can be particularly useful after a break, when pupils may need opportunities to recall previous learning before moving forward.
7. Prepare a Retrieval Activity for the Return
The first lesson after half term is a good opportunity to find out what pupils still remember.
A short retrieval quiz can revisit key ideas from the previous half term.
For example, you could ask pupils to:
- define five key terms;
- answer five multiple-choice questions;
- complete a short knowledge quiz;
- identify errors in several statements; or
- explain one important concept from memory.
This gives pupils an opportunity to reconnect with the subject while helping teachers identify anything that may need revisiting.
Digital and self-marking quizzes can make this particularly easy to manage.
8. Organise Your Existing Resources
Half term does not always need to be about creating new materials.
Sometimes the most useful thing you can do is organise what you already have.
Spend a short amount of time:
- renaming files;
- deleting duplicate resources;
- organising topic folders;
- bookmarking useful websites;
- saving resources you want to reuse; and
- noting which activities worked well.
Future you will probably appreciate it.
A well-organised teaching resource bank can make lesson planning much faster throughout the rest of the academic year.
9. Create a Small Bank of Emergency Cover Work
Unexpected absence can happen at any point.
Preparing a few reusable cover activities during half term can remove one source of stress later.
Useful cover activities might include:
- retrieval quizzes;
- knowledge organisers with questions;
- revision activities;
- reading and comprehension;
- digital quizzes;
- self-marking tasks; or
- independent topic activities.
Ideally, these should be activities pupils can complete with minimal explanation.
Having them ready in advance means you do not need to create cover work at short notice.
10. Prepare Homework in Advance
If you regularly set homework, consider preparing a few activities ahead of time.
This could include:
- revision quizzes;
- retrieval tasks;
- exam practice;
- vocabulary activities;
- reading tasks; or
- digital self-marking activities.
Planning several homework activities together can reduce weekly decision-making.
It can also help ensure homework links clearly to your wider curriculum rather than being selected at the last minute.
11. Use Digital Resources to Reduce Repetitive Tasks
Digital teaching resources can help make some aspects of preparation easier.
For example, online activities can be used for:
- retrieval practice;
- homework;
- independent learning;
- cover lessons;
- revision; and
- knowledge checks.
Self-marking resources can reduce repetitive marking while allowing pupils to receive immediate feedback.
The most useful educational technology is not necessarily technology that adds more features.
It is technology that removes unnecessary work.
If a digital resource saves you from creating, printing or marking another activity, that is time you can spend elsewhere.
12. Do Not Try to Plan the Entire Half Term
It can be tempting to return to school with every lesson fully prepared.
But plans change.
Lessons take longer than expected. School events appear. Classes progress at different rates.
Over-planning can therefore create work that later needs to be changed anyway.
Instead, aim to give yourself a head start.
That might mean:
- preparing the first week;
- finding resources for the next topic;
- creating several retrieval activities; or
- organising your teaching materials.
A manageable amount of preparation can still make a significant difference.
Protect Your Half Term Too
Perhaps the most important point is that half term is still a break.
Teachers need time away from schoolwork.
If you choose to do some preparation, consider giving yourself a clear limit.
For example:
“I am going to spend two hours preparing for next half term, then I am finished.”
Focus on tasks that will genuinely save time later.
Avoid spending hours perfecting slides, redesigning worksheets or creating resources that already exist elsewhere.
The aim should be to make the return to school easier — not to turn half term into another working week.
Make Next Half Term Easier With Teachily
One of the simplest ways to reduce lesson preparation time is to avoid creating every teaching resource from scratch.
At Teachily, we are building an online teaching resource platform specifically with UK schools and teachers in mind.
Our growing resource library includes resources across Geography, English, Maths and Science, alongside digital and self-marking activities designed to support:
- classroom teaching;
- retrieval practice;
- revision;
- homework;
- independent learning; and
- cover lessons.
Whether you are planning ahead over half term or looking for something for tomorrow’s lesson, Teachily aims to make finding useful teaching resources quicker and easier.
Spend less time searching. Spend more time teaching.
Explore teaching resources at Teachily.co.uk.
