The short version: one page per day. At the top: who to call for help, how to take attendance without your login, where the seating plan is, and the arrival and dismissal routines. Then each block with a time, exactly what students do, where the materials are, and what to collect. Plan practice or review of work the class already knows, give a paper fallback for anything on a screen, add one early-finisher task, and ask for a note at the end. The sub plan builder below lays it out and flags what's missing.
The one-page sub plan template
Substitutes and cover staff look for the same things in the same order. This layout puts them where they'll be found:
SUB PLAN · Tuesday 3 November Ms Rivera · Grade 4 · Room 12 IF YOU NEED HELP: Office ext. 200, or Mr Okafor next door (Room 13) ATTENDANCE: Paper class list on the clipboard by the door. Send it to the office by 8:45. SEATING PLAN: Red folder on my desk, first page ARRIVAL: Students unpack, put folders in the basket and start the morning work on their desks. BATHROOM: One at a time with the hall pass. Not in the first or last 10 minutes. HELPFUL STUDENTS: A.K. and R.M. know where everything is. EARLY FINISHERS: Silent reading book, or a puzzle sheet from the green tray. SCHEDULE 8:30-8:50 Morning work Do: Spiral review sheet, then check answers with a partner (answer key in the folder). Collect: sheets in the basket 8:50-9:50 Reading Do: Read "The Stray" (pp. 42-47) together, then answer Q1-6 in full sentences. Materials: readers on the shelf, question sheets in the blue tray Collect: question sheets, names on top ... END OF DAY: Car riders at 3:05 to the gym, walkers at 3:10 with the duty teacher. PLEASE LEAVE ME A NOTE: who was absent, who was helpful, any problems, and anything you didn't get to.
Four rules make it work:
- Every block has an output. "Answer Q1-6 in full sentences" tells the substitute what done looks like, and the collected sheets tell you what actually happened.
- Practice, not new content. A non-specialist introducing a new concept tends to create misconceptions you'll spend a week undoing. Use review of the last two or three lessons.
- No logins. The substitute can't open your Google Drive, your slides or your gradebook. Print it, or give a link students open with their own accounts.
- Behaviour is half the plan. Arrival, bathroom, dismissal and who to call matter more than the lesson. Most sub-day problems happen at transitions and with early finishers.
Sub plans that go wrong, and the fix
| What the plan says | What the substitute needs |
|---|---|
| Continue with their work from yesterday. | Finish the fractions sheet from Monday (in their folders), then pp. 12-13, Q1-10. Hand in both. |
| Watch the video and discuss. | Play the 6-minute food chains video (link on the board, works without login). If it won't play, read the printed transcript in the tray aloud. Then draw a pond food chain with 5 living things. |
| Slides are in my Google Drive. | Printed slides in the blue tray, one per table. |
| Introduce persuasive writing. | Read the model letter together, then students underline three reasons the writer gives. (Persuasive writing starts with me on Thursday.) |
| Math: workbook. | Workbook pp. 34-35, problems 1-12. Answer key in the folder. Early finishers: the puzzle sheet. |
| J.T. has ADHD and an IEP. | J.T. may take a movement break by the door: allowed. (The details stay in your school's system.) |
Free sub plan builder
Fill in the class details once, then type one line per block: time | class or subject | task | materials | collect. You can paste rows from a spreadsheet (tab-separated) or a Markdown table from ChatGPT. Press Build sub plan to get the one-page plan with checks, then print it, copy it or download it as text. It runs entirely in your browser: nothing you type is sent or stored, and it's gone when you close the page.
It flags blocks with no time or a vague task ("continue with their work"), anything that needs your own login, tech with no paper fallback, new content, no materials location, nothing to collect, long blocks with no early-finisher task, missing help contact, attendance, seating plan or routines, full names, and sensitive details like diagnoses or family circumstances. It's a word check: it can't tell whether the work is right for your class.
Emergency sub plans that work any day
Emergency plans are for the morning you can't write anything. They have to work at any point in the year, with any unit, and without you. Write two or three days of them, make the copies now, and put a note on top: "Can be used at any point in the year." Ideas that hold up:
| Age | Activities that need no context |
|---|---|
| K–2 / Reception–Year 2 | Read-aloud picture book with a draw-and-label response ("draw your favourite part and write one sentence"); a number or phonics review sheet from earlier in the year; a "my weekend" or "if I could fly" writing page with sentence starters; a directed drawing; a familiar song or movement break. |
| Grades 3–5 / Years 3–6 | A short story with comprehension questions graded from easy to stretching; a mixed math review sheet (all skills already taught) with an answer key; a persuasive or opinion paragraph on a fun prompt with a model; a logic puzzle or word search for early finishers. |
| Middle school / Years 7–9 | A one-page article or extract with questions; a retrieval quiz mixing topics from the whole year; a data or graph interpretation task for science or geography; a "design a…" task with a success checklist. |
| High school / Years 10–13 | An exam-style question set on earlier topics with a mark scheme for students to self-mark; a reading with a written response; key-term glossary or flashcard making for the current course; a past-paper section timed as practice. |
Whatever you choose: a product students hand in, an answer key for the substitute, and an early-finisher task. Replace each plan as soon as it's used, or you'll find an empty folder next time.
What to keep in the sub folder
- The one-page plan for each emergency day, on top, with copies already made and clipped to it.
- Class information sheet: routines, timetable, duties, who to call, fire and lockdown procedures (or where they're posted).
- Seating plans, with a photo or initials only if your school prefers.
- A paper class list for attendance, and how to send it to the office.
- Answer keys and model answers.
- Early-finisher work for any lesson.
- Medical needs the substitute must act on, kept the way your school's policy says (often a separate sheet): what to do and who to call, not diagnoses.
- A "note for my sub" page with questions: who was absent, who was helpful, any problems, what didn't get done.
- Where things are: the hall pass, spare pencils, the board remote, the key.
Student privacy: a sub plan is left on a desk, photocopied and sometimes filed. Write what to do, not why: "J.T. may take a movement break: allowed" rather than a diagnosis, and "only the named adults on the office list may collect E.F." rather than family details. IEP, 504 and EHCP information, safeguarding concerns and medical history stay in your school's secure systems, shared with a substitute the way your school's policy says. The builder flags these words, and they should never go into an AI chat.
UK: cover work for supply teachers and cover supervisors
The same format works for cover, with a few differences. Cover is often run by a cover supervisor, who supervises pre-set work rather than teaching, or by a supply teacher who may not be a specialist, so write the lesson as independent work from the start. Say where the register is and how to take it if they can't log in to the school's system, name the on-call or behaviour system ("send a reliable student to reception for on-call"), and give a single lesson per page with the class, period and room at the top. Exercise books are the easiest thing to collect: "write the date and title, answer in full sentences in your book" means the work comes back to you with no extra paper.
Using ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude to write sub plans
AI tools are quick at turning "8B, food chains revision, textbook pp. 112-115, 50 mins" into a full plan and worksheet. Check your school's AI policy first, and leave out student names and anything sensitive. Then paste this:
Write a sub plan / cover lesson for [Grade 4 reading / Year 8 science], [50] minutes. A substitute who doesn't teach this subject will run it. The class has just learnt: [food chains, producers and consumers]. Resources: [textbook Activate 1, pp. 112-115; printed worksheets; no student devices]. Use this format: CLASS, TOPIC, YOU NEED (with exact locations), ON ARRIVAL, then timed blocks from 0 minutes with an expected output for each, an EXTENSION for early finishers, a COLLECT step, and ANSWERS on a separate page. Rules: review only, no new content. No step may need my login or accounts. If any step uses a screen, add a paper fallback. Then write the student worksheet itself, with questions from easy to stretching. If something is missing that you'd need to guess, ask me instead.
Read it as the substitute would: could you run it with five minutes' reading and no help? Then make the copies and put them where the plan says.
The note from your substitute
Leave a short form so you get useful information back, not just "they were fine":
Thank you for covering today! Absent: ______ Helpful students: ______ Any problems (who, when, what you did): ______ Work not finished: ______ Anything I should know for next time: ______
Common questions
How do I write a sub plan?
One page per day: who to call for help, attendance without your login, the seating plan, arrival and dismissal routines, then each block with a time, exactly what students do, where the materials are and what to collect. Add an early-finisher task and a note request. Plan review of work the class already knows, not new content.
What should be in emergency sub plans?
Lessons that work any day without your input: a short text with questions, a mixed review sheet, a writing task with a model, and a puzzle or problem-solving sheet, with copies made. Keep them in a labelled folder with the class information sheet, seating plan, class list and the school's emergency procedures.
How many days of emergency sub plans should I have?
Many teachers keep two or three days ready, and some schools require a set number, so check your handbook. Replace them when they're used, and refresh the class information sheet when routines or seating change.
What do I write if I'm sick in the morning?
If the emergency folder is ready: which day to use and anything that changed. If not: a review task on this week's work, with pages and questions named and the work collected at the end. Send it to the office or cover contact as early as you can.
Can I use ChatGPT to write sub plans?
Within your school's AI policy, with no student names or sensitive details. Give it the lesson facts, ask for a fixed one-page format with times, materials and a collect step, then check every line.
Cover plans in two minutes, in ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude
Teacher Skills Pro includes a cover plans skill that writes the one-page plan in this format, the student worksheet, the answers for the substitute, a class information sheet template, and a set of emergency "sub tub" lessons for your subject and age that work any time of year. It asks for what's missing instead of guessing, plans review rather than new content, never relies on your logins, and keeps student details out. Pro also adds quizzes, feedback on anonymised work, class newsletters and incident write-ups.
Get Teacher Skills Pro (£12) Start with the free pack
Teacher Skills Pro is £12 / $15 / €14, one-off. The free Teacher Skills pack writes report comments, parent emails and rubrics.
School rules on cover, sub folders and sharing student information vary; follow yours. This guide was written by an AI agent (Claude); if a teacher would do something differently, please open an issue.