Short-term planning for primary school
Short-term plans are the working documents of the classroom: a plan per subject, written weekly, fortnightly or monthly as your school decides, setting out learning outcomes, activities, differentiation and assessment for the weeks ahead. They sit between the long-term plan (the term's scheme of work) and the daily teaching, and the Cuntas Míosúil is meant to be their mirror image, looking back instead of forward. Recent guidance on preparation has aimed to reduce the paperwork burden rather than add to it, and a short-term plan you annotate as you teach is the least paperwork of all.
The content that matters
Strand and strand unit or curriculum area; the learning outcomes in focus; the main activities and methodologies; how support, core and extension groups are catered for; and how you'll know it landed. Write for a reader: a principal skimming before a meeting, an inspector on a visit, or a substitute picking up your class on a Tuesday.
Cutting the time without cutting corners
The hours go into cross-referencing curriculum documents and re-typing the same structure every fortnight. Two habits cut most of it: plan from a source that already contains the outcomes for your class level, and annotate the plan as you teach so the record writes itself instead of being reconstructed later.
Less admin, same teaching
Rang360 holds the curriculum for your class band, so a short-term plan starts from suggestions with the outcomes attached rather than from a blank page. Every lesson is editable, every fortnight or month takes minutes rather than hours, and marking lessons taught as you go turns the same plan into your Cuntas Míosúil, flagged for gaps and exported as a Word document.
Free until January 2027, or for 90 days, whichever is later, with no card required.
Set up my class (10 minutes)Common questions
Are short-term plans checked?
Schools typically ask that they exist and are available; principals and inspectors may review them alongside the Cuntas Míosúil.
How far ahead should I plan?
A week, a fortnight or a month, matching what your school asks for. Further ahead lives in the scheme of work.