Cover Lessons for GCSE Drama

Cover Lessons worth having – no prep required!


No matter what your needs, we’ve got something to support you and your students in the event of both planned and unplanned teacher absence. Each carefully-considered cover lesson is entirely independent of normal classwork – yet fully linked to the knowledge and skills needed for the course – and provides everything a cover teacher needs to pick-up and teach with minimal photocopying.

If you’re lucky enough for your classes to be covered by another Drama specialist, or even just a confident and enthusiastic non-specialist, then Cover Lessons for Drama Specialists is the resource for you. These ready-to-go, practical cover lessons encourage creativity and put key dramatic skills into action!

If you’re after something more structured, then look no further than Cover Lessons for Non-Drama Specialists. This pack of 15 ready-made student worksheets covers everything from character development and key terminology to evaluative skills and live theatre, and is ideal for those with no minimal Drama experience.

For more details of both resources, see below:




Cover Lessons for Drama Specialists*

*as well as enthusiastic non-specialists!

Need a cover lesson to motivate and engage students while developing skills?

Lessons develop skills and techniques that carry through to normal class work: collaboration, improvisation / quick-thinking, devising, communicating emotions, subtext, character exploration and development, script analysis, soundscapes, voice, physicality… and more!

20 ready-to-go, practical cover lessons put key GCSE skills into action.

Detailed teacher instruction sheet for each lesson:

  • Full breakdown of activities, including warm-ups, starters, mains, plenaries and homework
    • With suggested timings to fit lessons to an hour, but flexible enough to adapt on the fly
  • ‘Cheat sheets’ explain key drama terms and concepts
    • No subject knowledge needed – just confidence and enthusiasm!
  • Quick and easy differentiation ideas
  • All resources provided – with minimal photocopying!

Plus! Lesson overview grid for quick and easy decision-making, with difficulty of delivery defined for each lesson




Cover Lessons for Non-Drama Specialists*

*formerly titled 'Structured Cover Lessons'

An invaluable collection of 15 fully resourced, stand-alone, theory-based cover lessons geared specifically towards the 2016 GCSE Drama specifications. Covering a range of key concepts and skills through structured, progressive activities, you’ll always have a lesson relevant to the course – even when there’s no time to prepare!

Lessons on: Explorative strategies, character development, technical theatre, evaluative skills, live theatre
  • Pick and choose from a diverse range of relevant topics
  • All lessons build on key specification content – consolidating knowledge and refining skills!
  • Varied and engaging activities with minimal teacher input required
  • Built-in extension tasks ensure your fastest finishers stay motivated and on-task for the whole lesson – and can even be set as homework!
  • Lesson overview grid for quick and easy decision-making
  • Teacher sheet for each lesson – with activity instructions, helpful advice and full answers

All you need to set meaningful cover – Drama specialists not required!


What do teachers say about this resource? (10222)

Provides a range of engaging and varied activities designed for cover lessons. A range of dramatic techniques are covered, and the use of relevant terminology helps to ‘exam-prep’ students (no mean feat for lessons designed primarily for cover!)

Well laid out.

J Kearney, Teacher & Peer Reviewer

A good resource.

The resources are detailed and give clear instructions.

B Meugens, Teacher & Peer Reviewer

What do teachers say about this resource? (7133)

I liked the grid at the start of the resource. I thought linking the resources and the assessment objectives was a good idea. I though using PEE was a good link to English which nearly all students will be familiar with. I liked the idea of matching up words and it was good to link work back to the scripts students had written before. The use of creative dominoes was a good idea. I liked the preparation of questions for the hot-seating exercise and also making notes after this exercise... It is a good resource for a non-specialist

B Chapman, HoD & Peer Reviewer