How to get your lesson notes to pass vetting the first time

Vetting feels arbitrary the first few times, but it isn't. A headteacher or circuit supervisor is working down a short, fixed list, and a note comes back when one item on that list is missing or wrong. Get all of them right and you sign in one pass. Here is the list.

The header block

Before anyone reads a single activity, they read the top of the page. It has to carry the school and class, the subject, the week ending date, the reference to the teaching syllabus, the duration and the number of periods. A note that opens straight into content, with no header, gets handed back before the teaching is even considered.

The right indicator codes

This is where most rejections happen. Every lesson has to name the strand, sub-strand, content standard and the indicator it covers, and the indicator code has to be a real one from the current NaCCA curriculum, like B7.3.1.1.1. A code that does not exist, or one copied from last year's syllabus, is the fastest way to get sent back. Check every code against the current syllabus before you print.

Weekly structure and the three phases

A lesson note is a weekly document, not a single period. It covers the days you teach that subject, each with its periods, and each lesson moves through three phases: a starter to settle and recall, the main activity where the indicator is actually taught, and a plenary to close and check. Vetters look for all three. A lesson that jumps into the main activity with no starter or plenary reads as unfinished.

Core competencies and values

Each lesson should name the core competencies and the values it builds, and the activities should actually show them, not just list them at the top. If a note claims collaboration but every activity is the teacher talking, that gap gets noticed.

Assessment and references

The main phase needs a way to check that the indicator landed, whether that is questions, a short task or observation. And the note should carry its references, the teaching syllabus and the learner or teacher resource it draws on. These are small, and they are exactly the small things that get flagged.

The vetting block itself

Leave room for the sign-off. A GES note ends with space for the name, signature and date of the person vetting it, plus a remarks line. If there is nowhere to sign, the note is not ready to be signed. Print it with the block already there.

None of this is hard, it is just easy to miss one item under a Sunday- evening deadline. teache prints the GES format with the header, real codes, three phases and the vetting block already in place, so the note clears in one pass. See a sample note or start with one week.