A lesson focusing on the significance of the porter in Macbeth and Shakespeare’s use of comic relief more generally. Suitable for GCSE or able KS3 group.

Stories of Ourselves A* example essay on The Moving Finger with exam question.

A worksheet to help students see examples of effective openings to exam questions. They can use the mark scheme to annotate and then continue the answers themselves.

A list of exam style questions designed for Cambridge A Level Paper 5 on Percy Shelley’s poetry, but easily adaptable to other specifications. Two A grade example responses, one on a passage based question and one on an open essay question. Very useful as a resource to unpack success with students.

A collection of help sheets to get students to start writing successful exam responses on the CIE Songs of Ourselves poetry collection. Includes Rising Five, Sonnet 29, The Three Fates and She Dwelt Among Untrodden ways.

A revision guide aimed at scaffolding revision for IGCSE students towards the Poetry and Prose paper 1 for CIE Literature 0475. Short recap tasks, exam questions and advice on creating their own questions.

A booklet of passages from Of Mice and Men with targeted vocabulary, quotation and analysis questions. Excellent as pre-reading homework to ensure deep understanding of the key moments in the text. Included is also a differentiated version aimed at EAL students with more of a vocabulary focus and extensions for the most able readers. Ideal as GCSE preparation for new challenging specifications.

A simple and versatile collection of quotations to pair and analyse from across the play.

A mocked up exam paper for the new 2020 specification, based on CIE’s specimen. Useful as a mock exam or to work through in class.

A fun activity to encourage students to identify common cliches in their narrative writing. Helpful for exam prep for WJEC and AQA.

A useful step by step to guide students through responses to passage based questions. Key reminders based on examiner reports.

A broad range of passage based exam questions (aimed at Cambridge English Literature 9695) which can be used as lesson resources, mock exams or a full set of revision questions for students to complete independently.

A comprehensive planning sheet and tasks to help KS3 students plan better mystery stories. These lessons focus on the concept of the discovery of a mystery object which somehow reveals a secret. Students begin with physical objects (a shoe, a jewelry box- anything you have) and imagining their histories. After this, they come up with a few ideas of mystery objects and then plan out a short narrative using ‘set up, build up, climax, resolution/cliffhanger’. This is very successful with weaker groups who need clear direction, but also works well for curtailing the ambition of some budding novelists!

Simple, but active spelling strategies. Useful for display or to stick in the front of spelling books.

A fun version of the game Articulate, to encourage revision of key elements of the Gothic genre. Aimed at A Level Literature, but would work well with able Secondary groups too. Print in colour and laminate for best results.

Engaging worksheets using passages from 'Harry Potter' and 'The Hobbit' to explore characterisation and then encourage students to create their own heroes.

An example journalistic piece for the AQA Literature B NEA, on the literary value of ‘The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo’. Perfect for working through how to structure a lively article while still meeting Assessment Objectives.

An adapted reading paper to meet the requirements of the 2021 specification with mark scheme.

Our co-constructed marking/feedback policy for English. Lots of ideas borrowed from research and great schools (all referenced). A good starting point for developing your own policy or for NQTs to think about good feedback.

A progress tracker for students to complete to keep track of assessment targets and their reported grades to encourage a focus on progress rather than attainment.