My friend's two sons call me Grandma and I have known them for more than ten years, This is an account of the way the older son got into big trouble a few years ago. He is now in prison as a result. Get your students to work out all the different places where he made choices - which could have changed the course of that very sad evening, in which he was responsible for the death of his friend. I have now added another 'chapter&' three years on. I hope that by reflecting on this true story, they may be able to make wisher choices themselves. It might even save someone&';s life.

In process - ch 4 half - A royal family, divided by greed and jealousy, faces a battle which symbolises the eternal battle between good and evil. Arjuna asks his charioteer Sri Krishna, to drive his chariot between the two armies. In both armies he sees friends and relatives. He is grief-stricken at the immanent destruction and refuses to fight. Sri Krishna says he must fight. Arjuna begs Krishna to teach him, and Krishna does. This conversation is recorded as 'The Song Celestial' - the Bhagavad Gita - and encompasses the essence of Hindu teaching.

this is an astonishingly brilliant collection of important quotations from Christian and Hindu sources for GCSE students. You will find it also at chartere23's site and I am not sharing it here to take any of the credit for it at all - simply because it is so good I want it to be seen by and used in class by as many of my colleagues in RE as possible. The only changes I have made to this version are - an introduction with thanks - and slight adjustments to formatting. Ideally I would then pdf it but no facility for that here. Thanks again chartere23

I came to New York in August to attend the birthday anniversary festival of my spiritual teacher. It was as joyful and inspiring as ever. But before I returned home I was asked if I might be able to stay a bit longer to care for a friend who is ill. I don't get much opportunity to come on internet so I have no idea whether this blog idea will be a &'one off&'; or whether I will be able to add to it regularly, but my friend has been away for a couple of days - so at least I have been able to start. I hope it is of use or interest to some of you.

These articles cover many aspects of village life - including local democracy, provision of water, education and opportunities for women, caste problems etc. Useful in any international work, citizenship, community cohesion and Religious Education topics with KS3 KS4, GCSE etc.

The slide show is in the process of development - to support a family member who is studying Early Years Childcare in Kolkata, Having been to Bengali villages I googled things that I remember seeing there and this is a complete jumble of images. I suggest you edit it, arrange the images you wish to use and add text as required. I googled India Village and found some very interesting bits of contemporary news which may be useful in citizenship and international studies. The Stories may be good for drama and to give insight into village life and characters past and present.

These are adapted from info on the OCR website. They give a basic outline which I hope to add to, when I have time to bring in info from other sites. Hope it is helpful. I would encourage students to turn this into mind-maps and spacial, or visual patterns which enable them to link common ideas and overlapping theories.

This is the calendar from different sources with some words of caution and information about Navaratri, often called DurgaPuja. I will add to this resource when I get time and then prepare some similar overviews of festivals for the other religions. This is in response to a request for information so my aim here is to offer enough to give the enquirer a start with Hinduism and then they can use it as a 'pattern to follow' when researching the other festivals.

more interesting and insightful articles with some of the comments from the related forums - I have chosen a fair variety of views to encourage debate. The Anarchy News article was recommended by a friend! Those articles which I find most useful I have marked with AA or AAA rating, In some articles I have highlighted sections that if I were preparing material for use in school I would include - and blue highlighting indicates particularly pertinent sections - but of course this is a personal reaction. By copying the material in an Unformatted style they will be easy for you to edit.

articles about the riots to prepare work for exploring the riots and issues / emotions including grief, alienation, fear and anger opportunity to learn about, think, discuss and reflect in a supportive environment - but one which is able to explore and clarify right and wrong - to challenge and inform. Includes articles from a range of sources to show the different 'spin' journalist give a story. It's easy to scapegoat, stereotype and blame, harder to listen to and to learn. All agree change is needed, but effective change must be rooted in reality. See more in linked resource.

start of something great - to share everyone's favourite quotes and poems, good for exploring issues and putting up around the RE classroom. Some collections of my own favourites and bits from an RE thread on the subject of quotes. 133 quotes from wattsy85&'s fantastic collection. These are set out so you can print them onto A4 for laminating and display and saved as a pdf so they don&';t move around. Do send me your own favourites to share. I'll add more links later Thanks. DMC

based on Buddhist loving-kindness meditation, honed in class, good with all ages. Prepare it first by reading through aloud, adding pauses and extra detail to lengthen, reducing detail to shorten. In haste will add more later do give feedback please if you use DMC

Begins by asking reception children 'What is Religion?' ‘conversation’ looks at personal identity, Awe and Wonder, the Dawn of Religion, Eternal Questions - including God, introduces the six Major Religions, leads to an exploration of Religious Identity. Ends with a reflective exercise on Loving Kindness. Aimed to engage yr 7 and give an overview of what Religion is all about, useful for KS4 &'the God Question&'; and the problem of generalisation. Will also give non-specialist teachers some insight into RE. see also other ppts in Exploring Religion Series (about 4 resources back)

I have copied the article from Independent and the letter from The Telegraph mentioned in a recent thread, adding some of the best submissions etc. I've highlighted important bits. Do keep up the pressure and forward these to Mr Gove, to your MP to chase Mr Gove with + anyone you know who may be willing to do the same, I think this time is really critical and a lot of people will be like me, up to the neck with other duties, so its hard to fit in the time. Good Luck and happy summer

Hi guys, I have been working with the Duke of Edinburgh team for the past two weeks, no access to computer or internet but a lot of great experiences with our fantastic students. We had three groups of four to six in a group and all succeeded in passing Silver - tremendous transcendence and experiences of going beyond despair, The weakest group ended up the best! This essay is an account of what I did when the minibus left, taking the students back to London. Hopefully inspire some discussion and reflection, As always, do give feedback. And have a great Summer Holiday.

peaceful music for reflection and meditation - a wide range but nothing African yet. I will add to this if you suggest your own favourite youtube music videos. Use these for your own meditation and de-stress exercises at the end of the day - as well as with your classes. You may like to use some for starters or plenary reflection. Great for Religious Education and Music classes.

NATRE sent out an email with these attachments concerning the English Baccalaureate and its effect on RE. In case you missed the email or need to refer to the documents without going into email, here are the attachments plus the covering email. Please share ideas regarding continuing the fight to get RE included in the EBACC Thanks

Parts 1 - 4 are here. 3 also part 7 is up. parts 3, 4 and 7 are not yet finalised. see also Exploring Religion Conversation/Introduction - about 4 resources further on,145 slides you can use over 10 weeks, up to and including an 'activity&' each week. &';part 3 A Quest for Truth.' explores many concepts including science and religion and the great Eternal Questions + a section on poetry and symbolism with 10 selected poems. ? before or after part 4, the Religio / Relationships episode. This is a work still in progress and I would appreciate feedback.

video links from youtube and book reviews from google search will add more details later. (in haste Pizza going cold)

An exercise to explore the meaning of our names - Includes a homework topic that you can just print out. This exercise is one which I use for page 2 of the Religious Identity Passport with some classes, usually year 7 in the Autumn term, as it helps the class get to know each other and the names make a strong display which gives the students a sense of belonging and ownership of the RE room.