 Pupils consistently display a thirst for knowledge and understanding and a love of learning, including when being taught as a whole class or working on their own or in small groups. This has a very strong impact on their progress in lessons. With this in mind I devised an independent project for Year 7s (but it could run across the whole school). On our school VLE I posted the attached tasks. Each Year 7 student was given a scrap book and told to complete as many tasks as they wanted. For each completed task, the student receives a gold coin sticker. I organised it through tutor groups so the form with the most coins wins a trip out of school in the summer term. Parents love this as it gives students something to do in the holidays and on weekends. Activities are often London based as this is our nearest city but this can be adapted to any place in the world. Get your departments on board and help develop a thirst for knowledge in your school!

Do you know your students' preferred learning styles? Do they? Improve lesson planning with this easy to use test. all included on the slideshow.

Lesson takes students through the decision making process using a classic dilemma. Individual/pair and class work. Plenty of discussion will occur....

Slides show how you can incorporate BLOOMS into anything you teach. just adapt the questions to the scale and decide where your lesson is going.

Students revisit popular lesson and comment on the need to think carefully before writing. Adaptable to lots of themes, but also useful for Tutor Time or Assemblies.

Ideal for people who use Powerpoint. Map pins included. Right click to edit and move. Could be lollies for rewards ?

Lesson designed to raise awareness of sameness not difference. Useful for P4C or tutors. Raises lots of questions and gives students opportunity to reflect on how colour affects our lives.

Students are given a problem to solve. Are two brains better than one ? Answer to problem included on slides. ( 3 litre/5 litre problem..illustrated).

lesson asks students to examine the good/bad points about becoming old.. could be deep questioning or lighter.depends on adaptation. Some feedback please!

Can be adapted to other year/class groups that do not know each other. Works brilliantly as a ' cocktail party' introduction to the class. I use the library as a venue for this lesson.

Illustrated slide show of the poem.

slides give some ideas on how teachers can use students' mobile phones to their advantage. Make sure they have credit on their phones and you have permission from your head !

lesson asks these questions and touches on how aliens might treat us given how we treat creatures lower down the ladder on earth.

Students view slides and decide how poor literacy impacts on the public. They correct the errors and decide if being literate and accurate has an impact on how they are perceived by others. ALL ERRORS ON THE SLIDES ARE DELIBERATE ! See also PART TWO.

Could be a lesson, but also a series of photos around the dept to show we have numeracy as part of our lives.

Sixteen questions for pairs in your tutor group to answer over your chosen period of time. They do the research and deliver the answer on your designated day. Enhances research skills and saves you time.

Short set of templates for Year 6s into 7s. Adaptable to your own school and useful to send out to your feeder primaries.

Students listen to a very moving, brief story and comment on whether it's always good to tell the truth. Story included, illustrated and ready to deliver. Thought provoking.

Straightforward intro to New Year with 3 resolutions to use punctuation correctly. Worksheet, answers and resolution documents included.

Students think of a friend and predict which Year he/she was born in. Chinese birth years incorporated in slide. Ready to deliver. Happy New Year.