This whole class reading session aims to develop children’s comprehension skills through reading and interpreting the opening section of Emma Carroll’s ‘In Darkling Wood.’ The resource pack includes the extract needed and a clear and well presented PowerPoint, guiding the teacher and learners through the various activities. The reading is followed by a series of activities aiming to develop children’s retrieval, explanation, inference, sequencing and summarising skills. A vocabulary check helps to secure children’s understanding of any new or unfamiliar language. The tasks are comprised of quick-check questions, solo thinking, pair/ group discussions and deeper thinking activities. The session is best suited for children in lower KS2, although with minor adaptations it could feasibly be used with slightly younger and older year groups.

This whole class reading session aims to develop children’s fluency and comprehension skills through reading an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’. The adaptation was created by Neil Richards for BBC Teach, and the whole class reading session focuses explicitly on the first four acts. The reading is followed by a series of activities aiming to develop comprehension skills through VIPERS activities: vocabulary, inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval, and summarising. It also contains a vocabulary check and key context information to clarify any unfamiliar language and subject matter. The tasks are comprised of quick-check questions, solo thinking, pair/ group discussions and deeper thinking activities. The extract needed is provided as PDF, but I’ve also a link to a web-based version of the playscript on the first slide. The session is tried and tested, and was initially delivered to a high-attaining year 6 class, although with only minor adaptations I believe the questions and content would be suitable for those in years 5-8.

This clear, detailed and visually-appealing resource offers a complete reference point for children learning or revising knowledge of ‘special places’ in RE. It contains comprehensive sections on: -Overview - How places can be special; -In Christianity - Churches, (and also churches during Harvest and Advent); -In Judaism - Synagogues and The Western Wall; -In Islam - Mosques; -Personal Spirituality - Key Questions; -Key Vocabulary. The resource is designed to be printed onto A3, and is provided as both a PDF and a Word version (so that you can edit if you want to). All images used are licensed for commercial use and are cited on a separate document (included). It is most appropriate for KS1 and lower KS2 children.

This whole class reading session aims to develop children’s fluency and comprehension skills through reading William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18: ‘Shall I Compare thee to a Summer’s Day?’ The reading is followed by a series of activities aiming to develop comprehension skills through VIPERS activities: vocabulary, inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval, and summarising. It also contains a vocabulary check and key context information to clarify any unfamiliar language and subject matter. The tasks are comprised of quick-check questions, solo thinking, pair/ group discussions and deeper thinking activities. The extract needed is provided in both Word and PDF, and I’ve also a link to a web-based version of the poem on the first slide. The session is tried and tested, and was initially delivered to a strong year 6 class, although with only minor adaptations I believe the questions and content would be suitable for those in years 5-8.

This engaging and thought-provoking lesson aids students in developing a secure understanding of Chapter 2 of Ted Hughes’ 'The Iron Man.’ This chapter is entitled ‘The Return of the Iron Man.’ The resources guide the children along a learning journey in which they understand the text through: -Retrieving information; -Inferring and deducing hidden meanings; -Sequencing the key events so far; -Analysing the language techniques used by the writer. Children are guided through the lesson via a colourful and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation, which includes a range of thought-provoking activities and model examples/ answers. The tasks are comprised of retrieval, vocabulary, inference, summarising, explaining and deeper thinking activities. Children also get the opportunity to partake in a creative activity at the end of the lesson. There’s a lot in the session (16 slides in total) so you may wish to either select the content that is pertinent to you/ your class or spread the lesson resource over two sessions. The resource is ideally pitched for children in lower KS2, but could feasibly be used with slightly older or younger children, depending upon the individual context of the school and students.

This whole class reading session aims to develop children’s fluency and comprehension skills through reading an interesting non-fiction introduction to the Rnaissance period. It includes information about what the Renaissance period was, how it started and the impact that it had upon the world. The text is two A4 sides in length. The reading is followed by a series of activities aiming to develop children’s VIPERS skills: vocabulary, inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval, sequencing and summarising. This is provided on a visually-attractive, easy-to-follow PowerPoint presentation. It also contains a vocabulary check immediately after the extract is read to clarify any unfamiliar/ difficult language. The tasks are comprised of quick-check questions, solo thinking, pair/ group discussions and deeper thinking activities. The extract needed is provided in both PDF and Word format. The session is best suited for children across upper KS2 and lower KS3, I have previously used the resources with children in years 5 and 6.

This engaging and thought-provoking lesson aids students in developing a secure understanding of Chapter 5 of Ted Hughes’ 'The Iron Man.’ This final chapter is entitled ‘The Iron Man’s Challenge.’ The resources guide the children along a learning journey in which they understand the text through: -Retrieving information; -Making inferences; -Understanding the writer’s intentions; -Summarising the main events of the text. Children are guided through the lesson via a colourful and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation, which includes a range of thought-provoking activities and model examples/ answers. The tasks are comprised of retrieval, vocabulary, inference, summarising, explaining and deeper thinking activities. Children also get the opportunity to partake in a creative activity at the end of the lesson - a blank storyboard template is provided in both Word and PDF for this task. There’s a lot in the session (16 slides in total) so you may wish to either select the content that is pertinent to you/ your class or spread the lesson resource over two sessions. The resource is ideally pitched for children in lower KS2, but could feasibly be used with slightly older or younger children, depending upon the individual context of the school and students.

This engaging and thought-provoking lesson aids students in developing a secure understanding of Chapter 4 of Ted Hughes’ 'The Iron Man.’ This chapter is entitled ‘The Space Being and the Iron Man.’ The resources guide the children along a learning journey in which they understand the text through: -Retrieving information; -Making predictions; -Comparing and contrasting characters; -Analysing language. Children are guided through the lesson via a colourful and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation, which includes a range of thought-provoking activities and model examples/ answers. The tasks are comprised of retrieval, vocabulary, inference, summarising, explaining and deeper thinking activities. Children also get the opportunity to partake in a creative activity at the end of the lesson - a blank newspaper template is provided in both Word and PDF for this task. There’s a lot in the session (16 slides in total) so you may wish to either select the content that is pertinent to you/ your class or spread the lesson resource over two sessions. The resource is ideally pitched for children in lower KS2, but could feasibly be used with slightly older or younger children, depending upon the individual context of the school and students.

This detailed and visually-appealing resource offers a complete reference point for children, teachers and other stakeholders when covering the topic of ‘Shabbat’ in religious education. It contains comprehensive sections under the following headings: -Shabbat Overview; -Why Shabbat is Important to Jews; -Shabbat Traditions; -Forbidden Activities during Shabbat; -Key Vocabulary. Key words and ideas are underlined for easy reference. It was originally created for those teaching and learning in KS1/ lower KS2. The resource is designed to be printed onto A3 or A4, and is provided as both a PDF and a Word version (so that you can edit if you want to).

This engaging and thought-provoking lesson aids students in developing a secure understanding of Chapter 3 of Ted Hughes’ 'The Iron Man.’ This chapter is entitled ‘What’s to be Done with the Iron Man?’ The resources guide the children along a learning journey in which they understand the text through: -Retrieving information; -Inferring and deducing hidden meanings; -Understanding the vocabulary choices used by the writer; -Explaining key plot ideas. Children are guided through the lesson via a colourful and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation, which includes a range of thought-provoking activities and model examples/ answers. The tasks are comprised of retrieval, vocabulary, inference, summarising, explaining and deeper thinking activities. Children also get the opportunity to partake in a creative activity at the end of the lesson. There’s a lot in the session (16 slides in total) so you may wish to either select the content that is pertinent to you/ your class or spread the lesson resource over two sessions. The resource is ideally pitched for children in lower KS2, but could feasibly be used with slightly older or younger children, depending upon the individual context of the school and students.

This engaging and thought-provoking lesson aids students in developing a secure understanding of Chapter 1 of Ted Hughes’ 'The Iron Man.’ The chapter is entitled ‘The Coming of the Iron Man.’ The resources guide the children along a learning journey in which they understand the text through: -Making predictions; -Retrieving information; -Inferring and deducing hidden meanings; -Summarising the key events of the chapter. Children are guided through the lesson via a colourful and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation, which includes a range of thought-provoking activities and model examples/ answers. The tasks are comprised of retrieval, vocabulary, inference, summarising, explaining and deeper thinking activities. Children also get the opportunity to partake in a creative activity at the end of the lesson. There’s a lot in the session (17 slides in total) so you may wish to either select the content that is pertinent to you/ your class or spread the lesson resource over two sessions. The resource is ideally pitched for children in lower KS2, but could feasibly be used with slightly older or younger children, depending upon the individual context of the school and students.

This engaging and thought-provoking lesson aids students in developing a secure understanding of Chapter 5 of Clive King’s 'Stig of the Dump.’ This chapter is entitled 'The Snargets.’ The resources guide the children along a learning journey in which they understand the text through: -Retrieving information; -Inferring and deducing hidden meanings; -Explaining key ideas; -Summarising events from the text. Children are guided through the lesson via a colourful and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation, which includes a range of thought-provoking activities and model examples/ answers. The tasks are comprised of retrieval, vocabulary, inference, summarising, explaining and deeper thinking activities. Children also get the opportunity to partake in a creative activity at the end of the lesson. There’s a lot in the session (16 slides in total) so you may wish to either select the content that is pertinent to you/ your class or spread the lesson resource over two sessions. The resource is ideally pitched for children in lower KS2, but could feasibly be used with slightly older or younger children, depending upon the individual context of the school and students.

This fun and original assembly is designed to teach children all about Martin Luther King Jr., including covering: -Who Martin Luther King Jr. was; -The world he was raised in and what he stood for; -His actions as a civil rights activist; -What he achieved; -Why we still celebrate Martin Luther King Jr Day today. The slides are visually-engaging and well-presented, and the subject matter is tailored to the interests and needs of young people. It includes links to well-chosen videos to emphasise/ reinforce key points, in addition to song suggestions and interactive activities to involve the audience. There is enough here for a 25-30 minute assembly (it is 17 slides long), but of course you can cut bits out/ tailor to your own individual needs. No further resources are required, everything that you need to present the assembly is included. I would say that the assembly is ideally pitched at KS2, but both KS3 and KS1 would be able to access it with only minor vocabulary/ language adaptations. Hope that you find this useful!

This engaging and thought-provoking lesson aids students in developing a secure understanding of Chapter 4 of Clive King’s 'Stig of the Dump.’ This chapter is entitled ‘Gone A-Hunting.’ The resources guide the children along a learning journey in which they understand the text through: -Retrieving information; -Inferring and deducing hidden meanings; -Explaining key ideas; -Analysing the writer’s use of language. Children are guided through the lesson via a colourful and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation, which includes a range of thought-provoking activities and model examples/ answers. The tasks are comprised of retrieval, vocabulary, inference, summarising, explaining and deeper thinking activities. Children also get the opportunity to partake in a creative activity at the end of the lesson. There’s a lot in the session (16 slides in total) so you may wish to either select the content that is pertinent to you/ your class or spread the lesson resource over two sessions. The resource is ideally pitched for children in lower KS2, but could feasibly be used with slightly older or younger children, depending upon the individual context of the school and students.

This engaging and thought-provoking lesson aids students in developing a secure understanding of Chapter 7 of Clive King’s 'Stig of the Dump.’ This chapter is entitled 'Party Manners.’ The resources guide the children along a learning journey in which they understand the text through: -Retrieving information; -Inferring and deducing hidden meanings; -Explaining key ideas; -Analysing Characters. Children are guided through the lesson via a colourful and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation, which includes a range of thought-provoking activities and model examples/ answers. The tasks are comprised of retrieval, vocabulary, inference, summarising, explaining and deeper thinking activities. Children also get the opportunity to partake in a creative activity at the end of the lesson - a success criteria is also provided to assist with this task. There’s a lot in the session (15 slides in total) so you may wish to either select the content that is pertinent to you/ your class or spread the lesson resource over two sessions. The resource is ideally pitched for children in lower KS2, but could feasibly be used with slightly older or younger children, depending upon the individual context of the school and students.

This engaging and thought-provoking lesson aids students in developing a secure understanding of the final chapter of Clive King’s 'Stig of the Dump.’ This chapter is entitled 'The Standing Stones.’ The resources guide the children along a learning journey in which they understand the text through: -Retrieving information; -Inferring and deducing hidden meanings; -Explaining key ideas; -Summarising the events from the text. Children are guided through the lesson via a colourful and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation, which includes a range of thought-provoking activities and model examples/ answers. The tasks are comprised of retrieval, vocabulary, inference, summarising, explaining and deeper thinking activities. Children also get the opportunity to partake in a creative activity at the end of the lesson - a storyboard template is provided to scaffold this task. There’s a lot in the session (15 slides in total, plus the storyboard activity) so you may wish to either select the content that is pertinent to you/ your class or spread the lesson resource over two sessions. The resource is ideally pitched for children in lower KS2, but could feasibly be used with slightly older or younger children, depending upon the individual context of the school and students.

This engaging and thought-provoking lesson aids students in developing a secure understanding of Chapter 8 of Clive King’s 'Stig of the Dump.’ This chapter is entitled 'Midsummer Night.’ The resources guide the children along a learning journey in which they understand the text through: -Retrieving information; -Inferring and deducing hidden meanings; -Explaining key ideas; -Predicting future text events. Children are guided through the lesson via a colourful and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation, which includes a range of thought-provoking activities and model examples/ answers. The tasks are comprised of retrieval, vocabulary, inference, summarising, explaining and deeper thinking activities. Children also get the opportunity to partake in a creative activity at the end of the lesson. There’s a lot in the session (16 slides in total) so you may wish to either select the content that is pertinent to you/ your class or spread the lesson resource over two sessions. The resource is ideally pitched for children in lower KS2, but could feasibly be used with slightly older or younger children, depending upon the individual context of the school and students.

AMENDED TO REFLECT THE FINAL VERSION OF THE NEW OFSTED FRAMEWORK - MAY 2019. This clear and concise review is designed to provide senior/middle leaders, governors, and academic staff with a comprehensive understanding of the new Ofsted framework, to be launched from September 2019. It aims to: -Summarise the proposed core changes to the OFSTED framework, including operation changes and the core categories; -Explore the focus on curriculum design and implementation, and discuss the relationship between knowledge and skills; -Briefly discuss the developed focus on safeguarding in the new framework. The slides are colourful, visually-appealing, and break down some of the more complex points so that they are easily understood. It also contains a range of discussion questions throughout, both within and at the end of each section. I hope that you find it helpful!

This 16-page resource booklet contains a wide range of challenging and engaging comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of Maura Dooley’s love and relationships poem ‘Letters from Yorkshire.’ Teachers have found the activities particularly useful throughout teaching, or for exam revision or guided reading sessions. They are perfect for aiding the progress of students towards meeting the key English Literature assessment objectives - suitable for all examining bodies. Students have found these resources extremely engaging, and it is clearly highlighted within each task regarding which assessment strands the task is designed to demonstrate. It is provided in both Word (to allow for easy editing) and PDF (to ensure for consistency of formatting between computers). Activities within the booklet include (amongst many others): ‘Analysing Context’ - helping students to ‘Show understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they were written.’ ‘Analysing Subject Matter, Language and Structure’ - to help students to ‘Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and effects, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate.’ ‘Diary Entry’ - to help students to ‘Use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation. Make an informed personal response, recognising that other responses to a text are possible and evaluating these.’ ‘The Speaker’ - to help students to ‘Read, understand and respond to texts. Students should be able to: maintain a critical style and develop an informed personal response use textual references, including quotations, to support and illustrate interpretations.’

This engaging and thought-provoking lesson aids students in developing a secure understanding of Chapter 1 of Clive King’s 'Stig of the Dump.’ The opening chapter is entitled ‘The Ground Gives Way.’ The resources guide the children along a learning journey in which they understand the text through: -Making predictions; -Retrieving information; -Inferring and deducing hidden meanings; -Summarising the key events of the chapter. Children are guided through the lesson via a colourful and comprehensive PowerPoint explanation, which includes a range of thought-provoking activities and model examples/ answers. The tasks are comprised of retrieval, vocabulary, inference, summarising, explaining and deeper thinking activities. Children also get the opportunity to partake in a creative activity at the end of the lesson. There’s a lot in the session (16 slides in total) so you may wish to either select the content that is pertinent to you/ your class or spread the lesson resource over two sessions. The resource is ideally pitched for children in lower KS2, but could feasibly be used with slightly older or younger children, depending upon the individual context of the school and students.