This is a Slide-Show conversation about religion which starts with the answers that a Reception class, part of a workshop I gave in March. Here I explore Religion using models of Jigsaw, Kaleidoscope, Music and Dance and cover concepts of Theist, Atheist and Agnostic I conclude with a section which explores the concept of God. This makes the Slide Show useful for KS4 and older philosophy students as well as younger children. Please give feedback and ratings Thanks, durgamata

This is a Power Point which explores the concept of Place of Worship and sets a reflective/mind-map exercise and research homework It explores the concepts of both place and worship encouraging reflection on what it means to be a human being, body, mind and spirit - where we go to find inner qualities such as peace and happiness - Very versatile introduction to the topic of places of worship but useful for more than that - including identity and meditation. Please give comments and ratings to help others.

DurgaMata is a specialist Religious Education Teacher and a serious Spiritual Aspirant. She began practising meditation and mindfulness more than ten years before she qualified as a teacher, and she viewed teaching as part of her Spiritual Sadhana or Spiritual Journey. In this book she shares her strongly spiritual philosophy which informs everything she does. Her approach to life is heart-centred, an opportunity to grow in love and oneness. For her, teaching is an opportunity to see, love and serve what she calls God in the hearts of everyone. The God Question is one of the most challenging topics which we cover in Religious Education and DurgaMata shares some of her struggles and triumphs in the stories she shares here. There are some profound and moving poems and stories written by her pupils and a host of practical mindfulness strategies which you can enjoy. in addition to the stories, each page features an inspiring quotation, mounted on a colourful photograph from the world of nature. You are welcome to print these out and use for displays in your classroom and around the school.

From HOD in Religious Education to giving Mindfulness-Meditation and Empowerment Workshops for resilience, improved mental health and happiness. In this Ebook, DurgaMata shares some practical strategies for reducing stress and increasing happiness - both in your own life and when dealing with challenges in the classroom. DurgaMata gives a fascinating overview of her own ‘spiritual sadhana’ which has taken her from teaching in the classroom to offering an Online Programme to reduce stress, build resilience and increase happiness - which can span the world. DurgaMata writes - The spiritual side of life has always been important to me. In this account I look back at how circumstances moved me from joyful and devoted Head of Religious Education in a large Secondary School, through a challenging time of unemployment as the Ebacc changed the educational landscape - to developing increasing expertise in Health and Wellbeing - especially mental health. After retiring from teaching, I developed a unique and comprehensive program for Raising Consciousness - which I translate as Reducing Stress, Building Resilience and Increasing Happiness. In my small book The Seven Steps to Happiness, I share some of the experiences which have been significant and a mini-seven-step strategy to use in the classroom when a challenging situation occurs. Before 2020, my workshops were all face to face but corona-virus has turned that - on its head, forcing me to take my signature Program ‘The Seven Steps to Happiness’ online. Everyone is suffering from stress - but my particular concern is to support and empower teachers in every way I can, so I dedicate this little book to you. I hope my book will encourage you to see beyond the surface of events to the great, underlying inner principles of love, compassion and oneness which we can all engage with, whatever crazy things may be happening in the world outside - and remind you that if we are to achieve that ideal, we need to begin by taking care of our own physical, mental, emotional and spiritual needs and ring-fencing the time we need to look after ourselves. If we want to serve others - if we want to care for the children, pupils and students we teach - and if we want to have positive and happy relationships in the staffroom - then we have to ensure we are taking care of ourselves and we have an effective way of replenishing our own reservoir of inner peace and happiness. I hope this little book will give you some leads and encourage you to follow them. Love and Peace DurgaMata ps, hold fire on buying this. I have to edit all the quotes slides to ensure I’m not breaking copyright rules. I’ll let you know when it’s done.

This ten-word crossword-puzzle with Teacher's Notes and Helpful Hints is designed to reinforce or revise the main Key-Words for the GCSE Religious Studies topic 1.1 Believing in God. This resource includes 3 crosswords, Teacher's Notes which include answers and hints - and a Helpful Hints sheet to aid differentiation. Ideal for use as a Starter Activity, part of a lesson about the topic, extension activity, homework or revision, there is a second crossword to cover all the Key Words in this topic. In addition to the required Key-Words, a small number of additional words relating to this topic have been included. note - here you have an extra version of the crossword, as I was experimenting with different systems. I preferred the one which I then felt required enlarging, but have kept all the versions for you convenience.

This eleven-word crossword-puzzle with Teacher's Notes and Helpful Hints is designed to reinforce or revise the main Key-Words for the GCSE Religious Studies topic 1.1 Believing in God. This resource contains * two versions of the crossword * teacher's notes - including the answers and hints * helpful hints for students. This can be used to aid differentiation or shared with the whole class towards the end of the exercise, to help everyone finish - or as you go through the activity, together Ideal for use as a Starter Activity, part of a lesson about the topic, extension activity, homework or revision, this is the second of two crosswords for Believing in God. In addition to the required Key Words, a small number of additional words relating to this topic have been included.

This crossword-puzzle with Teacher's Notes and Helpful Hints is designed to reinforce or revise the main Key-Words for the GCSE Religious Studies - unit 1.3 Marriage and family life. This resource includes: two versions of the crossword puzzle, Teacher's Notes which give all the answers plus hints and Helpful Hints which you can use to aid differentiation or share with the whole class when the time provided for this activity is nearly up. Ideal for use as a Starter Activity, part of a lesson introducing the topic, extension activity, homework or revision. In addition to the required Key-Words, a small number of additional words relating to this topic have been included.

This is the full version of my book The Seven Steps to Happiness. I will add more info later but have to leave London within the next hour or can’t spend Christmas with my family (we are all strictly self-isolating - so no risks there. But I don’t want to get trapped by the lockdown so I have to move fast. I spent today just polishing this up and it is as good as I can make it but I would love some feedback. It is powerful. It contains a lot of value. Do share the link with anyone who you know who is finding life really tough and stressful as it works. My Programme - The Seven Steps to Happiness has evolved in face to face workshops over the past 5 or so years, since I retired from teaching. Now I am moving it online and my entire focus is to be of service to my beloved colleagues. Stress is massive - but I have been exploring ways in which we can better handle it. The aim is to learn to surf the stress, rather than be overwhelmed by it. Try it and see for yourself. LOVE AND ALL BEST WISHES DurgaMata

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.

This is my account of what happened when we moved to London and my son (then aged 9) suffered some bullying. (He is now 31 and a professional actor. You may have seen him in the photos and video referred to on Siddhartha becomes the Buddha.) I wrote this years ago and found it when doing a computer search for Krishna - in relation to my recent Hinduism Day. I think it could encourage some good discussion on many aspects of RE, PSHE and Citizenship. I have now also uploaded the 'parent' file - Sunlight and Shadow parts 2 and 3

This is something I wrote years ago, in the voice of my son, telling the story of what he went through when we moved to London. I think that there are many aspects of the story which could inspire or provoke useful discussion in both primary and secondary PSHE and RE classes.

This file explores the answer a spiritual teacher gave to the question of Why Does A Mother Hit Her Child? Is she a bad mother? His answer was, No - she is not a bad mother, She just ran out of peace. Reflecting on this DurgaMata shares two stories about her honorary grandsons and mistakes they have made - in a cautionary tale the eldest (then aged 17) is sentenced for causing death by dangerous driving. In the story of my grandson's first child the younger one (now aged 22) is taken unconscious from his burning flat. I ask - What is inner peace and where can we obtain it? How can we support our students, some of whom will be seeing (or suffering from) Domestic Abuse of one kind or another - and what strategies can we give them to find peace for themselves and their families - and not grow up into adults who are likely to abuse their partners or children?

Continuation of my Meditation Blog. This started on 28th September in New York and ends on 30th October back in England. I have some notes in my diary which still need to be written up to include in this so I will add a few more files over the next few days. Some friends say I should edit the whole record and make it into a book!!! Well we will see about that.

My subject specialism is Religious Education and I am sharing here an exercise which I find very useful when presenting students with information about a new subject. They work in groups of three. This is designed to improve listening skills and understanding. The exercise is by no means only useful in an RE setting so I am sharing it with other subjects too. I also include here two articles forwarded from some my business mentor emailed to me - one on listening and one on leadership. I hope you find them helpful. Do give some feedback.

Continuing blog. Will add more later. 12th - Moiza the cat 13th also - Quaker Meeting and visiting Mum's friend B now in a different hospital. 14 - 15 + an outline of my son's presentation on how to combat stress (which finished the College term off in a great way) quotes from Ch 2 of Gita 21st about Camden Market and Tagore 22-3 about gas charges 24th about family and Christmas, love and forgiveness Christmas Day about carols and a wild 'cheerfulness challenge' successfully met. 27th includes poems and readings about love and change from my Teacher's online library

The most popular song from the CD All Shall Be Well by Jill Blackadder - my sister who is a Primary teacher in the Shetland Islands. for the CD and sheet music contact 'Jill Slee Blackadder' <Jill.blackadder@btinternet.com>, You can find a 'taster&' of this song and others on another resource on prev. page - http://www.tes.co.uk/ResourceUpload.aspx?storycode=6058026&navcode=98 This is a truly inspiring and very soulful song for all ages. It celebrates our world where the beauty is in the diversity. Great as a stimulus for art-work, too.

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

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.

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.