Here are 2 x A4 cards with 10 x Key Concepts each and other information expanding on them. It can function as a Knowledge Organiser around revision time, or you can use them as homework memory tasks. I have other sets of cards on TES for the units that make up the Short Course (Key beliefs of Christianity, Key beliefs of Judaism, Families and Relationships & Religion, Peace & Conflict).

Here is a very full PPT on how and why religion causes war for AQA GCSE Spec A or the Short Course. Has historical context in the Crusades, ‘Jihad’ including quotes from the Quran about war, extremism and makes a parallel with Joshua 6 (the story about Joshua defeating Jericho). Was the seige of Jericho a war crime by modern standards? It is hard reading for any believer today so how should stories like it be interpreted? By the end of the resource students should be ready to write a Q5 answer with well developed ideas. There is a template for this with basic ideas included and students develop the ideas to form their own answer. There are 2 or 3 hours of lesson time in this, or for a higher ability you might work through the PPT in the lesson and give them the Q5 task for HW. I’ve included a ‘memory sheet’ on Just War criteria since the next obvious lesson in the sequence is probably going to be how Just War fits with modern conflict.

Here is a lesson’s PPT & worksheets on Kosher. Pitched at high ability Y8, it can be scaled down by using only page 1 of the scripture worksheet. I also recycle this same lesson for Y9 with GCSE AQA Judaism practices.

As Humanities Faculty Leader I have always looked for ways to help the team to easily plan creative and collaborative learning. I have developed this idea over a few years and it has been well used in my department and around the school - at my school there aren’t enough classrooms and teachers are always in and out of each others’ rooms to teach lessons here and there. You can’t carry much with you and your lesson may suffer by not having all your usual resources to hand if you need to adapt the lesson. The concept here is that with the 10 inexpensive resources on the top row you can do the 99 lesson activities underneath. Once you’ve got your head around the different activities, you have effectively planned for spontaneity! Crucially, all ten resources can fit into a ‘toolbox’ no bigger than a shoebox which you can keep under your desk for those moments when the lesson is not going to plan. I observe a lot of trainee teachers and the number 1 thing I see that pulls a lesson down is the lack of interaction with what is happening in the classroom - with this concept teachers have 99 ideas up their sleeve to rescue a lesson with, rather than sticking to the lesson plan rigidly. If you were doing your training or NQT year at my school then this is one of the first techniques that our Teaching & Learning team will teach you. You would be given a box (by me!) and then challenged to use all 99 activities in 2 weeks. I think new teachers need ideas for lesson tasks and strategies for dealing with the unexpected, not volumes of theory! Its also something our cover supervisors have with them as they go from room to room trying to teach the best lesson they can with very little preparation. I’m not suggesting its a good idea not to prep a lesson, but the reality is that there will always be a time when you need to pull an activity out of your sleeve or ‘wing’ a lesson - this resource is for just those situations. You will get the file as a word document that will print to A3, but you can adjust the paper size in settings. It is an unlocked word document in case you decide you want to add or change it for your own use - the art of being a magpie is something else I encourage our new teachers with!

Here is an A3 booklet-style worksheet on extremism and terrorism. There are 3 worksheets for differentiation of reading tasks. I planned this for an interview lesson (yes, I got the job!) and therefore it can operate as a ‘stand alone’ lesson on extremism, or be incorporated as part of a scheme of learning. Starter task asks students to compare 2 suspect profiles and decide which one is the terrorist. Suspect 2 is Jihadi John, but they will all assume it is suspect 1. This opens up discussion. The main lesson task is to work in pairs, reading the info about Dylann Roof and Jihadi John. This is the part of the lesson that is differentiated into different reading ages. Once read, they compare their notes and draw conclusions together. The Plenary is to write an answer about the causes of terrorism and apply them to how they could help to make the world better. In colour, with maps & infographs to make it attractive, this is a flexible resource which allows you to demonstrate your teaching ability however the lesson unfolds - the key to interview lessons.

A good exercise to get your students thinking about how they can pick up the marks from a Q4 answer in as few words as possible. They read through my very long-winded but 5/5 answer, crossing out the words that don’t help to get the marks.

A lesson exploring the Salem Witch Trials as an example of what happens when people start to blame groups and hysteria controls the crowd.

This is a double sided worksheet with Q4 type questions on Relationships & Families, and Religion, Peace & Conflict. It has 2 questions per topic on each side, started with 2 basic ideas. The students need to complete the paragraphs to turn each question from a 2/5 to a 5/5 answer.

A basic worksheet with texts from pre and post exile about the Messiah as part of a lesson on how Jewish concepts of the Messiah changed and why Jesus was not recognised as the Messiah.

This is an excel file which contains a tab for each unit relevant for Paper 1 of the John Frye Hodder textbook. Each tab contains flashcard templates for each unit. The flashcards are arranged in order so that your students can use the flashcards as a revision resource - they work through the book, chapter by chapter, completing the back of the flashcards with notes. There are over 650 flashcard templates so enough to keep them going! It is arranged in tabs so that you can email the excel file to your repro dept and ask them to print a certain tab onto A4 card. The cells are set up so that you just need to quarter the sheets of A4 card. I give them to my 6th formers to do for homework, and they take them away, cut them up themselves and bring them back completed with notes. It is good for getting them reading independently and also to create a revision resource for exam time. There are 16 units in total for the Philosophy & Ethics paper so well worth starting revision as early as possible. The excel file will not be locked so you can add extra ones to it should you feel the 600-odd flashcards aren’t enough! It took me over an hour per unit to read the textbook chapter, consider what they need to know for the exam and make the flashcards. So that is 14 sets of flashcards taking over an hour each to produce! Truth be told, I would not have started making these had I realised precisely how much time would need to be invested in it! You can buy back days of your life by buying this, plus can be reused every year, so at £3 this represents a cost of 22pence per hour of your time saved.

Here are the flashcards set for paper 2 - the ones for Paper 2 are also on TES. This follows the same principle as the Paper 1 flashcard templates I did - a set per chapter of the John Frye textbook, with the concepts in the order they appear in the textbook so students can read the book and make notes on the reverse. This checks they are reading and creates an excellent revision resource. There are 436 flashcards on this download to prepare for the Paper 2 exam. The vast majority are for the first part of the Paper 2 exam, using the Christianity option. I don’t think that flashcard making is the proper revision style for the second part of Paper 2 - the synoptic assessment. Note - the photo is of Paper 1 flashcards, but the concept is the same! You will get an excel file with a tab for each unit for the Paper 2 exam, and instructions for your reprographics department to produce them. These took me over 10 hours to make - I had to re-read the textbook myself to get the order right, consider the specification demands and decide which concepts to include on the flashcards. For the record I am HoF at my school, and with more than a couple of years’ experience at getting 6th formers to do well in A’ level Religious Studies. See also the Paper 1 flashcards, if you haven’t already.

A template with 23 different bunting flags for all major world religions in appropriate colours. Good for brightening up any classroom and helping students to recognise religious symbols. You will need 2 copies of each flag and a length of string. Fix one flag around the string at the line on the template, then glue the other onto the back of it. My Year 7 class did mine for me in under 10 mins - one flag each! It makes a string of bunting long enough to stretch across an average classroom, or you can reuse flags to make a longer string of bunting.

This is a fully-resourced lesson for home learning suitable for KS3 RE and History. Simply download and send to your students - fully explains and guides through concepts slide by slide. Assumes no knowledge to start. Can either be used as part of a series on heroes or as a stand-alone lesson responding to the Cecil Rhodes statue decision. Self guiding, with pictures, questions to think about and then a menu of 6 tasks on the final slide aimed at different abilities. I have 15 years’ experience making lesson resources as Head of RE. You will download an editable powerpoint file as well as a PDF of the PPT - some students do not have Office software to be able to read it.

This will print as a handy A5-sized booklet with all the key concepts and terms students needs for the short course when taught with Judaism. Also at the back there is a page of useful quotes and a page of exam technique for each question type.

This is an excel file with the front templates for over 200 cue cards for revising the whole of the new AQA Religious Studies short course GCSE - this is for the units Key beliefs of Christianity, Key beliefs of Judaism, Relationships & families, Religion, peace & conflict which also constitute 50% of the AQA Spec A full course. It comes with instructions on the first tab so you can effortlessly ping it to your reprographics department and tell them how many copies you need. I would recommend having each unit (on a separate tab on the file) printed on a different colour card to make it easier for the students to recognise which unit each concept goes with. There are 8 cards on one sheet of A4, and the idea is that it prints with lines to separate them that the students can cut into a series of Cue cards, tagged with a treasury tag (not supplied!). It forces them to read your prescribed revision materials as they write on the reverse of the card with information and details about the concept. You will get the excel file in an unlocked state so if you want to you can add your own into the template, but with 200+ concepts included, it is a complete set for the short course. If you are teaching the full course AQA spec A then it will give you half of the concepts your students need. I am an experienced Head of RE and been doing this sort of thing for quite a while now - the most important thing after teaching good lessons is to have good revision resources. In my experience Cue cards work well as they are a good tool to break the course down into manageable chunks (I give them a few to do at a time as homework) but also to allow them to take responsibility for their learning and so they can see their subject knowledge building as the revision period progresses.

This is a colour A3 Knowledge Organiser. It is presented in an easy to access style, with pictures, text graphics and explanation, and includes the basic facts needed for AQA 9-1 Short Course Religious Studies with the Christianity and Judaism units. I have used it to start the revision period off - an attractive sheet of revision that students don't mind having on their bedroom wall. It can also form the basis of "memory homework" tasks for each section. In addition, I also have it laminated to use as a placemat in my classroom to inspire some ideas for the Q5 answers.

Here is a 6 lesson work booklet with 36 pages of quality learning, written for KS3. It is fully resourced and could be considered a self-study workbook. This booklet has been a labour of love, its not something I knocked up quickly in a spare 10 mins - it has taken DAYS to put together and edit - I will be working through it with my KS3 classes but as its in a self-contained booklet style its also ready to take home and continue should we go into another lockdown. All tasks are “sit at your desk” type, there are no group work activities, in accordance with guidance for reopening schools in pandemic conditions. Contents Lesson #1: What were the Four Sights? p2 Lesson #2: What did the Buddha teach? p6 Lesson #3: What types of Buddhism are there? p13 Lesson #4: How do Buddhists worship and meditate? p20 Lesson #5: What is the ultimate goal of Buddhists? p25 Lesson #6: What is it like to be a Buddhist in the UK today? Assessment task p30 It is presented nicely, with pictures and variation in layout on every page. There are colour pictures but I’ve selected them on the basis of what will print well in black and white to save costs. There is one task on p28 that would benefit from having the artwork printed out larger, ideally in colour for students with sight issues, so that will download as a separate document for you. Each lesson includes reading, AO1 and AO2 tasks - the tasks are set out throughout each lesson with space to write the answers. There is an appendix at the back to provide challenge to that student whose parent emails in during lockdown saying the work you’ve set isn’t hard enough, or who finishes before the rest and needs an extension task to be working through. There is a formative assessment point in lesson 2 and a summative assessment in lesson 6. Homeworks are built in on lessons 1, 3 & 5.Learning objectives are provided with each lesson, lesson titles are problematised. Cross curricular with Art, History, Geography, English (reading and poetry), IT (internet research) and everything else you’d expect for Religious Education. I have 15+ years’ experience as Head of RE and Head of Hums faculty - all the boxes are already ticked for you, this is a resource that you can send to your repro department for printing and then its good to go. 36 pages = fits to 9 x A3 sheets when printed back to back in an A4 booklet. In summary, a unit of work on Buddhism that is all done for you and good to go. It has taken me most of this last week to put it together and edit it. It has been tested on my own daughter who is Y7, tasks timed and adapted accordingly so it makes sense to KS3 students if they are working alone.

Here is a workbook I wrote during Covid for students to use at home by themeselves. However since then I have used it at the end of the year to “fill in” lessons as each lesson can stand on its own. I try to intersperse the written tasks into the text to read and have each page looking nice with pictures etc. I have been Head of RE for far too long now and have taught these people many many times so over the years I have tweeked the lessons into this booklet which represents some of my best lessons. Lesson #1: How do you defeat an empire without weapons? (Gandhi) p2 Lesson #2: Why are dreams important? (Martin Luther King) p8 Lesson #3: Why did a Saint die in Auschwitz? (Max Kolbe) p16 Lesson #4: When is murder ok? (Dietrich Bonhoeffer) p19 Lesson #5: Why are heroes sometimes secretive? (Nicholas Winton) p23 Lesson #6: Who is your famous personal hero? p30

I wrote this work booklet for lockdown/home learning situations. It is 40 pages, so prints to 10 sheets of A3 when folded into an A4 booklet. Each lesson contains reading material, tasks built into it and the presentation is varied with pictures etc to break up the text. It can be used to give KS3 students a basic introduction to Judaism. I have 15+ years experience as Head of RE, now Head of Humanities and have seen it all with all the initiatives that come along, and then go, then come back under new names - this booklet has been written with literacy, assessment, SMSC, British Values etc in mind - in short it ticks all the boxes. Its what you probably know as good, old fashioned RE teaching - AO1, AO2 & AO3 mixed up and combined into one lesson that is varied, interesting and useful in everyday life. My local Rabbi has read it and approved it, I suppose you could say that it is Kosher too. It took me days to write, this is not a quick worksheet knocked up hastily at break - weeks in fact, and then was trialled on my own students and improved here and there. Lesson #1: What is Judaism? P3 - introduction to the religion, basic facts & beliefs. Lesson #2: How did Judaism begin? P8 - Abraham, covenant, Moses. Lesson #3: How do you grow up in Judaism? P14 - Bar & Bat Mitzvah. Lesson #4: What holy books do Jews have? P20 - Scriptures, Mitzvot. Lesson #5: What is Kosher? p25 Guided learning task to find out Kosher rules. Lesson #6: What is it like to be a Jew in Britain today? P29 - Assessment task with assessment bands. Lesson #7: Who was Esther? P34 - At the end as a “bonus lesson” for 7-week half terms or for challenge. Key Concepts to learn P39

So I started writing workbooks for my KS3 students in the first lockdown, realising that firstly, many students don’t have access to the internet, or when they do it is patchy when all their family are on it, and secondly, that today’s children who do have the internet at home are not going to be impressed by any sort of IT that an old man like me can do. So I began writing workbooks that are fully self-contained and discovered that my students prefer this style even though we are back in school. For a start, many RE lessons at my school are taught by nonspecialists, and this workbook style of lessons means that the lack of subject specialism doesn’t really affect things too much. Also they can catch up when they are absent, or when the teacher is absent they can get on with the work with no fuss. I find parents like it too as the information is all there and this means they can help their children with working from home. I’ve been an RE teacher for about 20 years, and been HoD for 15 of those, so what you are getting here is a set of lessons that I have worked on to improve each year, and the benefit of my experience as an RE teacher. The file will download as a PDF so you can just ping it to your school reprographics department to print as an A4 booklet. I try to be faithful to the faith and although I am not a muslim myself, my local Imam whose mosque I visit each year with students has read through this booklet in the draft stage and given me his input, and then sort of “approved” the final version, in that it doesn’t miss anything obvious out and is respectful to the principles of Islam - importantly, it is a learning material that you could use with muslims in the class. The unit is loosely based around the 5 pillars of Islam, lessons are: Lesson #1: What do Muslims believe in? P2 Lesson #2: How do Muslims worship? P10 Lesson #3: What is the purpose of fasting? P15 Lesson #4: How do Muslims help others? P18 Lesson #5: What is a pilgrimage? P23 Lesson #6: Is it difficult to be a Muslim in the UK? (Assessment task) P29 Key Concepts to learn P35