A mini-mock for GCSE English Literature comprising: Romeo and Juliet A Christmas Carol An Inspector Calls Power and Conflict poetry

A comprehensive overview of the key themes and strategies for AQA A Christmas Carol and An Inpector Calls, including previous question trends and links to examiners’ reports. A one hour session which could be developed to last longer.

A lesson which requires no printing… but asks students to refelct on the key lessons they have learnt from the past 2 years and make them into a speech for school leavers.

A lesson which uses the quotation posted by Caroline Flack in Instagram as a starting point for exploring kindness - also links to Mother Teresa’s “Be kind anyway” speech for added SMSC. Ideal for faith schools but useful for all… Could be adapted for KS3 too.

A sample essay which responds to the question “How does Priestley present ideas about masculinity in the play?” - A great alternative to a gender question for more able students. Written to try to demonstrate what is meant by a conceptualised response to access level 4. Worked really well with my top set - along with some comparisons between Gerald and Harvey Weinstein which they really enjoyed!

David Didau’s thinking prompts populated with images to support students with planning for and creating responses for paper 1 question 5. Could be used with Key Stage 3 - designed to empower students and make them think critically, images are loaded towards injecting some cultural capital too. This works best on A3 as a carousel activity.

AQA paper 2 question 5, grade 6+ response. A model answer exploring society’s fixation with appearance. Written with my selfie-loving, eyebrow-obsessed year 11 girls in mind! Works very well with success criteria. Students can also amend to make into a grade 7.

A model response to “Young people today experience too much pressure” written as a speech. Specifically designed to show able students how the assessment objectives can be fulfilled within 4 paragraphs. Works really well with a mark scheme.

A series of homework tasks which aim to support a SOW on autobiography - ideal for transition into year 7. Fully differentiated, students pick one task per week to enrich their classroom learning.

A lesson which explores the pass, merit and distinction criteria using Meghan Markle’s UN speech in the first instance, then exploring and comparing student examples.

A succinct essay which explores how authority is presented in Checking Out Me History and London. An ideal way to show how the assessment objectives can be met without waffle!

An accessible lesson which prepares students for Language paper 1 focusing on a series of images with a model response. Created with year 11 in mind, but suitable for all year groups.

A lesson designed specifically for the day before the examination to offer students a final insight into the paper. Please note this is AQA Literature paper one - Macbeth and A Christmas Carol.

An essay which responds to an extract from Stave 3 in which Scrooge begs for Tiny Tim to be spared. A succinct and concise but effective grade 6 essay to model the skills required for AQA Literature paper 1. One possible activity is that students add in alternative interpretations and make the analysis more tentative. Another is that students highlight where marks for each AO are allocated. This extract really helped my upper and lower band groups to unpick the assessment objectives.

An analysis grid which enables students to explore Scrooge’s transformation through specific analysis of quotations from stave one and stave five.

A differentiated worksheet which explores Scrooge’s character, and the contextual factors which influenced the novella. Students to begin at the most challenging task and drop down to an easier task if necessary. When students are finished there are differentiated extension tasks. Ideally this would be printed on A3.

A scavenger hunt activity which aims to pre-teach the complicated topic of Romanticism - created to enable students to access the Romantic poetry in the AQA Power and Conflict anthology.

A creative writing lesson which uses images as stimulus to prompt creative writing. Full teacher instructions included and minimal printing! A group work activity which leads into an individual task, clear differentiated outcomes which use and break down GCSE criteria. Predominately designed for year 11, but could easily be used with any year group.

This lesson looks at the success criteria for the spoken language component of the new English Language GCSE (AQA). Students then apply the speeches to clips from the Queen, Michelle Obama and James Corden. It then introduces the task students are to work towards in order to fulfill this aspect of the GCSE.