A lesson exploring how to craft a traditional fairy tale which has been subverted from the norm.

A LA/MA single lesson exploring crafting atmosphere in Gothic fiction.

A lesson to develop the ability to prepare a text and answer questions one and two for AQA Language Paper 1 through exploration of ‘A Christmas Carol’ and the arrival of Jacob Marley.

A collection of Literature debate starters for Macbeth, AIC, ACC and Power and Conflict poetry.

A poster guide exploring how to build a RFP culture across the school.

A presentation exploring the value of creating a Reading for Pleasure culture across the school.

A guide to develop reading at home.

A strategy guide poster outlining methods to maintain reading enthusiasm between KS2 and KS3.

A mini-sequence exploring the poem, ‘Checking Out Me History’ by John Agard through a mixture of reading and writing tasks.

A single lesson on creating a Dickensian villain using Dickensian writing methods.

An introductory lesson exploring the power of the opening line and the final line, as well as identifying other structural devices. Students will explore using Lovely Bones. All resources provided.

Lesson Ten: Allegories Students will explore allegories in fairy tales. For LA students, this can be supported with Aesop’s fables. Students will explore an article exploring why fairy tales are used to challenge issues in society. Lesson Eleven: Personification and Symbolism Continuing to unlock deeper meanings in fairy tales, students will explore the use of challenging devices. This lesson will explore ‘The Snow Queen’, where students will identify, analyse, and evaluate (HA) the use of personification and symbolism. Lesson Twelve: Subverting Fairy Tales For this lesson, students should compare an original fairy tale with The Brothers Grimm version (e.g., Cinderella and Aschenputtel). After comparing the two and identifying differences, students will practise how they can subvert a traditional fairy tale (Three Little Pigs) with class modelling. Weekly Overview: To develop their ability to craft allegorical and sophisticated subverted fairy tales, students will explore HA techniques to develop their understanding of deeper meaning in literature.

Lesson Thirteen: Vladimir Propp and Crafting Characters (Exposition) Students will be introduced to Propp characters and identifying these in fairy tales. Students will differentiate between heroes and villains. Lesson Fourteen: Linear/Circular Narratives and Crafting Settings (Exposition) This lesson, students will explore linear and circular narratives, including a close reading of ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’. Students will then begin to plan how they can subvert narrative structures in their assessment next week. Lesson Fifteen: Advanced Features Continuing to explore crafting of narrative, students will explore how they can build better sentences, utilise a range of punctuation, craft their vocabulary choices for effect, and incorporate high-level features in their writing.

Lesson Seven: Freytag’s Narrative Structure This lesson, students will develop their understanding of Freytag’s narrative structure by exploring ‘Aschenputtel’ by The Brothers Grimm. Developing on from last week’s study of famous subversions of fairy tales, students will now move onto the structure of these texts and how this will be utilised in their end of term assessment. Lesson Eight: Fairy Tale Settings Using Shrek as a stimulus and pastiche of the genre, students will explore typical settings in fairy tales. To assess progress, students will complete a short baseline writing task of a setting description, which can be used in their end of term writing during the exposition. Lesson Nine: Archetypal Characters Building on from settings, students will explore archetypal characters in fairy tales and how writers and pop-culture challenge these stereotypes. Students will debate why it is important that we have visible challenges to stereotypes in wider society. Following on from this, students will once again develop their writing by crafting a brief paragraph on a character. Weekly Overview: This week, students will begin to craft settings and character descriptions which can be incorporated into their own assessment response at the end of term. Furthermore, we continue to explore how and why writers subvert character, setting, and plot.

Lesson Four: Evaluating Fairy Tales Students will develop an understanding and appreciation of how writers successfully use description in their writing by exploring crafting of writing in ‘The Ickabog’. To begin with, the lesson recaps and identifies important subject terminology. Teachers should set a quiz on any misconceptions. Lesson Five: Famous Fairy Tale Subversions As students have developed an understanding of fairy tales in week one, supported with their homework tasks, this week explores fairy tales and how famous writers have subverted them in the past. This lesson explores The Brothers Grimm and Charles Perault. Lesson Six: Crafting Fairy Tale Descriptions To identify early progress, students will describe a typical fairy tale setting using the knowledge developed from the previous lessons studying The Brothers Grimm and Charles Perault. Weekly Overview: By the end of the week, students should be able to plan a description based on fairy tale conventions and begin to subvert expectations in the style of The Brothers Grimm and Charles Perault.

This academic reading booklet is designed to accompany students as they work through Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. It encourages critical engagement with the text while fostering a deeper understanding of the themes, characters, and literary techniques within each stave. Aligned with the popular LitDrive resource, ‘A Christmas Carol Reading Companions Stave 1-5’ by @MrsRBxx, this booklet provides structured activities and academic reading tasks that complement and extend the core material. Students will be guided through targeted questions, vocabulary builders, and analysis prompts that encourage close reading and textual exploration. Ideal for in-class use or independent study, this resource bridges the gap between basic comprehension and higher-level literary analysis, offering students an enriching reading experience as they work through the novella.

This post-assessment sequence is designed to guide students in effectively comparing the poems Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley and Exposure by Wilfred Owen (or other poems as appropriate). The sequence will provide structured support for understanding themes, techniques, and how to craft an academic response.

A lesson exploring the theme of guilt in ‘Macbeth’. All resources are included within the PowerPoint.

A two-part, fully resourced lesson introducing students to fairy tales, including conventions. Lesson Two: What are fairy tales Students will gain an initial understanding of the genre to support their homework research, which will include conventions and key-terms to be utilised throughout the topic. Students should be informed of their assessment task and informed of the skills they will need to develop over the course of this term. Lesson Three: Fairy tale conventions Students will explore and identify the conventions in fairy tales. This lesson should link, yet differentiate the conventions in Fantasy fiction (Term 5 SOL). Week Overview: By the end of the week, students need an understanding of what makes a fairy tale, common conventions, different types of fairy tales, and the oral origins of the genre.

A sequence exploring an extract from ‘The Tattooist of Auschwitz’ through AQA LP1 questions (1-4).