This lesson is designed with the new OCR Classical Civilisation 9-1 GCSE in mind. Specifically, Paper 1 (Myth and Religion) topic 1.7 Death and Burial. it is designed to run over 2 hour long lessons. All worksheets referred to below are contained within the .ppt file in the appropriate places during the lesson which can be printed out and given to students. All instructions are also contained in the ‘notes’ section for each slide (in addition to helpful video links). The lesson does have a lot of information for students to get their head around and therefore students are asked to condense the information into note form at various points. There’s nothing to stop you printing out the info and highlighting it instead and annotating it - either works in my experience depending on the students in your class. Information students are introduced to goes from the preparation of the body after death up until burial of the ashes. In addition there is information on both the Anthesteria and Genesia which were festivals which honoured the dead in Ancient Greece. Stele are looked out and compared to modern gravestones followed by a final plenary of questions based on the learning. There are 3 different exam questions included too ( two 2 mark questions and an 8 mark question) plus there are handouts (pictured on the Iliad and Odyssey which challenge pupils at the top end to think about how the Greeks themselves perceived the importance of death and burial. Video links are included throughout to help students visualise what went on.

This lesson is designed with the topic ‘Myth and Symbols of Power’ within the ‘Myth and Religion’ unit (for the new OCR Classical Civilisation 9-1 GCSE) in mind. The lesson begins with introducing students to the origin story and details of Centaurs. A worksheet is included within the .ppt file (pictured) which also briefly outlines the events of the battle between the Lapiths and the Centaurs. This can be printed out, highlighted and annotated by students as it will be useful later in the lesson. Students then examine the importance of the Centauromachy to a) The Greeks as a whole, B) The Athenians and c) The Parthenon building itself. A link to a helpful Youtube Video has also been included so students who do not have the opportunity to see the marbles up close in real life can do so through this video. A cloze test where students fill in the missing words in a passage analysing a metope from the Parthenon frieze is also included which can be worked through on the board as a class or printed out and given to students. Answers are also included on the following slide. The lesson finishes with a practice exam question where students need to use the type of language used in the analysis they have seen while doing the cloze test to successfully answer the 8 mark question. (Also included for students who may finish this and need further challenge are questions comparing the Parthenon frieze to the Bassae frieze and Temple of Zeus pediment versions of the Centauromachy). In addition to this for top students a translation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses is included so that they can look at the account of the battle between the Centaurs and the Lapiths at the wedding in detail.

These revision notes were specially written to give Edexcel A Level History students a comprehensive overview of the key knowledge from the specification for Paper 2, Option 2B.2: The Dutch Revolt, c1563–1609 They are written in line with the exact headings and content specified within the exam specification to ensure they are complete, robust and cover each corner of the syllabus. The four parts of the specification for this unit are: 1 Origins of the Dutch Revolt, c1563–67 2 Alva and Orange, 1567–73 3 Spain and the reconquest, 1573–84 4 Securing the independence of the United Provinces, 1584–1609 They are especially useful for students whose note-taking in lesson isn’t as good as others, or whose organisational skills mean they are missing notes/handouts on certain topics/areas. These notes will certainly help reduce the time it takes them to catch up with their peers, and also students like to use these as a checklist of topics to go into in further detail. Hopefully these notes help to save your students (and you!) some time in the hectic run up to exams. Thanks for taking a look :)

These ‘at a glance’ revision notes were specially written to give Edexcel A Level History students a comprehensive overview of the key knowledge from the specification for Paper 2, Option 2A.2: England and the Angevin Empire in the reign of Henry II, 1154–89 1 The restoration and extension of royal authority, 1154–72 2 Reforms in England, 1154–89 3 Henry II and the English church, 1154–74 4 Crises of the Angevin Empire, 1170–89 They are especially useful for students whose note-taking in lesson isn’t as good as others, or whose organisational skills mean they are missing notes/handouts on certain topics/areas. These notes will certainly help reduce the time it takes them to catch up with their peers, and also students like to use these as a checklist of topics to go into in further detail. Hopefully these notes help to save your students (and you!) some time in the hectic run up to exams. Thanks for taking a look :)

These detailed course / revision notes were specially written to give OCR A Level History students a comprehensive overview of the key knowledge from the specification for Unit Y209: African Kingdoms c.1400–c.1800: four case studies 1) The Songhay Empire c.1450–1591 2) The Kingdom of Kongo c.1400–c.1709 3) The Kingdom of Benin c.1500–c.1750 4) The Kingdoms and Empires of Oyo and Dahomey 1608–c.1800 These extensive notes are especially useful for students whose note-taking in lesson isn’t as good as others, or whose organisational skills mean they are missing notes/handouts on certain topics / areas. These notes will certainly help reduce the time it takes them to catch up with their peers, and also students like to use these as a checklist of topics to go into in further detail. They give peace of mind that every corner of the specification/syllabus has been covered. Hopefully these notes help to save your students (and you!) some time in the hectic run up to exams. Thanks for taking a look :)

These detailed course / revision notes were specially written to give AQA GCSE History students a comprehensive overview of the key knowledge from the specification for Unit (AA) America, 1840–1895: ‘Expansion and consolidation’: 1) Expansion: opportunities and challenges 2) Conflict across America 3) Consolidation: forging the nation These extensive notes are especially useful for students whose note-taking in lesson isn’t as good as others, or whose organisational skills mean they are missing notes/handouts on certain topics / areas. These notes will certainly help reduce the time it takes them to catch up with their peers, and also students like to use these as a checklist of topics to go into in further detail. They give peace of mind that every corner of the specification/syllabus has been covered. Hopefully these notes help to save your students (and you!) some time in the hectic run up to exams. Thanks for taking a look :)

This is a document I made for our more inexperienced staff who had some anxieties around parents evenings. It isn’t overly long to read and digest (it’s two sides of A4) so it didn’t cognitively overload them but they really appreciated it. I emphasised that it was intended as a reference and a guide and they obviously weren’t meant to memorise all the responses (and also I explained how I couldn’t anticipate every scenario!) but it certainly helped ease their anxieties and make sure they were confident in their interactions (as well as communicating in the right professional tone etc.) I got some great feedback from staff on it so I thought I’d share it and I hope it saves you some time in terms of producing something that staff can really use. I also found it a useful starting point for more experienced members of staff who perhaps needed a little reminder of the importance of interacting with parents friendly but in a professional manner, no matter how parents might present! It isn’t exhaustive but it was really useful in terms of conveying to our staff the tone and manner we wanted them to communicate in, so I hope it’s just as useful for you too! Thanks for taking a look :)

This lesson takes students through the basic differences between Doric, Ionic and Corinthian Greek Temples. HD examples are included of a variety of temples from each ‘order’ of Greek Architecture. Blank templates are included so students can have a go at drawing their own columns for each order. A differentiated homework task is included at the end of the lesson to encourage further research and thinking. This lesson would be ideally suited to KS4+5 students who are studying Greek architecture for whatever reason for the first time.

These notes were created for students studying the WJEC / Eduqas AS Level Religious Studies specification and are designed to be ‘at a glance’ revision notes that act as the basics of what each student needs to know about Islam Theme 3 (Religious Life) for their exam. For students who are predicted lower grades than their peers, I have found this resource is invaluable in giving them ‘slimmed’ down content for Theme 3 and these notes allowed them to tackle revising the topic without the fear of drowning in lots of content. For my more able students they used these for self-quizzing and as a starting point for making their own very detailed notes (an important part of revision in itself). Thanks for looking and I hope this saves you a little bit of time in the run up to exam season! :)

This booklet was created with our Year 8s in mind - and served as their Christmas English Language examination. It covers: Section A simple verbal reasoning connectives spelling Section B creative writing composition / literary devices / authorial techniques. It fit nicely into an hour and we found in terms of challenge it was in the perfect zone in between ‘not too easy’ and ‘not too hard’ - meaning there is a chance for pupils of all abilities to pick up marks and it will stretch higher ability pupils too. The booklet would equally work well as something to give students to complete during a cover lesson for an hour or as a piece of class work that you as the English teacher could walk them through step-by-step. Thanks for taking a look and I hope it’s useful :)

These documents will hopefully prove invaluable to anyone looking to set a new Marking and Feedback policy at their school - or indeed to see what a forward-thinking and feedback-focused marking policy looks like. The policy outlines a commitment to ‘feedback’ over ‘marking’, while still using terminology that teachers, leaders and inspectors are happy with. The way in which it is worded allows all stakeholders to firmly grasp the rationale behind the policy, which is the idea that any marking/feedback done should be useful in moving learning forward, rather than simply being something that is done to satisfy leadership and/or Ofsted. The book check proforma that accompanies it allows staff to understand the parameters of what is expected of them but is very much developmental in its wording. It was designed within a healthy Teaching and Learning whole-school environment and ethos and has managed to cut workload along with ensuring feedback is more valuable and impactful in our school and I really hope it can in yours too…! Thanks for taking a look :)

This PowerPoint presentation is ideal for an assembly or a talk to parents of any exam cohort. It could also be used for an hour’s lesson if students were to try different techniques as they are introduced on the screen live. We actually also used it for Staff CPD to help them guide students revision lessons - it worked really well and staff appreciated having guidance to ensure the tasks they are setting in revision lessons are valuable. It is simple and clear and grounds all the suggested techniques in the cognitive science research into which revision techniques actually work and why, It means students can have confidence that the revision tasks they are completing actually have a high chance of making knowledge stick and ensuring they retain key information they will need for their exams. It has worked really well with our students and hopefully it can save you a little bit of time reinventing the wheel. Thanks for taking a look :)

This PowerPoint is designed to use with students who need complete and concise notes on Kantian Deontological Ethics for their A Level exams The Powerpoint covers the following areas: Immanuel Kant’s account of what is meant by a ‘good will’. The distinction between acting in accordance with duty and acting out of duty. The distinction between hypothetical imperatives and categorical imperatives. The first formulation of the categorical imperative (including the distinction between a contradiction in conception and a contradiction in will). The second formulation of the categorical imperative. And also Issues, including: clashing/competing duties not all universalisable maxims are distinctly moral; not all non-universalisable maxims are immoral the view that consequences of actions determine their moral value Kant ignores the value of certain motives, e.g. love, friendship, kindness morality is a system of hypothetical, rather than categorical, imperatives (Philippa Foot). My students found them really useful and they are written in a way to make sure the entire specification is covered as far as Kant is concerned. Any questions just ask and thanks for taking a look :)

I created this lesson out of a feeling that often, in teaching Romulus and Remus, there is a distinct lack of proper history skills involved. This lesson is my attempt to create a lesson which imparts knowledge of the (genuinely intriguing) story of the twin founders of Rome, but also hints at the historical inaccuracies, the story’s mythical nature and cultural significance to the Romans themselves. This lesson is aimed at students 13-16 (although more able students who are younger can access it) in order to introduce them to: The story of Romulus and Remus (which they would need to know for their OCR Class Civ or Ancient History GCSE (9-1) Ancient Historians (specifically Livy who is mentioned throughout and a required for GCSE Ancient History - yet often difficult to access). Modern Historians (specifically Mary Beard) through her retelling of the story in SPQR which is quoted and attributed appropriately throughout (and sometimes adapted slightly for easier understanding). The Lesson starts with a series of images to see if students can guess what the lesson might be about. Some students might have more knowledge of the ancient world than others but whatever answers they come up with can become talking points. Attention moves to the geography/setting of the story and the story itself is then split up into 3 parts; beginning, middle and end. Each part includes an appropriate work sheet which are contained as slides within the .ppt file (in the right places within the presentation) which can be printed, photocopied and worked through. This can be done together as a class or individually. There is a challenge task (focusing on provenance/other versions) on each worksheet for the more able students. Worksheets involve summarising Mary Beard’s account of the Romulus and Remus story in images and words. There is a strong literacy focus throughout with students encouraged primarily to highlight words they don’t understand and annotate their sheet with definitions. There is also additional guidance in the ‘notes’ section of each slide to help you as you teach. The lesson finishes with students attempting to answer the question that is the lesson title using a quote from Romulus (via Livy) to help them to show how much progress they’ve made. Students are then given the same set of images they were given at the start of the lesson and invited to explain each one to show how much they have learnt.

This lesson is designed with the new OCR Classical Civilisations 9-1 GCSE in mind. Specifically, Paper 1 (Myth and Religion) topic 1.6 Myth and Symbols of Power. it is designed to run over 2 hour long lessons. All worksheets referred to below are contained within the .ppt file in the appropriate places during the lesson which can be printed out and given to students. All instructions are also contained in the ‘notes’ section for each slide (in addition to helpful video links). The lesson starts with a comprehension starter regarding how Augustus came to power and an accompanying video. There is then some class reading on the aims of Augustan art in general and the messages Augustus was keen to promote. The lesson then moves onto the Prima Porta statue (a prescribed source for the new course) with an analysis of each aspect of it that students can record on a worksheet (pictured). There is another summary video followed by study questions surrounding Augustus’ supposed divine status. The lesson finishes with a plenary where students get commissioned by Augustus to design a new statue.

And how well did each one rule the Persian Empire? This lesson has been designed as an ‘opening’ or ‘overview’ lesson for OCR Ancient History GCSE students, embarking on their study of the Persian Empire/ Achaemenid kings (Cyrus, Cambyses, Darius and Xerxes). It has also been used however as a stand alone lesson, for example as a lesson in a thematic unit on different empires throughout history. The starter introduces students to the geography of the Persian Empire in relation to Europe and the rest of the world - giving students some context. The main bulk of the lesson is based around an activity involving four A5 cards. Each A5 card has details about each king. Students identify positives and negatives of each king from the cards and then evaluate the relative success of each one in relation to the others. The information cars are included as slides within the PowerPoint, ready to be printed. Students are then advised how to apply the knowledge they have gained to the June 2019 summer exam essay question through the use of visuals, followed by an effective plenary involving students judging their own progress (with your support) using ‘post-it’ notes. This lesson is designed to last an hour, unless you elect for students to attempt the exam question, in which case it will run to nearer two. The resources are very accessible are designed with the research behind ‘dual-coding’ in mind. The resources do not shy away from some ambitious vocabulary though and teachers may find spending some lesson time unpicking some of this vocabulary useful.

This resource can be used at any point during any sort of study of Alexander the Great. In our school we have designed it to sit at the beginning of our OCR Ancient History 9-1 GCSE unit on Alexander. One of the biggest issues with studying Alexander (and something crucial to the 20 mark essay question on the GCSE paper!) is our sources for his life and conquests. This resource tackles the four main problems with our sources. It also encourages students to come to a judgement in the form of an exam question at the end of the lesson as to how much we can ever really know about Alexander. There are ample notes in the ‘notes’ section on the Powerpoint to support teachers in delivering the lesson accurately and the aim has always been to create an easy-to follow, high quality resource that can be used ‘off the shelf’ and can easily slot in to any scheme of work as a stand-alone lesson.

This lesson seeks to explain, despite the existence of the Romulus and Remus Foundation Myth, that Aeneas remains an important figure for Romans in terms of the founding of their city. (It does also at the end explain how Romans got from Aeneas to Romulus story-wise!) There are 3 short storyboard tasks, already filled with text (included as slides ready to print within the PowerPoint) which students need only draw quick images for. These are presented at 3 different points in the lesson in order to quickly get across the main parts of Aeneas’ story after his escape from Troy. I have really only tried to include events which directly pertain to or foreshadow the founding of Rome - it was impossible to include everything! In between these, scholarship is used in an accessible way (including one comprehension with a glossary for difficult to understand terms) to draw out the importance of Aeneas to the Romans, but also what his actions tell us about how the Romans saw themselves and their new emperor Augustus (Virgil was writing at the time of the new Imperial Age). This lesson is designed to be engaging and academic in its approach, with appropriate support and challenge throughout to support all learners, but also to ‘teach to the top’ wherever possible.

This booklet is written in such a way that it can act as a teacher’s guide to the main events during the reigns of each king of Rome, or as a student guide. My students found it super useful because it brings what they have learnt about the kings together into an easy to understand, clear narrative. This is really useful for students to read both before and after they have studied each king individually, as it helps provide context for more detailed work and a useful summary to help embed learning. As a firm believer that story telling can aid knowledge retention, I created this for my students so that even the weakest can have a mental picture of all seven kings and their successes and failures. This document was created with OCR Ancient History 9-1 GCSE in mind (Foundations of Rome) but equally could be used by anyone needing a concise and engaging summary of the Roman Regal Period from Romulus through to Tarquinius Superbus.

This lesson is part of a scheme of lessons I created to try and fill a gap in the OCR Ancient History GCSE available resources. I felt like this is quite a complex era in Roman history and the resources that exist are complicated too - leading to cognitive overload for many of my students. This lesson is completely dual coded and my students loved it because it is clear and succinct. it starts with a couple of video clips recapping Sicinius’ reasons for calling for the First Plebeian Secession (Secessio Plebis) and it then tells the story of the Secession itself - followed by a debate surrounding whether it actually achieved anything meaningful. Throughout there are pertinent questions posed to students on screen that they can answer verbally or in written form and are great for AfL - there is also a 15 mark exam question at the end (based on a passage from Livy that is included) with sentence starters and a suggested plan, looking at how the relationship between the Patricians and Plebeians had changed between the exile of Superbus and the First Secession - analysing the second order concept of Change and Continuity which is one of the key second order concepts that 15 mark questions look to address in the exam. Even if you aren’t teaching the OCR AH GCSE, I’d argue this is probably the clearest and easiest to understand overview of the First Secession that exists at the moment - it’s why I made it because there was hardly anything accessible out there for me and my students… There are also embedded video clips (hence the large file size) outlining the patron-client relationship in Rome, the origins of the Conflict of the Orders and a summary of the Plebeian Secession. Thanks for taking a look!