NEW KS3 History curriculum on British Reforms following the NEW 1-9 grading criteria. This lesson focuses on the work of the Suffragettes (WSPU) and the tactics they employed to gain equal rights for women including getting the vote. Students get to practice the skill of chronology in assembling Suffragette tactics. Students then have the opportunity to write a piece of creative writing in the form of a speech from the point of view of a Suffragette. The teacher can choose students to sit in a 'hot seat' at the front of the class to read out their work (alternatively, this task can be carried over into a second lesson to give every student the chance to read out, or perform their speech). In the plenary, students vote in a secret ballot to decide if violent action helped women to get the vote. All tasks are clearly differentiated and this lesson is suitable for all abilities.

NEW 2018 Edexcel Religious Studies lesson following the new 1-9 grading criteria. The lesson focuses on the topic Living the Muslim Life and includes stretch and challenge activities as part of each task. The main task is based around an in-depth examination of sources of wisdom and authority from the Qur'an, which students are asked to annotate and analyse in relation the concepts of forgiveness, justice, reconciliation and peace-making. Students can work independently, in pairs or as groups (depending on your class) to build a detailed mind-map about the role of peace-making in Islam. Students are then asked to create a leaflet about how young Muslims today should respond to bullying based on the teachings used during the main task. This lesson is ideal to develop higher order thinking skills and critical analysis in students and gives students a wide range of sources of wisdom and authority to help them interpret how Muslims live their life today based on the Qur'an.

NEW 2018 AQA Religious Studies Specification ‘A’ lesson on ‘Buddhist Beliefs and Teachings’ following the 1-9 grading criteria. The lesson includes differentiated tasks for every activity, designed to stretch and challenge all students. The first task gets students to explore the definitions of the three marks of existence, before completing a specific task on each mark of existence; dukkha, anicca and anatta. For dukkha, students investigate different causes of suffering. For anicca, students consider ways in which humans change over time in different ways. This is extended during the anatta task, to include specific elements of a person and what makes someone who they are. Students then respond to 'sacred writing' through the story of Kisa Gotami and link it to all three marks of existence. As a plenary, students complete a 'why-tree' based on the key question: why does suffering happen?

NEW 2018 AQA Religious Studies Specification ‘A’ lesson on ‘Buddhist Beliefs and Teachings’ following the 1-9 grading criteria. The lesson includes differentiated tasks for every activity, designed to stretch and challenge all students. Students are hooked into the lesson by a picture of the Buddhist Wheel of Life and asked to ask a question about it, without any further context before engaging with the concept of ‘dependent arising’ through its definition. Students then complete a creative task, by adding key information to a diagram of samsara focusing on: samsara, kamma, nibbana, the three poisons, the nidanas and the various realms. This task can be done in a variety of ways, either as a poster, leaflet, mind-map, carousel task (and many more). Students then use sacred writing to evidence Buddhist beliefs in dependent arising before applying their knowledge to a GCSE exam type question, including scaffolded sentence starters and a student friendly mark scheme, which can be used for self- or peer-assessment. As a plenary, students attempt to answer their question about the Wheel of Life from the starter task.

NEW 2018 AQA Religious Studies Specification ‘A’ lesson on ‘Buddhist Beliefs and Teachings’ following the 1-9 grading criteria. The lesson includes differentiated tasks for every activity, designed to stretch and challenge all students. As a hook, students are asked to respond to the question whether life itself causes suffering, before investigating the main causes of suffering identified by the Buddha. Students then engage with the notions of change and attachment as causes of suffering before analysing sacred writing as evidence for Buddhist beliefs. Students then apply their knowledge to a GCSE exam type question, scaffolded with sentence starters and a student friendly mark scheme that can be used for self-or peer-assessment. As a plenary, students complete a WHY-Tree, where they start with a single question and keep answering it and then asking 'why' to elaborate as far as they can ( students should aim to include 4-5 'whys').

NEW 2018 AQA Religious Studies Specification ‘A’ lesson on ‘Buddhist Beliefs and Teachings’ following the 1-9 grading criteria. The lesson includes differentiated tasks for every activity, designed to stretch and challenge all students. Students are hooked into the lesson by considering if it is possible for humans to overcome suffering. Students then have the opportunity to consider how the life of the Buddha could link to him considering suffering to be a major problem that needs to be overcome. Students then listen to the Rolling Stones song 'satisfaction' and link the message of the lyrics to Buddhism and suffering in particular. Students then summarise the Four Noble Truths by responding to a definition of each and respond by giving an example of suffering that can be applied to the Four Noble Truths (model answer provided). Students then consider evidence for Buddhist beliefs about the Four Noble Truths by analysing sacred writing, before summarising their learning as the plenary.

NEW 2018 AQA Religious Studies Specification ‘A’ lesson on ‘Buddhist Beliefs and Teachings’ following the 1-9 grading criteria. The lesson includes differentiated tasks for every activity, designed to stretch and challenge all students. Students respond to an overview of the Eightfold Path by considering its nature and the role it plays in overcoming suffering before explaining how following the Eightfold Path can lead Buddhists towards enlightenment. Students then attempt a 12-mark GCSE style exam question, which has scaffolded sentence starters as well as a fully written model answer and a student friendly mark scheme, which can be used for self- or peer-assessment. Finally, students reflect on their learning using PLTS.

A revision summary of the topic ‘Christian Practices’ following the new ‘AQA Religious Studies A’ syllabus, which had its first exam during Summer 2017. The pack contains core content, condensed into student friendly bullet-points, along with reference to ‘sacred writing’ in the form of quotes. This is excellent revision material for students of all abilities. The content is presented in managable chunks of three key ideas for each sub-topic, supported by quotes, which allow the more able to go into more depth interpreting Christian beliefs and perspectives. The content can be applied to past exam papers, or students can create their own flashcards, quizzes, or graphic organisers in support of their revision.

NEW 2018 AQA Religious Studies Specification ‘A’ lessons on ‘Buddhist Beliefs and Teachings’ following the 1-9 grading criteria. The lessons include differentiated tasks for every activity, designed to stretch and challenge all students. This is a comprehensive examination of the Four Noble Truths in Buddhism, through three separate lessons (it could be up to five or six, depending on how much time is devoted to practising the GCSE exam style questions). Lesson 1 is an introductory overview of the nature and purpose of the Four Noble Truths Lesson 2 is an in-depth investigation of the first three noble truths including detailed reference to sacred writing. Lesson 3 is an exploration of the Eightfold Path and includes a 12-mark practice exam question, including sentence starters, a model answer and a student friendly mark scheme.

A KS3 Religious Studies lesson, using an enquiry based approach to learning and based on Christianity as a way to explore belief in God. Following the 2018 Berkshire SACRE agreed syllabus with a focus on exploring the principles of ‘believing, belonging and behaving’ in a religious and secular context. This is lesson 4 of the topic ‘Does God have a message?’ Students watch three of Jesus’ parables and discuss the messages they are sending about good behaviour and God’s expectation of humans. Then a number of moral guidelines from the Beautitudes are discussed and students are asked to justify which they believe to be the most important. The key question for this lesson is; ‘Is Jesus’ message relevant to non-Christians?’

A KS3 Religious Studies lesson, using an enquiry based approach to learning and based on Christianity as a way to explore belief in God. Following the 2018 Berkshire SACRE agreed syllabus with a focus on exploring the principles of ‘believing, belonging and behaving’ in a religious and secular context. This is lesson 3 of the topic ‘Does God have a message?’ A differeniated task asking students to respond to summaries of several of Jesus’ miracles by considering the message of each is followed by a clip of ‘dynamo’ walking on water. This leads to the key question for the lesson; ‘Are miracles valuable or pure superstition?’

A KS3 Religious Studies lesson, using an enquiry based approach to learning and based on Christianity as a way to explore belief in God. Following the 2018 Berkshire SACRE agreed syllabus with a focus on exploring the principles of ‘believing, belonging and behaving’ in a religious and secular context. This is lesson 5 of the topic ‘Does God have a message?’ Students start off by watching a video comparing infant and believer’s baptism, before exploring reasons why Christians want to become baptised. The key question for this lesson is; ‘Which type of baptism is more important?’

A KS3 Religious Studies lesson, using an enquiry based approach to learning and based on Christianity as a way to explore belief in God. Following the 2018 Berkshire SACRE agreed syllabus with a focus on exploring the principles of ‘believing, belonging and behaving’ in a religious and secular context. This is lesson 2 of the topic ‘Does God have a message’. This lesson introduces students to the Holy Trinity and the incarnation of Jesus through the use of quotes from the Bible. The key question for this lesson is; ‘Why is the incarnation important to Christians?’

A KS3 Religious Studies lesson, using an enquiry based approach to learning and based on Christianity as a way to explore belief in God. Following the 2018 Berkshire SACRE agreed syllabus with a focus on exploring the principles of ‘believing, belonging and behaving’ in a religious and secular context. This is lesson 5 of the topic ‘What do I believe’. Students start off considering the reasons why people pray before watching several videos about the nature of prayer for Christians. Students then apply what they have learnt to the analysis of a selection of Christian quotes about prayer and finish off with a creative task of writing a letter to an alien about prayer.

A KS3 Religious Studies lesson, using an enquiry based approach to learning and based on Christianity as a way to explore belief in God. Following the 2018 Berkshire SACRE agreed syllabus with a focus on exploring the principles of ‘believing, belonging and behaving’ in a religious and secular context. This is lesson 1 of the topic ‘Does God have a message?’ Students start off by considering how God’s core characteristics might be portrayed through symbols and art. Students then move onto exploring the concept of Jesus as the ‘Son of God’ and why the incarantion of Jesus can be seen as a good way for God to communicate with humans. The key question for this lesson is; ‘Why is taking human form an effective way for God to communicate with humans?’

A KS3 Religious Studies lesson, using an enquiry based approach to learning and based on Christianity as a way to explore belief in God. Following the 2018 Berkshire SACRE agreed syllabus with a focus on exploring the principles of ‘believing, belonging and behaving’ in a religious and secular context. This is lesson 6 of the topic ‘Does God have a message?’ Students start off by watching a video explaining the meaning of worship, before investigating four types of Christian worship; charismatic, liturgial, non-liturgical and personal. Students then watch further video clips about liturgical and non-liturgical worship and consider which type may lead to a closer relationship with God. Finally, students consider ways in which worship could be made more appealing and be better advertised to attract young Christians to worship. The plenary asks students to respond to the question; ‘how do Christians worship’ and complete a ‘how tree’ on this question.

A KS3 Religious Studies lesson, using an enquiry based approach to learning and based on Christianity as a way to explore belief in God. Following the 2018 Berkshire SACRE agreed syllabus with a focus on exploring the principles of ‘believing, belonging and behaving’ in a religious and secular context. This is lesson 6 of the topic 'What do I believe?’ Students start to considering sacred writing in the form of Bible quotes linking to God’s omnipotence and benevolence, before responding to a variety of picture stimuli about moral and natural evil as part of a discussion on the traditional argument for the problem of evil. Students watch a video clip before evaluating a number of reasons why a benevolent God may have created, or is allowing suffering and evil to occur. The plenary asks students to consider the strengths and weaknesses of both sides of the argument for the problem of evil.