A 22 slide PowerPoint on thesis statements and topic sentences, understanding them, their importance and how to use them in preparation for extended writing. Includes: Strong and weak exemplar thesis statements. Strong and weak exemplar topic sentences. The ingredients of a thesis statement and its location within an essay. The ingredients of a topic sentences and its location within an essay. How to use both. The differences between topic sentences and thesis statements. An activity on how to spot a strong and weak thesis statement and topic sentence. An activity allowing students to provide their own revision resource for topic sentences and thesis statements.

A 10-15 minute assembly on having a more positive attitude in life. Includes thought-provoking questions on situations in school that may provoke a negative reaction and 6 simple steps to guide students towards being more proactive than reactive. Easily adaptable for tutor time! Suitable for all ages!

A 20 slide (20-25 minute) but easily adaptable PowerPoint assembly useful as a Leavers’ Assembly for the end of Year 13! Humorous but touching!

A 23 slide PowerPoint on ‘show not tell’ description to engage the reader as well as exploration of a variety of engaging sentence types and openers. Includes: Defining ‘show not tell’. Activity exploring its use and effectiveness in a piece of writing. Activity for students to compare the use of different ‘show not tell’ description in exemplar texts. Engaging sentence opener examples. Activity for students to improve their sentence openers in order to engage a reader. A plenary that consolidates learning surrounding ‘show not tell’ and engaging sentence structures and types.

A 10 slide PowerPoint exploring the ingredients of a solid and engaging film review. Includes an activity for students to analyse a model film review on Bond movie ‘SkyFall’ and a template/plan to begin creating their own! Suitable for primary and secondary age students of both English and Media Studies

A 12 slide lesson on Louis Macneice’s poem ‘Prayer before Birth’ with line by line annotation, and analysis of linguistic and structural features employed by the poet. Also includes a poetry analysis checklist for students to complete, questions to promote student response and a how-to on analysing an unseen poem. Easily adaptable and suitable for KS3/KS4!

Fresh new term, fresh new start! An 18 slide (approx 10-15 min) assembly welcoming students back to school after a holiday. Includes some tips on how to ease back into studying and regaining focus on school after a relaxing break. Easily adaptable for tutor-time! Suitable for all ages!

A 10 minute assembly on taking responsibility for your actions and being accountable. It is brief but thought-provoking and hopefully encourages students to accept that sometimes taking responsibility is a huge sign of maturity.

An analysis lesson for Wilfred Owen’s famous poem ‘Disabled’. Includes differentiated tasks and full annotations. Also includes a poetry analysis checklist and revision material for how to analyse a poem. Easily adaptable, challenging and engaging for pupils of KS3 and KS4!

A 24 slide (20-25 minute) assembly on Black History Month, focusing on faces such as Akala, Bessie Coleman, Bayard Rustin and Phillis Wheatley as well as more generally how Black History Month is celebrated. With open discussion points and engaging facts, this is an easily adaptable assembly for KS3-KS5. Also suitable for form-time!

A 33 slide lesson on Persuasive writing using DAFOREST TECHNIQUES, asking students to identify persuasive techniques within a model paragraphs and create their own persuasive text before assessing. Easily editable and adaptable but ideally suited to KS3-KS4. Also included, all related resources.

A 16 slide PowerPoint exploring Frost’s poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ in preparation for an Unseen response. Explores the poem itself and how to annotate and includes a checklist for analysing an Unseen Poem.

A 30 slide PowerPoint on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet summarising the plot and central characters with the intention that they will create a storyboard for the play. Engaging images to aid students’ memory and for revision purposes!

A 15 minute assembly on the importance of showing respect to get respect with questions and engaging clips and images to inspire students to respect others.

30 engaging tasks for students to complete in the library. I created these little library challenge cards for my boys group who really engaged with them! The idea is that ninjas are silent and focused and a class in the library should be too. These vary in ability and challenge and be easily adapted! Suitable for KS2 or KS3!

A 23 slide PowerPoint on poetic devices and their effect on the reader. Includes: Examples of simile, metaphor, personification, repetition, imagery, onomatopoeia, rhyme and alliteration. Exploration of their effect on the reader. Exploration of why the writer may choose to employ that device in their poem specifically. Activity for students to analyse an unseen poem for poetic techniques - Merrill Glass - 'But you didn't'.

A 10-15 minute (allowing for student reflection and Q&A) assembly on the importance of good behaviour, its impact on yourself and those around you and getting rid of the excuses we use for behaving badly. Lots of interesting quotes, scenarios and a clip to keep students engaged!

A free resource detailing the criteria for writing a successful newspaper article. Also includes an activity for students to analyse a sample article and identify the WHO WHAT WHERE WHY WHEN and HOW key information.

A 10 slide PowerPoint presentation on dyslexia and suggested strategies.

A free resource allowing students to both design their own book cover and blurb or also help to create a poster on a favourite book of their choice - Perfect for World Book Day or a Reading Week display!