Collins Schools

Chemistry: Superstuffs – calcium carbonate

Chemistry: Superstuffs – calcium carbonate

Is calcium carbonate really a superstuff? We meet it in chemistry lessons as a white powder that fizzes in acids giving off carbon dioxide. It doesn’t seem special and yet it is closely involved with the evolution of life, the...

4 min

Secondary All – Back to School Icebreakers

Secondary All – Back to School Icebreakers

With the start of a new academic year fast approaching, now is a good time to be thinking about what to do in those first lessons back. Despite how busy you will inevitably be and how little time you will...

4 min

End of Term: Ideas for the last lesson

End of Term: Ideas for the last lesson

As the summer break finally approaches, many teachers will be thinking about what to do with their classes for the last lesson. Often both my students and I can summon up little more than the required energy for sweets and...

3 min

Secondary English – Imaginative Writing

Secondary English – Imaginative Writing

We all know that the burden of marking and assessment is particularly heavy if you’re an English teacher. And yet one of the things that keeps us going can be those little moments of frisson when we read something that...

2 min

Secondary Sociology – Independent Learning: Student Choices

Secondary Sociology – Independent Learning: Student Choices

On the occasion when time from getting through the exam specifications allows, I like to give the students a lesson where they can do what they want. Well, not quite what they want, but instead a list of options to...

3 min

X raying Crystals

X raying Crystals

In 1912, Max von Laue had an idea for an experiment that would answer a question in physics. The results inspired scientists to make discoveries that have influenced chemistry and biology and provide evidence for many of the principles taught...

5 min

Secondary Sociology – The weird and the wonderful!

Secondary Sociology – The weird and the wonderful!

My main subject specialism is RE, and so in my second year of teaching when offered KS3 Geography or A2 Sociology of Religion I jumped at the chance to explore ‘religion’ with the students from an angle other than...

3 min

Secondary English – Post-it Power and Pupil Voice!

Secondary English – Post-it Power and Pupil Voice!

I love a Post It. I’ll admit it. I also get to do the stationery order (oh the joys!) so I order the boring yellow ones but also all the hearts, thumbs up, cars and smiley faces. These are hoarded...

3 min

Secondary Geography - Group Work

Secondary Geography - Group Work

I often observe lessons where group work is used. Whilst the teaching is often outstanding, the learning is often lagging behind because not all students take an active role in the group work. As a result I have been working...

4 min

Secondary Technology – Revision Games

Secondary Technology – Revision Games

When it comes to exams, I often find that a lot of my pupils struggle to revise for Design & Technology, finding their practical experiences hard to associate it with written exams! In lessons, they enjoy the practical side of...

4 min

Secondary History – It’s Complicated…

Secondary History – It’s Complicated…

To help our students make sense of history quite often we generalise, so Hitler’s war becomes Germany’s war, where all Germans are involved in fighting against the Allies.  During the Industrial Revolution all factory owners were oppressive, making their workers...

3 min

Secondary History – Hyperinflation

Secondary History – Hyperinflation

‘In August 1923, the dollar reached a million Mark.’ -Hyperinflation through Defying Hitler

4 min