10 books and activities for your 11+ student to read and do over the summer!
1: Philip Pullman: His Dark Materials An essential piece of reading for both children and adults, and if you haven’t already at least...
Turn Off, Tune Out, Drop Off
An open letter to my students To begin at the beginning: It is Spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black, the...
Literary Landscapes: Dartmoor
Miles into gathering mists the sun set, soaking into the distant blue hills. Sunset loomed, orange, then violet, then a clouded darkness...
Soapstone Technique
Over the last few weeks I have been introducing my GCSE and A-Level students to a technique more often used in the IB or AP exams. But...
Back to School!
Spring Term 2019 Begins I just want to wish all my students a wonderful first day back at school after the Christmas holidays. Starting...
Lady Macbeth Notes
Lady Macbeth first appears when she reads the letter Macbeth sends ahead in the first Act, telling her of the witches’ prophecies and of...
Shakespearean Glossary
As part of my Halloween specials, I’m creating a resource for all my Shakespeare students who are bewitched, bothered and bewildered by...
Gothic Contexts
For the year’s on the turn and it’s All Souls’ night, When the dead can burn and the dead can smite. --Edith Wharton, All Souls (1909)...
Stabat Mater Notes
Context This is an autobiographical poem about family relationships. It seems that Hunt’s mother is much younger than his father, and so...
Entrance Exam Tips
How to make them pick you! ​ Entrance Exam Top Tips It's what you haven't seen that counts. Most of my students shudder whenever the...
Jane Eyre Porridge - Good for the Immortal Soul
“Oh madam, when you put bread and cheese, instead of burnt porridge, into these children's mouths, you may indeed feed their vile bodies,...
So who was Macbeth anyway?
Who was Shakespeare? William Shakespeare was born in 1564, and is one of the most famous playwrights in all of English Literature....

