We may be laughing in the picture, but it is a heavy topic, so be careful...

The fourth unit on the GCSE (see this page) is all about what happens when you die, whether there is a body/soul difference, and also what happens at a funeral. This is the audio from a Skype video interview I conducted recently with a Christian minister from Birmingham. (Thanks John!)

Tags: Death and the Afterlife Unit

We have been watching the helpful interview with Samira (go here for the audio-only version). This has brought up some very interesting discussions on why she chose to wear the Hijab at age 18, and whether there is anything for us to learn about our own western-influenced society.

Homework: to look up the term 'Hijab' - you can use the links on this page.

Don't forget that this homework is about you researching something interesting and not simply finding a quick definition! Bring the class something that will get you an outstanding mark.

Tags: Islam

We are looking at the adventures of the Bible hero Abraham - a character of massive importance to Jewish and Christian people. The homework is to find out how Abraham is important to the Jewish people. Have a look at the Judaism page where there are some website links for you to use.

If you don't fancy clicking your mouse two times, you can use the following web pages to guide you.

Judaism 101 has lots of helpful starting points for investigation. Don't forget that you can use the side menu to look up keywords or topics.




The BBC Worldservice Guide is very clear.

Independent learning is when you don't wait about for the teacher to put the bib on and spoon feed you. I will be encouraging all year 9s and 10s to adopt the practice of self-help so that you can get further in the short time available.

There are now more comprehensive notes to download on the GCSE page for units 1, 2 and 4.

Tags: Nature of Belief Unit, Death and the Afterlife Unit

After quite a lot of work (sorry Mrs Rama - I remember who you are, honest!), the DVD interview with Ross Ciano is now completed. The audio is up on the podcast page if you are interested in a cut-down audio-only version. Best to wait for the DVD in class. Many thanks to all concerned who helped me get this done - not least the Year 7 boys.

Tags: podcast, GCSE, Nature of Belief Unit, Nature of God Unit

Here is the 'BIG CHECKLIST' - a downloadable document for you to look at and tick off everything you think has been covered in each of the units. It is a useful way of asking yourself 'Mmmm has my teacher really been earning their mortgage/skateboarding/gadget-getting/charity-donating money?'


Be nice if you do spot any gaps - asking is always preferable to ninja-attacks in corridors. And anyway - I have 'oo-na-gee' so don't try anything.

The original link is on the revision section of the GCSE page.

Tags: GCSE

This is a real scoop people! I managed to get some time with the two key figures in how the GCSE is devised, marked and run. In this podcast episode I ask them about good and bad responses to exam questions and whether examining people they live under the ground...



Subscribe to the WIYW podcast on iTunes:

Tags: podcast, GCSE

a. Explain Christian beliefs about why there is evil in the world. (8 marks)
- Adam and Eve, original sin/a virus out in the open on all of our world, the devil - personal/other, psychological damage
- explain your ideas clearly. No opinions needed.

b. Explain how a Christian might find out the right way to behave. (7 marks)
- not enough to say 'read the Bible'... what is in it? Sermon on the Mount?
- just saying 10 commandments isn't adequate - how do they try to obey? Is there anything you can say about how in reality this sort of thing works... what are their motives? Sister Anne Brittain? Jesus? Sermon on the Mount?
- home influences, church community? church leaders?
- give us a sense of what the reality is like for people who really do believe and follow this... waffle and blagging are easy to spot

c. ‘Being happy is more important than being good.’ Do you agree? Give reasons to support your answer, and show that you have thought about different points of view. You must refer to Christianity in your answer. (5 marks)
- which is more important? Good or happy? Can you have both? What if you had to choose?
- what do Christians think? Any specific examples you could use? What about Jesus? Joseph? Sermon on the mount?
- examples and specifics are the key... give us grounds for a decent higher grade by showing you know...
- have you included all the ingredients?
- concluded a clear perspective?

Tags: GCSE, Good and Evil Unit

The homework is to put in the remaining images from this page, and to read the original text from Genesis chapter 3.

Your homework this week is to try and dig up something about the names of Allah. Anything you can find on this will be useful for your grasp of this important world religion.


Don't forget that you can always use great websites like this one to find out the info.

Tags: Islam

That's it people.

The unit is now officially over. I have sent out a request for final note-submissions for Tuesday 13th first thing at the latest. The rest will be all feedback for both you and your parents on the evening of the 14th. See you there - you have been a fantastic audience!

Tags: Nature of God Unit

According to the end of Genesis chapter 1, the human race has something in common with God. We appear to be like Him - three ways I described in class were:

- being moral (having a sense of right and wrong)
- being creative (making things, art, music, which pencil case to buy, style of sport you play etc)
- relationships (love, kindness, showing mercy etc)

Your homework is to write down some good examples of these and bring them to class for a nice old chat about it.

According to the two boffins in this interview, 'Quantum Mechanics' is a VERY big deal in the scientific world... if you can understand it. I asked them to explain what it is and whether it has any links with religious faith. Very interesting chat even if your brain starts buzzing uncontrollably before the 15 minutes is up. (Thanks Kev and Lou for putting up with me during a tense drive during the half term).



Get podcasts automatically by subscribing to the WIYW podcast on iTunes:

Tags: podcast

This sheet provides you with some guidance on how to approach the three questions in each section. The original section is on the GCSE page here.

Tags: GCSE

The first homework of this unit is to uncover what you think you know about the Muslim religion.


Next time we shall be meeting Samira.

Now you have had a good introduction to the creation story using these simple images, have a read of the actual text and work out what is different/better.

I attended the official opening of the centre and spoke to various people about the ethos and history of the school. Find the link on the podcast page. Nice violin playing by the way...



Also, you can go here for further information on cyberbullying if you were interested in any follow up to today's lessons. It's an american site, but it has some really helpful ideas on it.

Tags: podcast

The awesome Delta bunch bring this unit to a close (find it in the school section on the podcast page) with a remarkable and memorable recording in the chapel. Go people. I really enjoyed the laughing.


'Goodbye dirt!'

Tags: Nature of God Unit

We had a memorable assembly with Sister Anne this morning. You can find a further interview on the podcast page which delves deeper into the experience of facing flash floods in 2004 and how she processes this sort of tragedy as a christian believer. There are also a number of photos of the people involved for you to see. Below are two paintings representing the flash floods.

Just after:


After some of the restoration work had been completed.


More images here.

Tags: Good and Evil Unit

Please please please don't judge me as a teacher (or anything else) by this recording. It was fun, but what will I be doing in the jobless gutter when people finally listen to this? As ever it is found in the school podcast section on this page.

Tags: Nature of God Unit

Homework:
Finish the A3 sheet and don't forget these reflection questions.

Reflections section:

What things have you learnt from this unit - things that might actually help you in your life to deal with suffering and evil?
Have any views been radically different from your own?
What do you think about where evil comes from?

Tags: Good and Evil Unit

Bizarre, entertaining and generally it worked pretty well. Thanks people!



Go to the podcast page to download/subscribe.

Tags: Nature of God Unit

Tragedy! We lost the bit about buying Happy Shopper biscuits for 49p! The rest is pretty good though, I trimmed a couple of bits that I thought were slightly disrespectful to horses and 'cillit bang'. Enjoy.

Tags: podcast

Our second part in the series asking some year 11 students what they think about the big four questions. Little green men figure highly...

Tags: podcast

What better way of preparing for the near future revision times: preparing A3 revision sheets and having a fantastic discussion in class that will then be used for a podcast! Please get your notes together and complete any undone homeworks before we wrap up this half term.

Extra help?
If you need any help getting stuff finished then please just ask ask (although preferably out of class - why not use this contact page?).

Even more help?
Why not get this book and download these notes. Lots of people have and even more people are doing it. They are finding that it gives them good skin and a greater life expectancy. Some of them even smile a bit more, although this hardly helps if you suffer from great ugliness.

hey it's a joke - don't take me to court over it...
PS. Thanks for the birthday well wishers and respect to KA who has probably already looked at this page AND printed it out AND laminated it for a rainy day...

Tags: Good and Evil Unit, Nature of God Unit

Okay then people, this week is really the last opportunity for you. My apologies for those of you who haven't had much help so far due to lots of people needing assistance! This week we shall either sort you out in class or I will arrange sometime out of class to get you the help you need. Either way, this is very exciting and the work looks amazing!

And don't forget about the jelly babies.

Tags: Worldviews, Jelly Babies

Mp3 players can't 're rewind'.
Further proof that Craig was
getting outdated early on...

Could this be the first proper year 11 podcast? No more lonely weeping into your revision guides by the swept hearth! Download/subscribe podcast 4! Many thanks to the noisy bunch for donating their views so admirably and sharing their desire to become the man Craig.

Tags: podcast

That's right people - a full and frank discussion of the merits and demerits of this luxurious art form. Thanks to the boys who partook.

Tags: Worldviews

We covered this topic in class and concluded that for Christians:

1. God has shown them what right and wrong is about through revealing it in history and Bible writings.
2. Behaving in a good/moral way and rejecting evil is a way of saying thankyou to Jesus who died to open up the doors of heaven.



Homework:
To read some or all of the 'sermon on the mount'* and bring back 7 quotes or specific examples that Jesus gives for Christian living.

*this a famous section of the Bible and lives in Matthew chapter 5 to 7.

Tags: Good and Evil Unit

I have been re-watching the old version of Charlie. I prefer it, although the newer Tim Burton version (that came out last year) is probably better for it's weirdness (Willy Wonka is actually a pretty strange person in the Roald Dahl book).

Leave a comment: which version is best and why? We might even do a podcast on this one if it gets enough comments.


No unkind comments about this photo and the new year 7s please.

We will do a quick skim through the two types of revelation this week before embarking on some recapping.

Go to this page for the info.

Tags: GCSE, Nature of God Unit

This little baby:


...is the A3 sheet we will be using at the end of each unit to fill in summary notes and also crib any further information from the text book:



Your task will be to go over everything we have covered and make your own workable revision sheet for when we get near the end of the course and start doing the heavy recaps.

Tags: GCSE, Good and Evil Unit, Nature of God Unit

Can you show us 4 things?

That -
a. you have a good grasp of what a worldview is...
b. you know how to uncover a worldview
c. you can explain the different kinds of worldviews out there?
d. you know about your own current one

The next two weeks are really about proving that you know these things using one (or several) of the following:

- podcast discussion
- artwork
- drama/voiceover/weird video
- written piece
- review of a film/book

It is very important that you get help or get on!

Tags: Worldviews

That's right folks! It's time to subscribe to iTunes because the first proper Sion podcast has been uploaded.

Both year 8 and 7 have been contributing to the world of podcasting. Thanks for the lively discussions folks.

Tags: podcast, Worldviews

This week it is all about looking at the way in which the Bible explains the origins of evil in the world.

Homework:
1. Read the Genesis text (chapters 2 and 3) for yourself.
2. Present your own version of this story (notes/diagrams/whatever).
3. How far do you agree with this view of the origins of evil?

LOST? There is a whole section on the garden of eden story here.

Tags: Good and Evil Unit

This week I shall be aiming to cover five for/against arguments used when it comes to God existing or not*.



Homework:
Do a review of the arguments with a few of your family/friends/aquaintances: which ones are the most convincing? Which are the least? Why?



*it should be acknowledged that for many people, the idea of arguing this is neither here nor there. Hardened atheists like Hawkins make the assumption that you are a fool for believing it in the first place, and conversely there are tons of theists who find it bizarre at we should even be asking the question because it is obvious that there is a creator (see Psalm 19 for an example).

Tags: Nature of God Unit

Nice one - it felt like you had about 5 assemblies worth of material in one go.

So entertaining - especially the cup cake brothers.

Thanks to all who took part in the surveys. Very interesting results. I hope that you had fun doing it and thinking about who you are in the world.

If you want to read up on some real responses then you can get them from the worldviews page.

The notes for GCSE revision can be found on this page. These are useful for doing a bit of your own reading up on any of the units, and also if you haven't got the book yet.


Nice sculpture (but not very safe).

Tags: revision guide

The Homework involves two activities*:

1. Remember the FOSSIP thing?

- faith: it builds your faith (or trust) in God
- others: can be helped by you if you have experienced suffering.
- success: cannot happen without it. No pain, no gain is what they say...
- strength: lots of people who face suffering find that it makes them strong in unusual ways
- isn't pointless: there is a reason for you to go through it.

Rate these responses in order of importance, saying why.
Include if you think any aren't worth bothering with.
Have you ever seen them happening?

2. The problem of being a believer in God when suffering and evil affect you.
Explain (in your own words) the problem that was outlined for you in class and the 'solution' that Rama provided. Don't forget to say what you think.

*of course - they might have been partially covered in class, so just go along with it.

Tags: Good and Evil Unit

Anyone interested in doing some podcasting? In the next two or three weeks I shall be starting to record stuff.

The homework for this week, folks, is to

1. Produce a decent version of the worldviews diagram (if you haven't done it already).



2. To do some interviews with up to 3 people using the four questions.
3. Put yourself and the people you interviewed on to the map.

Tags: Worldviews

If everything goes according to plan this week then you will have dug into the following things:

1. Some real examples of TOMPIPI and TOOOsHd.

Your homework:

a. complete any notes from the lesson - they MUST be readable and revisable for you (and checkable by me).
b. include a reflection on how you are similar or different from the two examples.


These sausage rolls came up when I typed in 'tompipi' into google images...

Tags: Nature of God Unit

In two very tight lessons we have:

1. Handed out folders (yay!).
2. Given you an idea of where things are going in the two years.
3. Shown you the text book which is worth asking for as a birthday/christmas/halloween/tooth-fairy/whatever present.

4. Shown you that the world of beliefs about God is wider than you might have previously thought (3 massive worldviews involving loads of interior ones).
5. Shown you where lots of the different major religions reside on the map.
6. Begun to tackle some important words for describing God.

Homework:
1. Read up on Worldviews on this site
2. Aim to learn most of the terms from the TOMPIPI/TOOOsHd sections.

Tags: Nature of God Unit

Having listened to the majority of the difficult interview, please go away and write a reflection on how you would have responded to the same situation.

Some of the points from the lesson to consider:
1. This is a real case study which is useful to your grasp of this unit.
2. If God is all-knowing/all-powerful* then does that mean that He is unloving?
3. If God is all-loving, does that mean that He isn't in control?
4. Is the Christian worldview easy to understand when it says that God is both loving and powerful...? How hard is it to reconcile this statement in the face of such suffering?

*omniscient/omnipotent remember?

Tags: Good and Evil Unit

You guessed it folks, the first serious homework of the term is to write about what experiences you have had with religion.

Try to explain what you think of religion as well.

Are there any other views of religion that you might want to include? Perhaps you could chat to some family or friends about their views.

Tags: Worldviews

I have been amazed at the entries for the broken elbow competition. Here are a number of the entries just in case you were interested... the ones in bold are my current favourites.


Year 7
Cross country/a tank drove over it/fighting a waiter/rescuing a kite while flying/dog attacks/alien operation/window chopped it/parachute and trampoline/hair growing from cupboard powers and falling down the stairs/board attack/magic vase/books snapped it/dragon battle and a zip-wire/drugs in china and spying/the dark ninja battle on the fiji mountains/alps cable car/drunkeness/spiderman/superbowl/trapese act/last day at Durrington/fish bite/Mr Scullion throwing my plant Vishnu at me/Jack and Jill/burger beach hole/trying to open a packet of pants/penguin chase/gun fight/fake pink arm and the karate master/bristol bulldogs/bird attack(see image above)/boxing/rose slip

Year 8
running from bees/serial killer elbow in the head/ 2 kilos of candy floss/sucked out of plane window/car park monster/aliens/red fish/evil fairies/sharks/trampoline and black hole/kung fu cat/playing pirates/elephant/fridge fall

Year 9
knife attack/bees/toddler attack(on me)/water slide in my sleep (in my bed)/handcuffed at durrington/human tetris/fish attacks/diving 100m and missing the pool/trying to assassinate my replacement at durrington/old lady rescue gone wrong/flirting on a horse and my wife catching me (it never happened!)

Year 10/11
parachute/attic trap door and four mouldy rotting floors to fall through/drunken and stairs/larva under my skin/zurich advert stilts/hardcore triangle playing/ attacked by underpants/accident while spying on neighbours/lads night out-jumping out of a window/castaway/tractor crash/stunt man life/bus stop lady/leprechaun/caught fire/rubber duck attack/pushed off a building/scuba dive/mini-moto/microwave german transit van moose collision/harry, haribo and tesco value ramasami/oompa loompas

Thanks everyone for making the first week such good fun!

John 13
In case you were stuck or couldn't remember the assembly points, here they are:

1. What does 'consideration always' actually mean if we take it seriously?
- according to Jesus in John 13, it means serving others humbly and not taking an arrogant, snobbish position.

2. What do you think this means in terms of how you relate to others at school? How far would you go to do it?
- I think it doesn't stop with just friends, it goes further to people who (like Judas to Jesus) might even be horrible to you.
- it also doesn't stop at the school gate... it hopefully means being a humble servant to people who normally you might look down on.

3. There is a promise from Jesus: 'you will blessed if you do these things'.

4. How does one live up to this? How did Jesus?
The clue I mentioned is in verse 3 of John chapter 13. Here is a link to the actual text in case you were interested in trying to work it out for yourself. Come and chat if it seems complicated.

Yes, well done. This is where homework and stuff will be posted in case you fell asleep in class. Something I am looking for help with is writing and contributing stuff to the site. If you get any enthusiasm or ideas then please tell me here, at school or even email.


And finally: just in case you were wondering... the story of the fractured elbow is to do with not wearing an elbow pad and tearing about madly on a Lush longboard in a multi-storey NCP car park in Brighton with another teacher (who should also know better).

Here is the link for the pdf homework sheet just in case you lost it.

PS Respect to Raffaella for helping with the room. Congratulations on Tring!

After a fantastic 95% pass rate from the bunch at Durrington I would like to say thanks for being such a fun class even when things occasionally felt a little bleak. May you have a brilliant future and keep in touch.

Rama

Tags: durrington

Newly uploaded: a very basic overview of the GCSE course.

This book is very useful for the course.

Tags: GCSE, revision guide

Okay, so the recordings may not have much new content (or even a fresh zingy jingle to mark their birth into a rough and visually dominated universe), but they are there on the lovely podcast page. All you really need now is a juicy broadband connection (or dial-up and a few spare days of not getting calls from your mum/gran/boyfriend/vet/computer repair person/hairdresser/local police chief) and you are away - either direct or via the now well publicised iTunes subscription method:



Feedback always appreciated.

Tags: podcast