Teaching Resources
Free, practical resources for taking stories beyond the final page.
Some resources begin with well-loved children’s books. Others sit alongside my own historical stories and Young Readers titles. Use what is useful, adapt it for your children, and leave what is not. The story is the starting point; the learning grows from there.
The Things Left Behind — Teacher Resources
Free resources built around the real stories, evidence and questions behind Tommy, Ken and Walter.
Tommy
First World War enquiry through memory, family evidence and historical sources, suitable for Upper Key Stage 2.
Ken
Wartime diaries, geography, communication and the small objects that can carry a much bigger story.
Resources coming soon.
Walter
Social history through shops, rationing, old money, decimalisation, local history and changing everyday life.
Book-led learning
The original Beyond the Story Shelf resources are still here too: ideas for using children’s books as a launch pad into discussion, literacy and the wider curriculum.
Start with the story
The resources here are designed to be dipped into rather than followed as a rigid scheme. Find the question, source or curriculum connection that adds something useful to your learners — and build from there.
