In November 2006, dare2engage, a network of Christians working in 16+ education, piloted an RE day conference for a group of 120 sixth formers from Luton based on the Norman Stone film ‘Man Dancin’.

The idea for the conference came from our interest in developing new and innovative

Rejesus has an amazing collection of pictures of Jesus drawn from just about every culture and art tradition imaginable. It would make a great introduction to a lesson about Jesus. The web site includes a reader’s poll about which one you think Jesus would have been like, which would make a great

The Forgiveness Project is a charitable organisation which explores forgiveness, reconciliation and conflict resolution through real-life human experience. They describe themselves as trying to develop Awareness – raise the debate by collecting and sharing personal stories (and images), Education – encourage and empower people to explore the nature of forgiveness and alternatives to conflict and revenge and Inspiration – engage civil society, as well as transform hearts and minds.

RE Today have developed this brilliant game for getting young people talking about what they believe. It works as an activity within an RE lesson, lasting up to 30 or 35 minutes, and is great at getting students to articulate what they really think. The game isn’t free - it has to be bought from RE

‘Chasing God’ is a video resource from Teachers TV aimed at secondary RE. The hook is that it’s narrated by the comedian Dawn French. The intro on the Teachers TV site says:
“Narrated by award-winning comedian Dawn French, this programme tackles the eternal question of why so many humans believe in a higher power. Humanity is being threatened, especially by war, and in times of extreme upheaval, many people seek solace in a higher power. Could they be wrong? And if they’re right, who is this higher power? Chasing God takes us on an enlightening journey to: the Vatican and the Ganges; the Wailing Wall and the Dome of the Rock Mosque; and the Golden Temple and the Dalai Lama Temple in the Himalayas.”

Scenes from the Bible have been imagined by countless artists over the centuries, but never quite like this. God’s Eye View portrays four key Biblical events as if captured by Google Earth.

It’s the work of Sydney-based “creative collective” The Glue Society. The project was commissioned by Eric Romano of Pulse Art, New York for its Miami art fair. Romano had seen the group’s Hot with a Chance of a Late Storm installation, a comment on global warming in which a melting ice cream van oozed across the promenade and onto the sand at Tamarama in Australia last year as part of Sydney’s Sculpture by the Sea event, and commisssioned them to create this new work.

Complete Hero is a multimedia project looking at issues of peace and war. Their website says:

“Hero is an attempt to re-evaluate what we mean when we use the word ‘hero’.... Hero asks questions like why are our heroes usually male, white and violent.”

One of the most powerful elements of the project is a short film showing the blog entry of an American soldier serving in Iraq talking about violence and peace. Set to music and some simple moving images, the soldier talks about the futility of violence and the need to lay down weapons.

There are lots of sites on the web where you can design and print your own cards or stickers, but none comes close to ’Moo‘ for ease of use and quality of the finished product. Once you’ve uploaded your own photos (either directly or from Flickr), you design the loom at feel of the card or sticker and, hey presto, your results arrive through the post a few days later.

Moo postcards have great potential to be used as a classroom resource for schoolsworkers. You get 20 laminated postcards for £9.99 which is pretty reasonable given the quality and the fact that they’re laminated with a hard-wearing gloss.

Here’s an activity you can use in RE with pupils aged 7-11 to help them think about the cross of Jesus and its meanings.

‘Children Talking’ is a web-based database of pupils’ responses to key questions raised in RE, with a search facility and the option for pupils to add their own responses to the original questions. What that means is that you can get a list of quotes about a whole range of subjects from young people in the UK. And you can specify the age, gender and religion of the children or young people you want to hear from. Their comments could be really useful as part of an assembly or lesson.

A new partnership between yfc and youth alpha have developed an excellent resource for RE lessons.