Human Nature?

28th May 2025

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LIVE Event for students of Ethics for AS/A Level Religious Studies
With Dr Peter Vardy

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Dates for 2025-26

● London, 20th November 2025
● York, 5th March 2026
● Coventry, 10th March 2026
● London, 13th March 2026

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Building on the success of “Evil and the God of Love” and “The Word” in 2024-25, Candle Conferences presents an all-new LIVE event for students of Ethics for AS / A Level Religious Studies,“Human Nature?” will explore content specified by ALL ENGLISH EXAMINATION BOARDS, focusing on the compulsory Ethics papers. The event aims to get students really excited about the subject, enriching and extending their knowledge and understanding as well as supporting them in analysing, evaluating and making informed, well-reasoned academic judgements.

Sessions include…

1. Natural Law
   Through this introductory session Dr Vardy will outline and evaluate the Natural Law tradition in Ethics, starting with the work of Aristotle, including that of Aquinas and of modern moral philosophers including Germain Grisez, John Finnis and Bernard Hoose. He will ask whether Natural Law can offer useful moral guidance for Christians and/or for others when scholars can’t agree on what the basic human goods are, and if proportionalism offers the best way to apply natural law in the modern world. This session will conclude with a group activity, designed to get students making academic judgements.
2. Conscience
   The second session will explore the nature of conscience, considering the theological approach of Aquinas and the psychological approach of Freud as well as other views, before asking whether it is always right to follow one’s conscience. The relationship between Aquinas’ Natural Law and conscience will be explained and the question of if and how individuals should use Natural Law to make moral decisions about issues like Euthanasia or Sex will be considered This session will conclude with a whole-group discussion.
3. Utilitarianism
   The next session will explore Utilitarianism, considering its roots in Protestant Christianity and the view that human happiness as an end justifies the means of maximising it, before outlining and evaluating the non-religious normative approaches of Bentham and Mill as well as the contemporary version of Peter Singer. Dr Vardy will explore the similarities as well as the differences between Utilitarianism and Natural Law and then ask which approach is the most useful when it comes to making 21st Century decisions. This session will end with an activity, designed to help students to write successful essays.
4. Situation Ethics
   The last session of the day will consider whether Situation Ethics offers a happy middle way for Christians and non-Christians to make moral decisions and act on conscience as “a verb, not a noun”. Dr Vardy will explore the roots of Situation Ethics in the Bible and in the work of Kant, Temple, Bonhoeffer and Tillich before outlining and evaluating the approach of Joseph Fletcher. Is it fair to say that Fletcher’s Situation Ethics is just Utilitarianism by another name? This session will conclude with a debate on the motion “this house believes that murder can never be justified.” Students will prepare and contribute their academic arguments before a final vote is taken.

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About our speaker…

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Dr. Peter Vardy was Vice Principal of Heythrop College, University of London (1999-2011); he is internationally well-known as a leader in the fields of Religious Studies, Philosophy and Ethics and Values Education. Peter’s many books – including the best-selling “Puzzle of” series for HarperCollins – demonstrate his ability to communicate complex ideas with clarity, accuracy and humour. For more than three decades schools and colleges have looked to Peter to provide outstanding conferences, resources and CPD / INSET, both to support their work in RS and Philosophy and more broadly.

Peter was awarded an honorary doctorate for his work in promoting Religious Studies in schools by the University of Chichester in 2021.

Athens or Jerusalem?

28th May 2025

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LIVE Event for students of Philosophy of Religion for AS/A Level Religious Studies
With Dr Peter Vardy

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Dates for 2025-26

● Worcester, 12th November 2025
● London, 21st November 2025
● Manchester, 3rd March 2026
● Coventry, 9th March 2026
● London, 12th March 2026

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Building on the success of “Evil and the God of Love” and “The Word” in 2024-25, Candle Conferences presents an all-new LIVE event for students of the Philosophy of Religion for AS / A Level Religious Studies. “Athens or Jerusalem?” will explore content specified by ALL ENGLISH EXAMINATION BOARDS, focusing on the compulsory Philosophy of Religion paper. The event aims to get students really excited about the subject, enriching and extending their knowledge and understanding as well as supporting them in analysing, evaluating and making informed, well-reasoned academic judgements.

Sessions include…

1. Faith & Reason
   Through this introductory session Dr Peter Vardy will explore the relationship between faith and reason. Around the year 200 AD Tertullian asked “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” (Prescription Against Heretics, Chapter 7), identifying the existence of two competing strands within Christianity that had developed by that time and which persist to this day, explaining many of the challenges philosophers encounter when they study Christianity. This session will conclude with a small-group activity.
2. Arguing for God
   Through the second session Dr Vardy will outline and evaluate the attempts that have been made to argue for God’s existence. Is it possible to prove God’s existence a priori, from reason alone? Can God’s existence be demonstrated a posteriori from observations? Can God’s existence even be inferred as the best explanation for reality as we find it? This session places many of the A Level topics in context and will conclude with an exercise, designed to support students in making and defending academic judgements.
3. Religious Experience
   The next session will consider whether direct religious experiences – solitary or corporate – provide good evidence for the existence of God. Are they, as Hume and much later Dawkins suggested, just natural phenomena? Do they justify belief only for those who have them, as James argued, or do they provide good evidence for God’s existence for all of us, as Swinburne and Alston have maintained? As always, Dr Vardy will draw on rich and varied examples to make this topic come alive and the session will conclude with a discussion.
4. The nature of God
   The last session will draw the strands together, considering what the various arguments and religious experience suggest about the nature of God and then evaluating the extent to which these insights are coherent and compatible with Christian beliefs. In particular, Dr Vardy will explore the extent to which the evidence points to God being omnipotent and what that might mean, as well as the implications of omnipotence for the problem of evil and suffering. This session will conclude with a debate on the motion: “This house believes that faith has little to do with reason.” Students will prepare and contribute their academic arguments before a final vote is taken.

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About our speaker…

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Dr. Peter Vardy was Vice Principal of Heythrop College, University of London (1999-2011); he is internationally well-known as a leader in the fields of Religious Studies, Philosophy and Ethics and Values Education. Peter’s many books – including the best-selling “Puzzle of” series for HarperCollins – demonstrate his ability to communicate complex ideas with clarity, accuracy and humour. For more than three decades schools and colleges have looked to Peter to provide outstanding conferences, resources and CPD / INSET, both to support their work in RS and Philosophy and more broadly.

Peter was awarded an honorary doctorate for his work in promoting Religious Studies in schools by the University of Chichester in 2021.

Life & Death

13th May 2023

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LIVE Event for students of GCSE Religious Studies
With Dr Peter Vardy

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Dates for 2024-25

● Somerset (Sexey’s School, Bruton) 20th November 2024
● London (Bloomsbury Baptist Church) 26th November 2024
● Manchester (Methodist Central Hall) 27th February 2025
● Coventry (Cathedral) 4th March 2025
● London (Bloomsbury Baptist Church) 18th March 2025

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Building on the success of “Heaven?” in 2023-24, Candle Conferences presents an all-new LIVE event for students of GCSE Religious Studies. “Life & Death” will explore content specified by ALL ENGLISH EXAMINATION BOARDS in relation to the study of Christianity and Ethics, aiming to get students really excited about the subject, enriching and extending their knowledge and understanding as well as supporting them in analysing, evaluating and making informed, well-reasoned academic judgements.

● Tickets to the live event come with FREE access to our GCSE Masterclass for the academic year 2024-25 (worth £5 per student) and providing more than 2 hours of expert online tuition designed to improve writing skills and improve grades.

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Sessions include…

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Life & Death
The event will begin by exploring the concept of the sanctity of human life, which is central to most religious and some non-religious approaches to making moral decisions. Where does the belief that human life is sacred come from? If only human life is sacred, how and why is human life different from animal life… or even advanced AI? Is the value of human life absolute, or should it depend on the quality of life? Dr Vardy will go on to consider how the sanctity of human life influences religious teachings about abortion and euthanasia, while also inspiring some believers to challenge these teachings. This session will conclude with a discussion.

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Love: Life
After coffee, Dr Vardy will turn to the topic of human relationships. How have families and relationships changed in Britain, and what are their purposes from religious and non-religious perspectives? What really is marriage… a sacrament, a holy mystery or a solemn contract? Does marriage itself matter in the 21st Century, or is love and commitment enough? Why is it that Christians promote love as the basis for decision making and Jesus said not to judge and to practice unlimited forgiveness, while the Roman Catholic Church continues to oppose same-sex marriage and divorce? This session will conclude with an activity.

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The Death Penalty
In the next session, Dr Vardy will consider the topic of crime and punishment. What causes people to commit crimes? How do Christians view and try to help offenders? What aims should punishment serve? Christians are united in considering crimes against the person the most serious, yet divided over whether capital punishment is appropriate; why is this? How and why has Roman Catholic teaching on Capital Punishment changed over time? This session will conclude with an activity designed to support students in answering mini-essay style questions.

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A Just War?
The final session of the day will explore the topic of war and peace, ever more relevant given recent events in Ukraine and Gaza. Despite Jesus’ teaching about turning the other cheek and warning “those who live by the sword, die by the sword” relatively few Christians are pacifists today. How then do the Churches justify war… and how do they promote peace? Dr Vardy will outline and explain the traditional conditions for a “Just War” and will then consider how modern warfare challenges these. How has Pope Francis responded to recent events? Is the use of drones and autonomous weapons ever just? How about nuclear weapons? The session will conclude with a debate; students will first develop their own arguments in writing, and can then choose to present these to the whole group before a final vote is taken.

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The Word?

13th May 2023

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LIVE Event for students of
Christianity for AS/A Level Religious Studies
With Dr Peter Vardy

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Dates for 2024-25

● London (Bloomsbury Baptist Church) 25th November 2024
● York (St Peter’s School) 6th March 2025
● London (Bloomsbury Baptist Church) 20th March 2025

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“The Word?” follows on from the success of “The Puzzle of Christianity LIVE” (2022-24) and is an event specifically designed for students of Christianity for A Level Religious Studies.

Exploring content specified by ALL ENGLISH EXAMINATION BOARDS the event aims to get students really excited about the content, enriching and extending their knowledge and understanding as well as supporting them in analyzing, evaluating and making informed, well-reasoned academic judgments.

Sessions include…

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The Word?
The event will begin with the Bible, the authority and meaning of which underpins every aspect of the Christianity paper at A Level. Dr Vardy will outline “the greatest story ever told”, considering what the Bible is and how theologians can approach interpreting it, before asking what the Word of God should be considered to be. Is it fair to say that the Bible, despite being written by multiple authors over more than 1000 years, tells a single story? Is the quest for the historical “truth” of the Bible doomed to fail… and if so, what is the point of studying the Bible today? This session will end with an activity.

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Are Christian Ethics distinctive?
Next, Dr Vardy will ask what – if anything – unifies and underpins Christian ethics, making them distinctive? Building synoptic links between the Christianity and compulsory Ethics papers, he will outline and explain three traditions in Christian moral philosophy – divine command ethics, natural law and situation ethics – exploring the similarities as well as the obvious differences between them and assessing the extent to which each is compatible with what we know of Jesus’ ethic. Are some so-called “Christian ethics” just re-branded versions of secular ethical systems like Aristotelian or Kantian Ethics or Utilitarianism? Can Biblical Ethics be credible in the 21st Century? This session will conclude with an activity.

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Will I survive my death?
The next session will explore Christian teachings about life after death. Dr Vardy will first consider why life after death is important for Christians, and what characteristics such a life would have to have in order to make sense of other Christian beliefs, before outlining and explaining what the Roman Catholic and most Protestant Churches teach, identifying similarities and differences between these teachings, reasons for these and their implications. Finally, he will assess the extent to which each teaching is compatible with the Bible and with reason and consider how to approach a typical examination essay question.

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Jesus and Marx
The final session of the day will explore whether Christianity and Marxism are compatible. Dr Vardy will outline and explain the essentials of Marxist thought, as well as the similarities and differences with Christian thought, before assessing the idea that Jesus is best understood as a political liberator and revolutionary leader of the poor, or whether this is a misrepresentation. Arguments presented by Gutierrez, Boff and Kee will be evaluated and the session will end by linking back to the first session, considering the nature of truth in Christian theology and Biblical interpretation and the implications of this discussion. The event will conclude with a debate giving students the opportunity to develop and deliver their own contributions as well as to vote on the motion.

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Evil & the God of Love

13th May 2023

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LIVE Event for students of Philosophy of Religion and Ethics for AS/A Level Religious Studies
With Dr Peter Vardy

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Dates for 2024-25

● Worcester (Cathedral) 19th November 2024
● London (Bloomsbury Baptist Church) 22nd November 2024
● Coventry (Cathedral) 3rd March 2025
● Manchester (Methodist Central Hall) 12th March 2025
● London (Bloomsbury Baptist Church) 21st March 2025

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Building on the success of “God & the Good” in 2023-24, Candle Conferences presents an all-new LIVE event for students of the Philosophy of Religion and Ethics for AS / A Level Religious Studies. “Evil & the God of Love” will explore content specified by ALL ENGLISH EXAMINATION BOARDS, focusing on the compulsory Philosophy of Religion paper. The event aims to get students really excited about the subject, enriching and extending their knowledge and understanding as well as supporting them in analysing, evaluating and making informed, well-reasoned academic judgements.

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Sessions include…

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1. What is Evil?
   This opening session will explore and clarify the nature of evil. Dr Vardy will put Christian discussions about the Problem of Evil in context, considering how they have been influenced by very different conceptions of evil, from ancient religions on one hand, and from classical Greece on the other. Is evil a real force that possesses people, things and even places, competing with the good, or is it a lack of goodness which causes people and things to fall short of what they could be? This session will end with an activity.
2. Does Evil disprove God’s existence?
   In the next session, Dr Vardy will explore the philosophical problem of evil in both its logical and evidential forms. Bearing in mind the types and scale of suffering evident in the world – documented by writers from Dostoevsky to Primo Levi to Gregory S Paul – were Hume and Mackie right to claim that evil makes faith in the Christian God illogical… and did William Rowe actually succeed in using it to disprove God? Alternatively, is it illogical to suppose that we are in a position to judge God… as God reminded Job and as Wykstra, Hick and Swinburne have reiterated. This session will end with a discussion and Q&A.
3. The Augustinian Theodicy
   Next, Dr Vardy will outline and evaluate St Augustine’s multi-layered and sophisticated attempt to resolve the problem of evil. Even if evil is “privatio boni”, is God – being both omniscient and omnibenevolent – justified in having created anything at all? How did St Augustine redefine God’s attributes as well as evil to dilute the challenge of evil? Is St Augustine guilty of putting undue weight on a literalist interpretation of Genesis 2-3? How can he rely on the free-will defence, while also arguing that God chooses who to save by grace (and without reference to anything we have done) rendering our lives theologically determined? Is Alvin Plantinga’s free will defence a more credible solution to the problem of evil? This session will conclude with an activity.
4. Evil & the God of Love
   Finally, Dr Vardy will explore and evaluate John Hick’s attempt to develop a “theodicy for today” in response to the horrors of the mid-20th Century through “Evil & the God of Love”(1966). Is Hick right to reject defining evil as “privatio boni”? To what extent was Hick actually influenced by St Irenaeus? Does his suggestion that God created humans as animals with only the potential to develop towards a full spiritual life through experiencing a “vale of soul making” really defend God’s omnipotence? What sort of an afterlife would be necessary to make up for inequalities in suffering and opportunities to develop? Can this approach ever account for animal suffering? This session will conclude with a debate, giving students the opportunity to develop and deliver their own contributions as well as to vote on the motion “This house believes that evil shows that an omnipotent, omnibenevolent God cannot exist!”

Ethics Matters

29th August 2021

Sixth Form Religious Education Day
With Dr Peter Vardy

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“Ethics Matters” is a face-to-face bespoke event designed to support general Religious Education in the Sixth Form. Combining pacy, engaging lectures with activities, discussions and debates, “Ethics Matters” helps students to understand and think through their responses to some of the hottest hot-button issues confronting our society today. In each lecture, a range of religious perspectives will be outlined and explained, along with non-religious perspectives and students will be encouraged to evaluate these perspectives, considering which they agree with and why.

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Sessions include:

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Genetics
The first lecture will explore the fast-developing world of genetics. Since CRISPR was unveiled in 2012 a whole world of new possibilities have opened up, ranging from “healthy” cooking oil to fry chips (made from genetically edited plants) through to editing the genomes of embryos to create babies immune to HIV. Nevertheless, as the saying goes, just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should… so, what are the moral objections to tampering with genetics, including religious objections, and should we be worried? This session will conclude with an activity and a Q&A session.

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Fertility
According to NICE and the NHS 1 in every 7 heterosexual couples now have difficulty conceiving, and rates of infertility are rising. This second lecture will explore the current state of fertility treatment before opening up the ethical questions surrounding this whole area, ranging from who should fund treatment through to whether commercial surrogacy should be legalized. A range of religious and non-religious perspectives will be explained and evaluated. This session will end with a debate.

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An Aging Population
Average life expectancy across the UK rose by 0.15% last year to 81.5 years. Putting that in context, life expectancy in 1921 was 57.6 years. While this is great news on many levels, it has and will continue to cause problems; projections suggest that by 2050, 25% of the UK population will be over 65! The final lecture will open up the implications of our aging population for a whole range of issues ranging from politics and taxation through NHS funding and debates over paying for social care and assisted dying, considering whether human life is sacred and should be preserved and extended at all costs (as some religious people believe) or whether its value depends to an extent on its quality (as other religious and most non-religious people believe). This session will conclude with a group discussion.

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Poverty and Inequality NEW SESSION
By 2023, the richest 50 families in the UK held more wealth than half of the UK population, 33.5 million people. Inequality is a huge and growing global problem as well, with the world’s richest 1% owning nearly half of all the world’s wealth. According to Forbes, the 10 richest billionaires own an astonishing $1.448 trillion, a sum greater than the total goods and services most nations produce on an annual basis. On the other hand, the poorest 50 percent of the world population is responsible for just 12 percent of global carbon emissions but will shoulder 75 percent of the income losses projected to occur as a result of climate change. This session will explore what causes such inequality and the poverty that is its result, as well as what can and should be done about it, covering and evaluating a range of religious and non-religious perspectives. This session will conclude with a debate.

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Arranging a Bespoke Event with Candle Conferences couldn’t be simpler – just send us an e-mail on info@candleconferences.com and our administrator will get back to you to discuss possible dates and then answer any questions you may have.

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Developments in Christian Thought

29th August 2021

A Level Religious Studies Workshop

with Dr Peter Vardy

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“Developments in Christian Thought” is an intensive one-day workshop for students of A Level Religious Studies, that has been designed to be run as a face-to-face bespoke event in your school. Combining pacy, engaging lectures with plenty of activities, discussions and debates, “Developments in Christian Thought” will bring content related to all four English specifications to life and help students to appreciate their significance.

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Please note that this is NOT a revision or exam coaching event; no prior-knowledge will be assumed and the aim will be to enrich and extend students’ learning in Religious Studies. Sessions are suitable for Year 12 or Year 13 students – or a mixture of both – and the event works well at any point during the academic year. Some schools have invited the most able Year 11 students to similar events in the past to give them a “taster” of the A Level and support recruitment.

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Schools will be provided with a rich .pdf resource booklet to duplicate and distribute to each student at the beginning of the event, so that students can fill it in as they go and have a useful record of what they have done for their files.

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Sessions include:

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Christian Thought
This introductory session explores the fundamentals of Christian thought and identifies key debates that have given rise to conflict and diversity within the religion through its long history.

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St. Augustine
After a short break, the second session focuses in on St. Augustine’s contribution to Christian thought, considering how his work influenced responses to topics including the problem of evil and suffering, pluralism and gender.

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Secularism
After lunch, the third session moves forward to the 20th Century and evaluates both a range of arguments for secularism – including those associated with Marx, Freud and Dawkins – and different Christian responses to those arguments.

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Liberation Theology
After coffee, the final session will explore how the Roman Catholic Church responded to the emergence of Liberation Theology and the implications of this response for understandings of Jesus and of Authority in the Church, the interpretation and use of the Bible and the relationship between Religion and Politics.

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Arranging a Bespoke Event with Candle Conferences couldn’t be simpler – just send us an e-mail on info@candleconferences.com and our administrator – a highly experienced RS teacher herself – will get back to you to discuss possible dates and then answer any questions you may have.

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Religion and Life

29th August 2021

GCSE Religious Studies Workshop
With Dr Peter Vardy

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.“Religion and Life” is an intensive one-day workshop for students of GCSE Religious Studies, that has been designed to be run as a face-to-face bespoke event in your school. Combining pacy, engaging lectures with plenty of activities, discussions and debates, “Religion and Life” will bring content related to all four English GCSE specifications to life and help students to appreciate their significance.

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Please note that this is NOT a revision or exam coaching event; no prior-knowledge will be assumed and the aim will be to enrich and extend students’ learning in Religious Studies. Sessions are suitable for Year 10 or Year 11 students – or a mixture of both – and the event works well at any point during the academic year. Some schools have invited the most able Year 9 students to similar events in the past to give them a “taster” of the GCSE and support recruitment.

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Sessions include:

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How do Christians make moral decisions?
This introductory session introduces your GCSE students to Christian Ethics and explores the reasons why there is such diversity between denominations – and individual Christians – when responding to “hot button” issues. Particular attention will be given to how Christians do – and do not – use the Bible to guide their decision-making and the session will end with an activity designed to help students express their appreciation of diversity within Christianity and how Christians use the Bible on paper.

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The Environment
The second session will explore Religious teaching related to the environment and will confront the tough question: are religions partly to blame for climate change and/or the failure to tackle it? This session will conclude with a group discussion.

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Animals
The third session will explore religious teaching about the treatment of animals, including both eating animals and testing on them. This session will conclude with a written activity designed to support students in writing effective 12/15 markers.

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Euthanasia
The final session of the day will explore the difficult issue of Euthanasia. Religious teachings about the sanctity of human life as well as quality of life arguments will be outlined and evaluated and the session will conclude with a formal debate on the motion: “this house believes that assisted dying should be legalised in the UK!”

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Arranging a Bespoke Event with Candle Conferences couldn’t be simpler – just send us an e-mail on info@candleconferences.com and our administrator – a highly experienced RS teacher herself – will get back to you to discuss possible dates and then answer any questions you may have.

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What is Truth?

29th August 2021

Sixth Form Religious Education Workshop
With Dr Peter Vardy

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.“What is Truth” is a face-to-face bespoke event designed to support general Religious Education in the Sixth Form.

Combining pacy, engaging lectures with activities, discussions and debates, “What is Truth?” will explore the most important question for our time and the implications of different answers to it for different academic disciplines… and for life!

Sessions include:

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What is Truth?

This introductory session, which uses plenty of engaging film-clips and images, charts how ideas of truth have changed and developed through history from the Bible to the scientific enlightenment, to the development of fundamentalist ideologies and world war to the rise of postmodernism, post-truth and culture wars. Dr Vardy will also introduce students to some basic tools to support critical thinking, showing them how to evaluate evidence of different types and how to spot a fallacious argument, concluding with a practical activity.

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Truth and Ethics: Are right and wrong just a matter of opinion?

The next session considers the implications of challenges to the idea of truth for ethics. The scientific enlightenment and resultant process of secularisation made it difficult to rely on revealed moral laws outside of a faith-community, so without God are there any moral absolutes, or is right and wrong relative to one’s culture or even one’s personal preferences? This session will end with a discussion.

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A Just War? [NEW SESSION]

The next session applies what students have learned about ethics to the issue of war. In the past Islam and Christianity influenced the development of Just War Theory which is now the basis for international law, but the development of new weaponry and tactics threaten to undermine this today. Can nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and lethal autonomous weapons (LAWs) such as drones and fighting robots be part of a just war? What is the future of warfare? This session will conclude with a Q&A session.

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Artificial Intelligence [NEW SESSION]

The final session will explore the significance and implications of AI, both practically and philosophically. In what direction is AI research going? Will generative AI have more positive or negative effects in the end? Does AI present an existential risk to human societies, or have the risks been overstated? To what extent might AI be considered conscious or have rights? This session provides an essential introduction to the wider issues associated with a technology most young people are beginning to take for granted. This session will conclude with a lively debate.

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Arranging a Bespoke Event with Candle Conferences couldn’t be simpler – just send us an e-mail on info@candleconferences.com and our administrator will get back to you to discuss possible dates and then answer any questions you may have.

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GCSE MASTERCLASS

29th August 2021

IMPROVE YOUR WRITING-SKILLS FOR GCSE RELIGIOUS STUDIES

Online Course with Charlotte Vardy

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Academic Year 2025-26

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GCSE Religious Studies is not easy!

Not only are students expected to learn a huge amount of detailed, challenging content in very little time, but they also need to be able to evaluate any aspect of that content in the exam, making and defending a well-informed academic judgement… in 15 minutes or less!

● Even when they know and understand the material, many students struggle to write good answers to the 12/15 mark questions, and this stands in the way of them achieving the top grades.

● Other students struggle to know how to develop the points they make, using and analysing evidence appropriately.

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Building on the success of our Masterclass for A Level Religious Studies, this unique online course, written and presented by Charlotte Vardy, aims to support GCSE RS students in improving their writing-skills for GCSE Religious Studies, whatever exam-board and options they are working with…

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● Each student receives their own login details by e-mail, which will provide access to the course until 31st July 2026.

● The course comprises a .pdf booklet to print off and work through as students watch a series of video-units, each a maximum of 20 minutes long.

● Students can work through the course at their own pace. In total the course will take at least 2 hours to complete.

● We provide a multiple-choice “theory test” which schools can use to test students understanding of the course-content, should this be appropriate.

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A LEVEL MASTERCLASS

14th April 2021

IMPROVE YOUR ESSAY-SKILLS FOR A LEVEL RELIGIOUS STUDIES

WITH CHARLOTTE VARDY

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Academic Year 2025-26

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A Level Religious Studies is not easy! Not only are students expected to get to grips with a huge amount of detailed, challenging content in short order, but they are also expected to make academic judgments, advance and defend scholarly arguments in response to all aspects of that content. Even when they know and understand the material, many students struggle to write good essays, and this stands in the way of them achieving C+ grades. Many students ask…

• Is there a “right way” of writing an A Level essay?
• What actually is an essay beyond being an extended piece of writing?
• What is the most effective way to structure an essay in the exam?

This unique and popular online course answers these questions and aims to support students in improving their essay skills for A level Religious Studies as they move through the course.

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Written and presented by experienced teacher and author Charlotte Vardy, this unique and popular online course answers these questions and aims to support students in improving their essay skills for A level Religious Studies as they move through the course.

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● Students receive their own login details by e-mail, which provide access to the course from September 2025 through to the end of July 2026.

● Each of the 10 video-units lasts around 20 minutes, and comes with a range of practical activities to complete in a workbook.

● Students can work through the course at their own pace, but in total the course will take at least 4 hours to complete

● The course concludes with an online “theory-test”, the results of which can be certificated.

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“I’d like to thank you for this amazing learning resource. It has been incredibly helpful and was presented so clearly and effectively. Thank you!”

GP, Student 2021

STEPPING UP

14th April 2021

AN ONLINE COURSE FOR STUDENTS BEGINNING A LEVEL RELIGIOUS STUDIES

With Charlotte Vardy

Academic Year 2025-26

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“Stepping Up” is Candle Conferences’ online transition-course, designed specially for students preparing to start or just beginning A Level Religious Studies and aiming to give them a solid foundation for success.

Units include…

1. Introducing A Level Religious Studies
2. What does it mean to say “God exists”?
3. Is murder always wrong?
4. What is Christianity?
5. Study Skills
6. Writing your first essay

Each of the six units comprises a series of short videos, accompanied by a sequence of varied and stretching activities for students to complete. The whole course will take a minimum of 6 hours to complete (probably longer) and could be set in its entirety as transition work or unit at a time as easy and useful homeworks, ideal to get students used to independent work as they start in the Sixth Form.
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Students can work through the units at their own pace and in any order. Each will receive their own login details, which provide access to the videos through a secure page of our website, as well as a .pdf transition-pack to download and fill in to support and extend their learning and provide useful evidence of what they have done. The course ends with recommendations for further reading and suitable enrichment and extension activities.

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No prior-knowledge is assumed, so the course is accessible whether or not students have taken GCSE Religious Studies.

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Presenter Charlotte Vardy combines teaching Religious Studies across the age and ability range in an local Church School with her work in planning Candle Conferences’ events & resources and presenting online courses and lecture-series like this one. With 20+ years’ experience in schools, including Senior and Middle Leadership, she has worked as an educational consultant and teacher-trainer in the UK and internationally. She has a Masters’ Degree with distinction in Philosophy from the University of London, attended the Universities of Oxford (MA Theology) and Cambridge (PGCE Secondary RS), and has written four books for students of A Level Religious Studies.

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