8. Key Stage 3 Norman Conquest of England Why did William win the Battle of Hastings?

This is the eighth and final lesson in the Norman Conquest series of lessons, which explores how William the Conqueror was able to take control of England.

This lesson aims to give students an in depth understanding of the reasons why William won the Battle of Hastings, as well as developing students ability to categorise causes and to make judgements on importance. The lesson also explores the strengths and weaknesses of the Normand and Saxon armies.

This resource is a power point including the full lesson and all resources needed. It includes:

• A lesson title slide with a discussion question to get students thinking while they write the title and date
• Clear, smart, and differentiated learning objectives
• Starter- students choose which starter activity to complete- chronological order, explain the links, usefulness or add a picture
• Activity 1-students read through the information about soldiers used in the Saxon and Normand armies and then discuss their relative strengths and weaknesses with the person next to them
• Activity 2- In groups of 3/4, students read through the reasons why William won the Battle of Hastings and then categorise them into Tactics, Luck, William’s string leadership or Harold’s mistakes. Students then categorise the reasons by importance and then choose which one factor was the most important. I usually give each group of students a pack of cards and ask them to spread them over a desk as it is easier to sort them.
• Activity 3- Students plan an answer to a GCSE 12 mark explain why question. Students choose which planning sheet they to use- easy, medium, difficult,
• Plenary- in groups of 3, students must discuss the 3 questions
• Homework. students write out their answer to the GCSE question