A simple started activity - students learn the basics of Primary and Secondary sources by matching some images to the definition. This was made for low ability, SEN students, so uses visual and simple explanations. It could make a quick fire activity for more able students. Students can draw lines to connect or cut out and paste in their exercise books. As an extension, they can think of other examples. This uses a couple images of Queen Victoria for example purposes.

This is an end of unit test on the Stuarts. It could be used as an assessment or as a research task - with students trying to find the answers, perhaps on PCs. They’d done the Tudors before and then covered the Stuarts by looking at: Monarchs Catholicism and Protestantism Puritans The Witch Frenzy Source analysis The English Civil War Oliver Cromwell Plague Great Fire of London The assessment is differentiated THREE times. The three sets of questions all include some source questions, some option questions, and some open/closed questions. The questions for each set demonstrate the skills needed for Level 3, 4 and 5 in the History NC. If students are lower ability, I start them with the first sheet ‘Aiming for Level 3’ - if they complete this they can move onto ‘Aiming for Level 4’. If they are more able they can start with the Level 4 sheet and then do 5, or start with the Level 5. If they finish Level 5 (which has more thought provoking questions so does take longer, I let them go back to the Levels 3 and 4 sheets to recap. Sometimes it works to start all on Level 3 and see how far they can go (builds confidence when they can see they are literally progressing). Please feel free to edit or move questions based on what you have covered, but there’s a fairly good mix in here.

Three activities on witch hunting that can easily be extended or developed. A short cloze exercise, a handwriting task (that also allows for students to select pertinent information), and two sources that can be explored - Matthew Hopkins' book and a Salem lithograph produced late in 1892. Notes included.

I made this for an SEN group. It is effectively the same task differentiated 4 times. Two are ‘access’ or slightly easier, and two versions are slightly more ‘challenging’. This worked well where I had a range of abilities within one group so could give them all the same task and learning aim but a different version of the sheet to stretch/support as needed. Works well as a starter or recap and would be good for cover lessons as well as an easy go to task. To extend they could research more about the Kings and Queens, work out how long they were on the throne for and find out about Lady Jane Grey and why her ‘reign’ was so short.

Students read the information (sourced from BBC) and answer the questions. Some of the questions involve selecting information from the source. Some of the questions require students to apply their knowledge and consider primary sources. Marked out of 20. Allow 40minutes - 1hr to emanate the exam experience.

A pack of three revision sheets for Inter-War years topics: Anschluss Appeasement Invasion of Poland (Nazi-Soviet Pact) Each sheet has an overview and then some revision/exam style questions - including sources to analyse I made these for my SEN group as they like a clear focused revision task. Each one has taken up a lesson as we’ve read the info, discussed the topic, watched some relevant clips on youtube, answered the questions and checked them together. They would make good homework sheets or extensions as needed. I hope they help and good luck for the exams!

This can be used for just a class or a whole school! Hide the images of famous actors who have played a Shakespearean character around the school. There are 3 different quizzes that can be used to help students engage with the actors and the plays, from a simple 'Where is each picture hidden?' location quiz to a more thought-provoking quiz on well-known films the actors have been in to engage student interest! Great for a competition between groups!

Aimed at KS3 to help them develop annotation skills. The source is differentiated so students can complete annotation labels, write them themselves or cut and paste the labels around the source. There is an additional cloze exercise to be completed (or copied out) to help students learn to make notes and then write up their ideas. Whilst made for SEN (Autism/Dyslexia), this would work well as a starter for other ability levels.

A timeline activity - easily adapted. Suggestions on the sheet for staff to use. Made for a good lesson! I cut them into date with descriptor and students simply put them into order. Differentiated by splitting the dates from the descriptors. They added extra notes on other events and details on all (plenty of space if stuck on A3 sheets). This made a good start point for the Race Relations topics but also a revision task. Hope it helps :)

Some worksheets and activities to help distinguish between Catholics and Protestants following the reformation. It would work for KS3 or GCSE (Elizabethan's unit). There is a cloze exercise, a venn diagram activity, a quiz, a short comprehension task and a word search. This section focuses on the changes at the start of Queen Elizabeth's reign but references the reformation. Some of the activities are differentiated to account for SEN students or those who need challenging. Basic teacher notes included. Everything is in one powerpoint for ease and can be easily added to and adapted. Thanks :)

A scheme of over 150 slides on the history of the Native Americans. Links nicely to Geography with some lessons on the movement of peoples though Europe to the Americas, and impact of the Ice Age etc. Created for low ability Year 7 but some differentiated tasks included to stretch more able students. I taught this to a low set year 8 group as well and it was enjoyed. Notes included to explain activities and simple targets (assessment objectives discussed each lesson and decided on as a class as a plenary activity). My class wrote their work up neatly as homework, adding additional research notes and doing extra tasks. Worksheets (printed slides) were then compiled alongside to make a booklet at the end of the unit about Native Americans and their heritage. They really enjoyed this and found it good fun and fascinating!

This scheme of work was originally made for a SEN group but has since been differentiated for KS3 and taught at year 8 and year 9 to a range of abilities. Though it suits lower to mid for some activities, most lessons are easily adaptable to suit a higher ability class - particularly the Jack the Ripper case file section at the end. It has lessons on the history of Victorian Crime and Punishment, covering topics such as the Queen, the bloody code, Sweeney Todd (truth/fiction), Robert Peel, and the development of new detection methods (such as: finger prints and mugshots). Some a bit creepy or gory, so know your audience! Finally at the end is a case study of Jack the Ripper, which uses a range of original sources and offers students the chance to deduce who they think Jack was based on several possible suspects. This is themed around Sherlock Holmes for fun. There are over 200 slides and all worksheets are included. This has been a popular unit for several years at my school. There are notes on how to apply each worksheet and most slides have explanations. I’ve spent a long time developing this and the vast majority is my own work - I hope you and your students enjoy it!