A lesson that fits in nicely to a sequence about the Norman conquest - this lesson focuses on what problems William faces in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Hastings and then in the longer term after he has been crowned King. The students are given a number of problems (I normally make them into scrolls and deliver one to each student) and they have to come up with their own solutions. Once they have done this for each problem, there is a discussion quiz that goes through the different potential solutions to each problem and reveals the option that William took. At the end, there is a task where they compare their decisions to William’s, and think about what they show us about William as a leader.

A nice self contained lesson where the students debate the qualities of a good leader, and then apply their ideas to the profiles of the contenders to the throne in 1066 to decide who they think would make the best leader - a classic lesson! This is a very versatile lesson - you can do the activites within the lesson, or you could change and adapt the profiles to suit your class - making top trumps for each of the contenders is always fun!

A fun lesson in which the students try and draw out the comparisons between Brexit and the Reformation in 1534. All built around an FT article (pretty challenging- there is a lower ability version that I created but it’s still a challenging read) from which the students draw comparisons. They then have a go at running a “Tudor Brexit” campaign, arguing for either remaining in the Catholic Church or Leaving it.

A lesson for Year 8 about why there was a witch craze in England after the 17th century - resources pinched from various locations as well as my own work; it may be nice to add a source activity in there too!