I am a History Teacher with a love for producing high quality and easily accessible history lessons, which I have accumulated and adapted for over 20 years of my teaching career. I appreciate just how time consuming teaching now is and the difficulty of constantly producing resources for an ever changing curriculum.
I am a History Teacher with a love for producing high quality and easily accessible history lessons, which I have accumulated and adapted for over 20 years of my teaching career. I appreciate just how time consuming teaching now is and the difficulty of constantly producing resources for an ever changing curriculum.
AQA GCSE Britain: Power and the People, c.1170 to the present day
The aim of this Revision Guide is to help students with their revision for the GCSE History exam.
This 33 page Revision Guide is broken down into four sections: challenging authority and feudalism, challenging royal authority, reform and reformers and equality and rights.
The Revision Guide starts by explaining the 4 questions types asked in the exam and gives suggestions and tips on the easiest way to tackle these.
The Revision Guide gives over 20 typical exam questions asked on each topic (from significance, to how useful, to similarities and differences to factors) and how to put these questions into practice with model answers.
This Guide has been designed to be engaging, detailed and easy to follow and can be adapted and changed to suit with PDF and Word formats attached.
This Revision Guide can be used for revision, interleaving, within the classroom as well for homework purposes.
Any reviews on this resource would be much appreciated.
This lesson aims to explore how Elizabeth approached the difficult subject of religion in Tudor England.
Students are given the context of the religious situation left to Elizabeth by her predecessors, which will then give them answers as to why she took a calm and pragmatic approach to it.
Furthermore they have to decide through a colour coding exercise which were the smallest and major problems she faced with religion before deciphering her religious settlement using a text mapping activity.
Key questions can be used to understand the decisions she took.
A sequencing activity reinforces the learning of the lesson and its significance.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
This bundle is the first part in a series of lessons I have created for AQA GCSE 9-1 Elizabethan England 1568-1603.
Having taught this unit for a number of years, I have tweaked the order of lessons I now teach at the beginning.
As well as teaching Elizabeth I’s court, government and parliament, I have included Elizabeth’s favourites and an introduction to the religious settlement (which are offered as free lessons), as I felt students were getting confused without these aspects of the course being referred to early on.
The theme throughout this bundle of lessons is to examine how Elizabeth tried to assert her authority and control in the first half of her reign.
The lessons contain different tasks to challenge the students and are differentiated. Furthermore each lesson focuses on how to answer a GCSE practice question from the exam, notably in this unit a source, write an account and significance question.
The lessons are as follows:
L1: An introduction to Elizabeth
L2 Elizabethan Court and Government
L3 Which problems did Elizabeth face in her first ten years?
L4 Elizabeth and marriage
L5 Who were Elizabeth’s key people? (free resource)
L6 The Elizabethan Religious Settlement (free resource)
L7 Threats from the Norfolk and Ridolfi Plots
L8 The Essex Rebellion
L9 Catholic threats at home and abroad
L10 The Puritan threat
L11 The threat of Mary, Queen of Scots
The lessons are enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lessons and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning.
The resources includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and come in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Any reviews would be gratefully received.
AQA GCSE Elizabethan England 1568-1603
This Revision Guide is aimed to help students prepare fully for their GCSE exam in this unit of study
Within this 40 page Revision Guide, there are 18 GCSE exam questions and guidance of how to answer them throughout.
At the start of the Guide, there are tips on how the students can access the four main questions and advice on how to put this into practice with model answers given from the exam board.
There are also four pages in the Guide dedicated to the 2026 Environmental Study, Hardwick Hall with a focus on knowledge and understanding and second order concepts.
A couple of possible exam questions have been included which AQA could ask focusing on the main themes from the AQA guidance given.
This Guide has been designed to be engaging, detailed, easy to follow and allows the students to access the higher grades in the examination.
It comes in PDF and Word format and can be adapted and changed to suit.
Any reviews on this resource would be much appreciated.
The aim of this lesson is to evaluate the importance of the Tudors and assess how much the students know about them.
The key skill of chronology is introduced from the start as students decide which Tudor came first to which came last.
Key questions floating past the screen as well as the wall of mystery give clues and answers to some interesting and gruesome facts on the Tudor family.
Students have the chance to create their own timelines, factual displays, key question and answer quizzes or an A-Z of Tudor facts.
The lesson finishes which two plenaries to choose from which both test their new found knowledge.
The resource comes in PowerPoint formats if there is a wish to adapt and change. I have also included suggested teaching strategies and differentiated resources to deliver the lesson.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The Industrial Revolution
This lesson aims to examine the revolution in transport which affected Britain between 1750-1900.
Students first look at the problems of transport in Britain. They examine the roads (if you could call them that) and look at how they were changed and improved in conjunction with the railways and canals.
There are sources to analyse and a differentiated group work task as well as video footage giving further clarity.
Ultimately students have to evaluate the biggest impact these changes made in Britain, whether it be increased wealth and international trade to the standardisation of time or being connected throughout the British Empire.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning.
The resource comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson and there are differentiated materials included.
The aim of this lesson is to understand why Britain was such a good place to invade.
Students are given a thinking quilt to link words and meanings together and challenge their reasoning skills.
Further information will help them understand what Britain had to offer to invaders giving context to its cities, markets and population as well as natural resources and weather.
Students are then required to justify why England was a good place to invade in 1066, with prompts and help given if required.
The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies.
It comes in PowerPoint format which can be amended and changed to suit.
AQA GCSE 9-1 Elizabethan England, 1568-1603
This lesson questions if there really was an Elizabethan Golden Age or was it really a myth?
Was it just some Elizabethan propaganda to promote Elizabeth I and the Tudors?
The students get themselves involved in a mini debate agreeing or refuting the question using Cornell Note taking before presenting their findings to the class.
They will also tackle a GCSE ‘write an account’ question before peer assessing it and deciding what went well and how they need to improve the answer.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
AQA GCSE 9-1 Elizabethan England, 1568-1603
I devised this lesson not long into teaching my Year 11 groups about Elizabeth, as they soon became confused with all the advisors, favourites and ‘Roberts’ in her life.
This lesson attempts to clarify and simplify the role of these men and why she needed them.
This is an independent research task as the students find out key information and record it on a grid. The ‘significance’ question in the exam is also addressed as they evaluate their importance to Elizabeth.
The plenaries at the end of the lesson include canalysing a video clip as well as testing their knowledge and challenging their thinking skills.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
This 40 page revision guide is tailored to the Edexcel Weimar and Nazi Germany 1918-1939 specification for GCSE.
It is broken down into 4 main sections: The Weimar Republic, Hitler’s rise to power, Nazi control and dictatorship and life in Nazi Germany.
This revision guide includes 21 GCSE practice exam questions throughout on the 6 main questions and gives examples on how to answer each using model answers.
This will enable all learners to achieve the higher grades required by the exam board, including the skills of explanation, inference and interpretation as well as source utility.
The information is also broken down into an easy to use format to aid the students in their revision programme. I have also included some useful mnemonics for specific areas of study which have really helped in the past to remember subject content.
This Guide has been designed to be engaging, detailed and easy to follow and come in PDF format. It can be used for revision, interleaving, homelearning as well as class teaching.
Any reviews on this resource would be much appreciated. Please email me for a free copy of my Edexcel Weimar and Nazi Germany revision summary guide if you do.
AQA GCSE 9-1 Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
This 33 page Revision Guide is broken down into 3 main sections: Germany 1890-1918, the Weimar Republic 1918-1933, Nazi Dictatorship 1933-1945
This Revision Guide includes practice exam questions and gives examples and tips on how to answer each.
It will enable all learners to achieve the higher grades with clear guidance on how to achieve them. The questions target the main questions in the exam from interpretations and source analysis, cause and consequence, change and continuity, significance and evaluation.
The Revision Guide also gives the students some useful mnemonics to remember some of the key details such as the Treaty of Versailles, problems in the Weimar, recover under Stresemann and Hitler’s consolidation of power for example.
The information is also broken down into an easy to use format to aid the students. This Revision Guide can be used for revision, interleaving, home learning as well as class teaching. For home learning, each student taking GCSE History in my school has a copy assigned to them on the school's drive and it is used frequently when using google classroom assignments, such as homework and revision for assessments.
This Revision Guide has been designed to be engaging, detailed and easy to follow and can be edited and changed to suit, It comes in both Word and PDF format.
Any reviews on this resource would be much appreciated. Please email me for a free copy of any of my resources worth £3.00 if you do.
I have also made similar revision resources for AQA GCSE 9-1 include Britain: Health and the People c.1000 to the present day, Elizabethan England c,1568-1603, Conflict and Tension and Power and the People.
The English Civil War
This lesson aims to explore the problems Charles brought upon himself to cause the English Civil War.
Students are given information which they have to analyse and decide how and why there were opposing views from Parliament and the King on how to run the country.
The use of contemporary accounts and propaganda posters will challenge the more able as well.
Students justify who in their opinion is to blame for the Civil War and demonstrate their learning at the end of the lesson using factor and function symbols.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials, and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
With the National Curriculum in mind, I have created a set of resources which focus on ’the development of the British Empire' with depth studies on India and Australia.
Furthermore I have been inspired to review and adapt these teaching resources due to recent debates about the impact of the British Empire on the indigenous peoples it conquered and the legacy of Empire and how it influences us still today.
I would like to thank Sathnam Sanghera for his brilliant book ‘Empireland’ and his enlightened debate on the British Empire and how and why it should be taught in schools.
This bundle includes historical concepts such empire and colonisation, continuity and change with a focus on the East India Company, the causes and consequences of British rule in India, similarities and differences within the British Empire, the analysis of sources and different interpretations of colonisation such as Australia and finally the significance of people such as Robert Clive, Mahatma Gandhi and Lord Kitchener and their legacy today.
The 13 lessons are broken down into the following:
1) An introduction to Empire
2) The American War of Independence
3) The British East India Company
4) Robert Clive
5) Focus Study – India
6) Gandhi and Indian independence
7) Focus Study - Transportation to Australia
8) The colonisation of Australia
9) The Scramble for Africa
10) The Zulu Wars
11) The Boer War
12) Apartheid and Nelson Mandela
Bonus lesson:
13) Empire soldiers in World War 1
Each lesson comes with suggested teaching and learning strategies, retrieval practice activities, differentiated materials and are linked to the latest historical interpretations, video clips and debate.
The lessons are fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be adapted and changed to suit.
The British Empire
The aim of this lesson is to explore the reasons for why Africa became so important to the British Empire and how its people were affected in a global race to exploit it.
The scramble for Africa was the reference given by the Times newspaper when several European nations, including Britain, took over most of the continent of Africa.
These countries looked to Africa to enrich themselves; students learn which resources they could acquire and analyse the various reasons these European powers grabbed whatever land they could.
A thinking quilt challenges thinking and ideas for this scramble and the dangers involved for European nations, whilst a true or false quiz and summarising pyramid checks understanding and reinforces the aims of the lesson.
There is also an excellent video link to Cecil Rhodes and his importance to British colonial power in Africa.
The lesson comes with retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching and learning strategies, differentiated materials and is linked to the latest historical interpretations, video clips and debate.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning.
The lesson is fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be changed to suit.
Middle Ages
This lesson aims to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of attacking Rochester Castle and understand why it was built in such a strategic position.
It also explores the reasons why the Castle was seized by some disaffected knights in 1215 and why King John was so keen to recapture it.
Students have to evaluate the most effective ways of attacking and defending a Castle and learn how difficult medieval siege warfare was.
The second aim of the lesson is to examine how and why it was captured in the first place, as students continue to analyse the power struggle between the barons and the King.
There is a brilliant video link to the siege which the students follow and answer questions on.
Finally they plot the power struggle between the king, the church, the barons and the people in a sequence of lessons.
This lesson includes:
Fun, engaging and challenging tasks
Links to video footage
Printable worksheets
Suggested teaching strategies
PowerPoint format, which can be changed to suit
The American West 1835-1895, GCSE 9-1 Edexcel
This lesson aims to introduce students to the course and some of the key ideas which will affect America in the 19th Century ranging from Manifest Destiny to survival, colonisation, migration and civilise.
Students are introduced to the Great Plains and its weather extremes as well as the Plains Indians and their communities.
Using an enquiry based learning question, students are required to annotate around a lightbulb. This is central to this unit of study and students will map this out over the course of each lesson to show progression.
Questions are also asked throughout to challenge assumptions, culminating in a balloon debate as to who can move America forward into becoming a great nation.
A road map task on the American West at the end tests their new knowledge and is ideal for setting as a homework.
The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies.
It comes in PowerPoint formats if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The British Empire
This lesson focuses on the role Gandhi played in achieving Indian independence from Britain which ultimately cost him his life.
The first part of the lesson looks at why the Indian population were unhappy with British rule, from the Indian Mutiny of 1857, events happening abroad to the Rowlatt Act culminating in the Amritsar Massacre.
They are then introduced to Gandhi, his philosophy of passive resistance (or as he called it satyagraha) and why he set up his Independent Congress Party. This is accompanied with some excellent video footage from the BBC as well as clips from the film ‘Gandhi’ by Sir Richard Attenborough.
The second part of the lesson centers around his life and by analysing various sources from which they complete either a table or grid; students then have to decide how big a part Gandhi played in many events leading to Independence and his lasting legacy for India in 1947.
The lesson comes with retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching and learning strategies, differentiated materials and is linked to the latest historical interpretations, video clips and debate.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning.
The lesson is fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be changed to suit.
The Industrial Revolution
The aim of this lesson is to question how effective Victorian justice was.
This is an interesting and engaging lesson for students as they decide who was a criminal (from their looks), which were the most common crimes in the early 1800’s and what you could expect at a public hanging though some source analysis.
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to answer the following questions:
Why was it so easy to commit crime in the Victorian period in the early nineteenth century and if you were unfortunate to get caught what could you expect from Victorian justice?
What was the Bloody Code and why was the law so harsh to offenders irrespective in some cases of sex or age?
There are also three case studies to unpick and students are left questioning the morality and effectiveness of the punishments inflicted.
Please note that the reform of the criminal justice system is dealt with in other lessons such as the Victorian prison system and the setting up of the Metropolitan Police force by Sir Robert Peel and the abolition of the Bloody Code.
There are a choice of plenaries from hangman to bingo and heart, head, bag, bin which get the students to prioritise the most ‘effective’ methods used to deal with crime.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning.
The resource comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson and there are differentiated materials included.
Cold War
The aim of this lesson is to understand the causes behind the building of the Berlin Wall and the consequences for Berliners during the height of the Cold War.
Students analyse the differences between life on the East and West sides of Berlin to understand why thousands of Germans continued to cross the border to make a better life in West Berlin.
The second part of the lesson focuses on the building of the wall, using statistics, graffiti art and the personal account of Conrad Shuman in a thinking quilt to develop further understanding and evaluate its significance in the context of the Cold War.
The central enquiry of this and subsequent lessons is to ask why did civilians fear for their lives? Students will map out their ideas each lesson (which can be plotted in different colours or dates to show the progress of their learning and centred around the key question) and build up a picture of how these and different countries in the world responded and acted in this new nuclear age.
The resource comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change and is differentiated.
I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson.
Cold War
The aims of this lesson are to explain how weapons developed during the Cold War in the aftermath of World War 2.
The new destructive power of the atomic bomb is shown in a great video link and students colour code a worksheet (differentiated) with challenge questions to describe and explain the development of the arms race.
Facts and figures are also given which students have to interpret, as well as key word tasks and source analysis, with help given if required.
The plenary is literally an arms ‘race’ complete with interactive dice and bombs as board pieces.
The central enquiry of this and subsequent lessons is to ask why did civilians fear for their lives? Students will map out their ideas each lesson (which can be plotted in different colours or dates to show the progress of their learning and centred around the key question) and build up a picture of how these and different countries in the world responded and acted in this new nuclear age.
The resource comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change and is differentiated.
I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson.
