Those of you who have been used to teaching Roman Britain before the new Key Stage 2 history curriculum was introduced in 2014 will notice some important differences. The key change is to place the history of Roman Britain within the broader context of the Roman Empire. This is largely because at KS3 fewer schools now study the Roman Empire. So at KS2 we now need to look more closely at the reasons for the expansion of the Roman empire and how the Romans managed to keep control over such a vast area. Whilst we will still carry on with our work on interpretations of Boudica (Boudicca), the differences between Celtic and Roman life styles in town and country, and the Roman legacy, we need to find some time to look at why the mighty Roman empire came to an end. With all KS2 schools now studying the Iron Age pupils now have a better awareness of the Britain the Romans conquered and their study of the Saxons should help them to grasp the immediate legacy the Romans left behind. All lessons are 2014 compliant and relate directly to the outstanding medium-term planner. Please note that for copyright reasons we cannot, at the moment, provide the activities and resources for key question 1 part 1.
This lesson uses a variety of approaches including role play, decision-making, card sorts, hot seating and completing speech bubbles. The focus is clearly on causation. It follows on from lessons in which pupils have already talked about the meaning of the term invasion and...
This lesson ( which has been up-dated with lots of new text and slides in January 2016), follows on from the decision-making role play 'Why did Claudius invade?' Pupils are now asked to create a written explanation good enough to beat a textbook. To...
Key Stage 2 pupils find Boudica fascinating so this is a good context for exploring the tricky ideas of historical interpretations. They start by drawing their own picture of her based on a Roman account before comparing it with modern versions. They then investigate...
For this lesson pupils are in role as experts to help Tony Robinson’s Time Team. He has seen aerial photographs that suggest there might be a villa nearby but none have ever been found there before. He wants to know what to look for...
This activity is a good fun way of concluding a study of the Romans. It is called ‘under the cloth’. A local museum has sent a display on the Roman legacy to the local village hall, but in transit the pictures became muddled. Can...
