Victorian Britain Resources and Lessons KS2
Explore Victorian Britain at KS2
Explore the rapid transformation of Victorian Britain, from factories, growing towns and railways to childhood, schooling, poverty and different experiences of the age.
Explore teaching resources
Everything for this history topic in one place
The enquiry sequence
Enquiry-based lessons and resources
8 activities
Victorians – end of unit quiz
Throughout this unit, we’ve explored what life was like in Britain during Queen Victoria’s long reign, from bustling factories and new inventions to strict school routines and life for rich…
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Victorian Britian – planner
Although not mandatory I the national Curriculum at the moment there is no reason why you can’t choose to study this highly popular KS2 topic. Planner Subscribers only: You must be…
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Victorian Britain – assessment task – How do we know this picture shows Victorian Britain?
Pupils are given artist’s impression of a typical Victorian scene which they have never seen before. They have to identify the most significant characteristics. See task and mark scheme in…
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Victorian Britain knowledge organiser – KS2
You are learning about Victorian Britain because this was a really significant period of huge change in industry and technology, with amazing inventions that we still use today. But its…
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Victorian Britain – KQ1 – What were the main changes that took place during this time?
Motivating introductory lessons which, from the outset, challenges pupils to compare two images of the same place from the start and end of Victoria’s reign, before moving on to look…
Read MoreVictorian Britain – KQ2 – Children working in Victorian factories: was it as bad as they tell us?
This lesson is designed for Y5/6 pupils who already have a little knowledge of industrial change but have not yet studied cotton mills. Although the main part of the lesson…
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Victorian Britain – KQ3 – If life was so hard for families in the towns why did so many leave the countryside and move to the towns in Victorian times? – a history mystery
Starting a lesson with an apparent contradiction is a good way of engaging pupils interest. This ‘history mystery’ makes excellent use of pupils’ thinking skills, enabling them to make their…
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Victorian Britain – KQ3a – What the Dickens was life like in the Victorian cities?
This lesson makes extremely good use of a technique called creative tension. Pupils listen, with their eyes closed, to a spoken description which they then have to visualise in their…
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Victorian Britain – KQ4 – Victorian railways: winners and losers. A thinking skills activity leading to a role play
This active thinking skills lesson asks pupils to consider the likely effect of the coming of the railways on different groups in society before going on to take part in…
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Victorian Britain – KQ5a – Going to school in Victorian times: can pupils write a paragraph for a KS1 textbook using photographs alone? SMART TASK Y3-5
This activity puts pupils in the role as researchers for a new book on Victorian schools. They have been commissioned to write a book for key Stage 1 pupils. Therefore,…
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Victorian Britain – KQ5b – Victorian poor and the workhouse; what does Martha’s story tell us?
NB This is an additional lesson that does not appear on the planner. This topic couldn’t be more relevant to today. We frequently hear it said that the poor are…
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Victorian Britain – KQ5c – Climbing boys enquiry – SMART TASK
This enquiry falls into five parts: A selection of four related enquiry tasks which encourage pupils to explore and then evaluate evidence about the life of a climbing boy. The…
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Victorian Britain – KQ6 – The Victorian Era: Dark Age or Golden Age?
This is the concluding lesson on the Victorians. It starts with a plate and a poster commemorating the achievements of Victorian Britain to set it in an international context. Pupils…
Read MoreKeeping up-to-date with your teaching of Victorian Britain at KS2
We often talk to children about the benefits that brought so many people into industrial towns in the first half of the nineteenth century. But we probably need to stress…
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Using a Victorian census to discover what life was like 100 years ago SMART TASK
There are 4 separate ways of approaching this topic, each becoming increasingly more ambitious. Stage 1 only is featured below. Stages 2 and 4 are suggestions using your own local…
Read MoreWritten by Neil Thompson
All content on Keystage history is written and quality assured by Neil Thompson, a former history teacher, county history adviser and Ofsted inspector with more than 30 years’ experience in history education.