Teaching Britain 1500-1750

Outstanding KS3 history lessons and shorter Smart Tasks: Britain 1500-1750

When teaching this crucial period of British history, you will want to focus  on the Reformation, the mid-17th century Civil Wars, the execution of Charles I and the aftermath. This 1500-1750 topic offers a great opportunity to look backwards to change from medieval times and forwards towards the current British parliamentary system. It used to be taken as read that pupils will come from Key Stage 2 with a reasonably secure knowledge of the characters of Henry VIII and Elizabeth but this is no longer the case so the balance between 16 & 17 centuries needs to be restored. Always find space for a details study of Cromwell. A statue of Cromwell stands proudly outside parliament because the Irish nationalist MPs at the turn of the 19th century refused to have it inside. In fact the PM Rosebery ended up having to pay for it himself to circumvent the Commons , so controversial was Cromwell even 350 years later!

You won’t want to miss the outstanding lesson on the execution of Charles 1 one of those lessons most frequently graded as outstanding and known as the lesson that never fails!