The Battle of Hastings: Full Unit of Study

This KS3 unit of study should take around seven hours to complete. There is a Power Point included for every lesson which leads students through the activities and provides advice and guidance where required.

In teaching/chronological order, the lessons include:

• Who should be king? Claimants to the throne in 1066
• Events leading up to the Battle of Hastings
• Why did William win the Battle of Hastings?
• How did William control England?
• How far did castle design improve during the MAs?

There are a great range of activities including discussion, problem-solving, argument formation, chronological ordering, formal essay writing and comparative writing. The two formal assessments are the essay on “Why William won?” and the comparative writing on castle development. Support, advice, writing frames and mark schemes are provided for both of these. To avoid completing two asessments in quick succession, I generally teach the castles lesson a little later having looked at other medieval topics such as living conditions and religion in between. For more details, please refer to individual lessons.