Download a fully-planned and ready-to-teach Castles KS1 History scheme of work to help your Year 1 or Year 2 children get excited about castles! Throughout the course of the lessons, your class will get an overview of medieval castles and their features, as well as exploring the Battle of Hastings and why castles became an important part of the landscape of Britain.

This Year 1/2 Castles History pack contains everything you need to teach your class what they need to know about one of the most famous battles in English history - and it's all prepared and ready for you to download and teach! Easy-to-follow lesson plans, slideshows for the teaching input, differentiated activity ideas and a range of printable resources are all included in the pack.

You may also like our Castles Topic Bundle containing four ready-to-teach schemes of work all themed around castles. Great for cross-curricular teaching! 

A Knowledge Organiser is available to support the learning in this scheme. It is included in the Complete Series download or can be purchased individually.

The Battle of Hastings

This first lesson begins by helping children to understand when in history the Battle of Hastings took place. Children will use a simple timeline to understand what we mean by beyond living memory.

Children will learn about historical sources including the Bayeux Tapestry and how this helps us to understand the events of the Battle of Hastings. Children will be challenged to sequence the events leading to William the Conqueror becoming King in chronological order.

This KS1 Castles History lesson pack includes a detailed plan, an informative set of slides for the teaching input and a range of printable resources.

View Lesson 1

Features of Castles

In this lesson, children will find out about the two types of castles William the Conqueror built and his reasons for building them.

Children will first learn about the first type of castle built by the Normans, called a motte and bailey castle. Children will then see how the Normans progressed to building stone keep castles. Children will be challenged to learn the different features of each castle with real-life examples to refer to. Children will then be encouraged to make simple comparisons between the castles.

An easy-to-follow plan, an engaging slideshow, and printable resources are all included in this Castles KS1 lesson pack.

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Roles in Medieval Castles

Following on from the previous lesson, children will learn about what life was like in a medieval castle and the roles people had whilst working there.

Children will learn about the feudal system and how this impacted people in medieval society. They will then go on to explore the different jobs people had and how important they were to the running of the castle. Children will be challenged to think about whether similar jobs still exist today and what role they would have wanted had they lived in a medieval castle.

This Castles KS1 lesson includes slides for teaching input, detailed lesson plans and printable resources.

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Norman Britain vs Britain Today

In this lesson, children will first recap what they have previously learnt about the feudal system and then explore what life was like for the poorer members of medieval society.

They will see what a medieval home might have looked like, what they may have eaten and what peasants did with their time. Children will be encouraged to make simple comparisons to their own lives.

This Castles lesson pack for KS1 includes a detailed plan, an informative set of slides for the teaching input and a range of printable resources.

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Tower of London Then and Now

In this penultimate lesson of this History KS1 scheme of work, children will dive into the history of the Tower of London and how it has changed over time.

Children will be given the opportunity to see visual examples of how the Tower of London was first built and then adapted through the years. Children will learn what the Tower of London was used for then and what it is used for now, and will be challenged to make simple comparisons.

An easy-to-follow plan, an informative slideshow, and printable resources are all included in this KS1 Castles lesson pack.

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Local History Study

This final lesson allows children to apply the skills they have learnt through a local history study.

Your class will learn how to be 'history detectives' and will use the prompts provided to gather facts and information about history in their local area.

This final History Castles KS1 lesson pack includes everything you need - a detailed lesson plan, a set of engaging slides for the teaching input, and printable resources.

View Lesson 6

This Year 1/2 History Knowledge Organiser has been created to complement our History 'Events beyond living memory' strand. It is designed to support your children’s understanding of key vocabulary linked to this scheme of work. Enquiry questions have been included to encourage your children to think like a historian within this topic.

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