This Victorians KS2 topic will introduce your class to one of the most important and fascinating periods in British History. Covering various aspects of the Victorian era, this comprehensive planning pack for Year 5 and Year 6 provides 17 ready-to-teach Victorians lessons across a range of subjects. It not only provides Victorians History lessons to put the Victorians in context but also loads of Victorian project ideas to help your class immerse themselves in this fun topic.

#TheCompleteTopic17lessons

If you're looking for Victorians KS2 lessons, then you've come to the right place! Download the whole topic or pick and choose individual lessons to work around your own planning. Either way, our Victorians lessons are sure to make your teaching topic a whole lot easier!

#AllARTLessonsinTopic

If you're looking for Victorian Art KS2 lessons for your Victorians topic, then you've come to the right place! Download three complete Victorian Art lessons which will teach your Year 5 or Year 6 class about Victorian art, its features, famous artists and influences. Your class will also get the chance to undertake some Victorian art projects of their own as they use what they have learnt to create their own Victorian masterpieces.

Each of these three KS2 Victorian Art lessons comes complete with a detailed lesson plan, a slideshow presentation for the teaching input, a range of differentiated activities and printable resources to support children in their learning.

What's included:

#AllCOMPUTINGLessonsinTopic

If you're looking for some Computing lessons to complement your KS2 Victorians topic, we've got two great lessons all planned and ready for you to teach. Both computing projects will challenge your class to use the internet and their word-processing skills to research and present information about the Victorians.

What's included:

#AllDTLessonsinTopic

Download the two complete DT lessons that form part of our 'Victorians' topic.

What's included:

#AllGEOGRAPHYLessonsinTopic

Download the one complete Geography lessons that form part of our 'Victorians' topic.

What's included:

Victorians | Geography: The British Empire

#AllHISTORYLessonsinTopic

Are you looking for Victorians History lessons for your KS2 class? This set of five Victorians History lessons are fully prepared and ready for you to download and enjoy with your class.

Covering various aspects of Victorian history, including leisure, health and disease, the Industrial Revolution, inventions and, of course, the life of Queen Victoria herself, these five lessons offer your class a great overview of the Victorian era. And the best part is that we've done all the hard work for you! Each of the lessons comes with a detailed lesson plan, a corresponding set of slides for the teaching input, differentiated activity ideas and a range of printable resources for their independent learning.

What's included:

#AllMUSICLessonsinTopic

Download the one complete Music lessons that forms part of our 'Victorians' topic.

What's included:

Victorians | Music: Music Hall

#AllRELessonsinTopic

Download three ready-to-teach RE lessons looking at one Victorian religion in particular – Quakerism. Each lesson will help your class learn more about Quakerism, a branch of Christianity, and find out how the Victorian Quakers of Britain changed the country.

Each lesson is fully planned and ready to teach, and contains a detailed lesson plan, a slideshow presentation for the teaching input, differentiated activity ideas and a range of printable resources to support children's independent learning. So if you're looking for a way to link your RE lessons with your Victorians topic, you'll all covered!

What's included:

#Lesson1ArtThePreRaphaelites

In this Year 5/6 Art lesson, your class will find out who the Pre-Raphaelites were and why they broke with the established art world to create their own art movement. They will explore how the Pre-Raphaelites were received by art critics and explore why this was often unfavourable. They will also be introduced to some of the most prominent Pre-Raphaelite artists and explore their inspirations.

The slides for the teaching input of this lesson then show your class some of the most famous examples of Pre-Raphaelite art, before children are challenged to create their own Pre-Raphaelite works of art.

What's included:

Lesson plan
Slides
Activity ideas
Picture cards

#Lesson2ArtArtsandCrafts

The Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19th century emerged as a reaction to the damaging effects of industrialisation. In this KS2 Art lesson for Year 5 and Year 6, your class will be introduced to William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement, exploring some of Morris' famous wallpaper patterns. The slideshow presentation shows some examples of his artwork, before giving children the chance to design their own Arts and Crafts wallpaper.

What's included:

Lesson plan
Slides
Activity ideas
Blank wallpaper sheets
Picture cards

#Lesson3ArtVictorianDecoupage

This Victorian Decoupage KS2 Art lesson introduces your Year 5 or Year 6 class to the fun world of decoupage! They will learn what this art form is and look at some examples of Victorian decoupage. The slideshow presentation for the teaching input then shows your children some simple step-by-step instructions for making their own Victorian decoupage artefacts.

During their independent learning, your class can then use the provided Victorian cut-outs to create their own decoupage masterpieces, or put a modern twist on a Victorian classic.

What's included:

Lesson plan
Slides
Activity ideas
Decoupage cutout sheets

#Lesson4DTIsambardKingdomBrunel

This Isambard Kingdom Brunel KS2 DT lesson explores the work of this famous Victorian engineer and his pioneering designs for bridges, tunnels, ships and trains, before looking in more detail at the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Your class are then challenged to follow in Isambard Kingdom Brunel's footsteps as they design, make and evaluate their own model suspension bridges using a variety of different tools, materials and techniques.

What's included:

Lesson plan
Slides
Activity ideas
Differentiated worksheets
Picture cards

#Lesson5DTPunchandJudyPuppets

This fun, creative lessons gives your class the chance to make Punch and Judy puppets! The provided slideshow for the teaching input explores why Punch and Judy puppets became so popular during the Victorian era, then goes through some step-by-step instructions for how children can make Punch and Judy puppets of their own, following their own design.

Children will then use their textile and sewing skills to make Punch and Judy puppets from a wooden spoon and sewn clothing before evaluating their finished puppets.

What's included:

Lesson plan
Slides
Activity ideas
Differentiated worksheets

#Lesson6GeographyTheBritishEmpire

This lesson examines the vast expanse of the British Empire and challenges your class to find countries and continents on a map as they discover which countries were part of the British Empire during the Victorian era.

What's included:

Lesson plan
Slides
Activity ideas
Differentiated worksheets
Continents cards
British Empire Countries cards

#Lesson7HistoryQueenVictoria

This Queen Victoria KS2 History lesson for Year 5 and Year 6 will teach your class everything they need to know about the life of the second longest reigning monarch in British history.

During the teaching input, the slideshow presentation introduces your class to Queen Victoria, her early life, how and when she became queen, and details of her family life, including her marriage to Prince Albert.

In their independent learning, they can either complete Queen Victoria's family tree or create their own Queen Victoria quiz to test a friend with!

What's included:

Lesson plan
Slides
Activity ideas
Differentiated worksheets
Family tree cards
Quiz templates

#Lesson8HistoryTheIndustrialRevolution

Download this Industrial Revolution KS2 History lesson to teach your Year 5 or Year 6 class everything they need to know about the Industrial Revolution. The provided slideshow for the teaching input guides your class through some of the reasons for the Industrial Revolution and the effect it had on the people of Britain.

During their independent learning, your class can then consider the positive and negative impacts of the Industrial Revolution, or write a more detailed description of what the Industrial Revolution was, using the Industrial Revolution printable worksheets and other provided support resources to help them.

What's included:

Lesson plan
Slides
Activity ideas
Differentiated worksheets
Challenge cards
Key word cards

#Lesson9HistoryVictorianInventions

Do your class know when bicycles were invented? What about telephones or stamps? Help them find the answers to these questions in this Victorian inventions KS2 lesson as they find out about some of the many things invented during the Victorian and how this affected everyday life.

Exploring Victorian inventions with your class will not only pique their interest but also help to give them a deeper historical context for understanding what life was like during the Victorian era. Challenge them to order Victorian inventions chronologically or work out whether a variety of objects were invented before, during or after the Victorian era.

What's included:

Lesson plan
Slides
Activity ideas
Differentiated worksheets
Picture cards
Inventions timeline

#Lesson10HistoryMedicineandDiseases

Explore the fascinating changes to Victorian medicine and healthcare with your KS2 class as they find out about many of the changes brought about by some extraordinary people in the field of medicine and disease.

Your Year 5 or Year 6 class will find out how and why you were more likely to die in a hospital than be cured in one at the start of the 19th century, before going on to look at how the work of individuals such as Louis Pasteur, Florence Nightingale and Joseph Lister changed this to improve Victorian hospitals and healthcare.

This Victorian medicine KS2 History lesson contains a wealth of facts and information to help your class gain a deeper understanding of how healthcare changed during the Victorian era, and contains everything you need to deliver the lesson, including a detailed plan, a slideshow presentation, and a choice of differentiated activities.

What's included:

Lesson plan
Slides
Activity ideas
Differentiated worksheets

#Lesson11HistoryLeisureTime

Victorian activities and leisure time were vastly different to the leisure activities of those in earlier times. Victorians had more free time than ever before, and in this Victorian Activities KS2 lesson, your Year 5 or Year 6 class will explore leisure activities such as seaside holidays, music hall, freak shows, circuses, zoos, books and much more.

The slides for the teaching input explore some of these activities and why they become popular, studying a variety of historical sources including photographs and posters to help them do this. During their independent learning, children can then either sort leisure activities or express their understanding of Victorian leisure time in a variety of creative ways.

What's included:

Lesson plan
Slides
Activity ideas
Differentiated worksheets
Picture cards
Challenge cards

#Lesson12ComputingLifeinVictorianBritain

How much do your class know about life in Victorian Britain? During this Computing lesson for Year 5 and Year 6, your class will consider all the facts they know about daily life in Victorian England, before thinking about how they can present this information in a multimedia presentation.

Your class will use the internet to carry out some research to explore aspects of Victorian daily life, such as food, fashion, housing and religion. They can then plan out how they will present this information on the planning sheets provided, before using a multimedia presentation, such as Powerpoint) to present the information they have found out.

What's included:

Lesson plan
Slides
Activity ideas
Differentiated worksheets
Research cards

#Lesson13ComputingFamousVictorians

This Famous Victorians KS2 Computing lesson introduces your Year 5 or Year 6 class to some of the most famous people of the Victorian period, and explores what they are famous for. Children will use the internet to find out some further information about a particular famous Victorian, before then using the information they have found out to write a biography for a famous Victorian.

This Computing lesson is a great way to help your class hone their online research skills and use their word-processing skills to present information clearly and engagingly.

What's included:

Lesson plan
Slides
Activity ideas
Differentiated worksheets
Famous Victorians sheet

#Lesson14MusicMusicHall

Time for a good old knees up in your classroom with this lesson as your class learn about Victorian music halls and why they were so popular, before listening and singing along to some popular music hall songs.

Please note that the music itself is not provided with the lesson but links are provided for where the songs can be obtained.

What's included:

Lesson plan
Slides
Activity ideas
Lyrics sheets

#Lesson15REWhoareQuakers

Who are Quakers? The first lesson in this trio of Victorian RE lessons explores this question with your KS2 class as they are introduced to the Quaker movement. Your Year 5/6 children will explore how Quakerism began in 1650, what Quakers believe and how they worship, before thinking about how Quaker beliefs and practices differ from those of other Christian groups.

What's included:

Lesson plan
Slides
Activity ideas
Differentiated worksheets
Information sheet
Quaker question sheet

#Lesson16REVictorianQuakers

Now that your class are familiar with the Quaker movement, they will find out about Victorian Quakers and explore how their beliefs in equality and justice caused positive changes in society. It goes on to explore some familiar companies (such as Cadbury's, Barclay's bank and Clark's shoes) and examines why so many Victorian Quakers built up successful businesses.

What's included:

Lesson plan
Slides
Activity ideas
Differentiated worksheets

#Lesson17RECadburyQuakers

This taste-bud tingling lesson looks at the famous Cadbury Quaker family and how their beliefs led to pioneering work in the field of employee welfare. Your KS2 class will also find out how their chocolate factory in the purpose-built village Bournville changed the lives of its workers for the better.

What's included:

Lesson plan
Slides
Activity ideas
Differentiated worksheets

Free Overview (Medium-Term Plan)

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Free Assessment Grid

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Curriculum Objectives covered

Art Objectives:

KS2 - use sketchbooks to review and revisit ideas
KS2 - to improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including drawing with a range of materials
KS2 - to improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including painting with a range of materials
KS2 - to improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including sculpture with a range of materials
KS2 - about great artists in history
KS2 - about great designers in history

Computing Objectives:

KS2 - use search technologies effectively, appreciate how results are selected and ranked, and be discerning in evaluating digital content
KS2 - select, use and combine a variety of software (including internet services) on a range of digital devices to design and create a range of programs, systems and content that accomplish given goals, including collecting, analysing, evaluating and presenting data and information.

DT Objectives:

KS2 - use research and develop design criteria to inform the design of innovative, functional, appealing products that are fit for purpose, aimed at particular individuals or groups
KS2 - generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through discussion, annotated sketches, cross-sectional and exploded diagrams, prototypes, pattern pieces and computer-aided design
KS2 - select from and use a wider range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks [for example, cutting, shaping, joining and finishing], accurately
KS2 - select from and use a wider range of materials and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their functional properties and aesthetic qualities
KS2 - evaluate their ideas and products against their own design criteria and consider the views of others to improve their work
KS2 - understand how key events and individuals in design and technology have helped shape the world
KS2 - apply their understanding of how to strengthen, stiffen and reinforce more complex structures

Geography Objectives:

KS2 - locate the world’s countries, using maps to focus on Europe (including the location of Russia) and North and South America, concentrating on their environmental regions, key physical and human characteristics, countries, and major cities

History Objectives:

KS2 - a study of an aspect or theme in British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066

Music Objectives:

KS2 - play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression
KS2 - appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians
KS2 - develop an understanding of the history of music