Elizabeth I & Queen Victoria

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Enquiry questions

What was the same and what was different about being queen in Elizabeth I's time and Victoria's time?

Which queen do you think was more significant, and why?

What had changed in Britain between Elizabeth I's reign and Victoria's reign?

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Concepts

This study delivers 1 primary concept and 2 secondary concepts.

Primary concept: Significant Individuals and Their Impact (HI-KS1-C003)

Type: Knowledge | Teaching weight: 1/6

History includes the study of significant individuals whose actions, discoveries, decisions or achievements have had lasting consequences for other people and subsequent generations. Significance is determined by the scale and duration of impact, the extent to which an individual changed the course of events, and the degree to which they are remembered and commemorated. At KS1, pupils learn about significant individuals from different historical periods and contexts, comparing figures from different times to understand how contexts shape lives and possibilities.

Teaching guidance: Introduce significant individuals through stories, photographs, artefacts and primary sources. Help pupils understand why each individual is significant: what did they do, and what difference did it make? Use paired comparisons specified in the curriculum (e.g., Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole) to develop understanding of how context shapes significance and recognition. Discuss why some historical figures are well-known while others have been overlooked, introducing the idea that history involves selection and interpretation. Include significant individuals from diverse backgrounds, genders and cultures. Key vocabulary: significant, achievement, contribution, impact, legacy, commemorate, famous, discover, invent, lead, inspire, pioneer, historical figure, biography Common misconceptions: Pupils may think significant individuals were born special rather than shaped by context and choices. Discussing the obstacles individuals faced develops understanding of the conditions that make significance possible. Pupils may not question why some historical figures are more prominent than others; discussing who decides which figures are remembered develops critical historical thinking. The distinction between fact (what we know happened) and opinion (how we judge its significance) is important to introduce early.

Differentiation

Model response (Entry): Florence Nightingale helped sick soldiers in a hospital. She carried a lamp at night to check on them.

Model response (Developing): Mary Seacole travelled to the Crimean War to help injured soldiers. She set up a hotel near the battlefield where soldiers could get medicine and food. It was important because the soldiers needed help and she made them better.

Model response (Expected): Both helped sick and injured soldiers and both were brave to go to a war zone. Florence Nightingale worked in a hospital and changed how hospitals were kept clean. Mary Seacole went closer to the battlefield and paid for her own supplies. Florence Nightingale became more famous at the time, but both made a big difference.

Model response (Greater Depth): Florence Nightingale was more famous because she was written about more and came from a wealthy family, so more people heard about her. Mary Seacole faced prejudice because of her background. Being famous doesn't always mean being more important — Mary Seacole helped just as many soldiers but fewer people told her story.

Secondary concept: Time and Chronology (HI-KS1-C001)

Type: Knowledge | Teaching weight: 1/6

Chronology is the ordering of events and periods in time. Understanding chronology requires both the vocabulary of time (before, after, then, now, long ago, recently, past, present) and the ability to place events and people in sequence relative to each other. At KS1, pupils develop chronological understanding beginning with their own life histories and moving outwards to family memories, local history and national events. Placing events on timelines, sequencing pictures and comparing 'old' and 'new' versions of familiar objects are key activities that develop chronological awareness.

Differentiation

Secondary concept: Change and Continuity (HI-KS1-C002)

Type: Knowledge | Teaching weight: 1/6

Historical change refers to the ways in which people's lives, beliefs, institutions and the world around them have transformed over time. Continuity refers to aspects that remain the same over long periods despite other changes. Understanding change and continuity requires pupils to identify what has changed, what has stayed the same, and to consider why some things change while others persist. At KS1, pupils explore change through comparing everyday objects, homes, transport and daily life across different time periods within living memory and beyond.

Differentiation

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Thinking lens: Cause and Effect (primary)

Key question: What caused this to happen, and how do we know? Why this lens fits: Studying significant individuals asks pupils to trace the consequences of particular people's actions on events and society — why did this person matter? what changed because of what they did? — which is explicitly causal-chain reasoning applied to historical biography and local/national narrative. Question stems for KS1:

What made that happen?

What will happen if...?

Why did it change?

Can you finish: it happened because...?

Secondary lens: Continuity and Change Over Time — This cluster is the foundational introduction to the most central historical thinking concept — pupils build the vocabulary of time and begin to distinguish what has changed from what has persisted within living memory, which is the cognitive essence of continuity_change reasoning.

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Session structure: Comparison Study + Topic Study

This study uses 2 vehicle templates:

Comparison Study (main structure)

A structured comparison of two or more examples, places, periods, or perspectives. Introduces each example with sufficient context, applies a systematic comparison framework, analyses similarities and differences with supporting evidence, and reaches an evaluative conclusion about the significance of those differences.

introduce_examples → systematic_comparison → analysis → evaluation Assessment: Comparative analysis using a structured framework (table, Venn diagram, or essay), demonstrating understanding of both examples and reaching a substantiated evaluative conclusion.

Topic Study

A structured enquiry into a defined topic, period, or place. Begins with an engaging hook to capture interest, builds contextual knowledge, moves through source analysis and interpretation, and culminates in a substantiated argument or conclusion. The core humanities template.

hook → context → source_analysis → interpretation → argument Assessment: Extended writing task presenting a reasoned argument supported by evidence from the topic. Can take the form of an essay, structured explanation, or debate position. Teacher note: Use the TOPIC STUDY template: begin with a simple hook that captures children's curiosity — a picture, an object, or a short story. Provide context through visual and sensory experiences. Guide children to look at one source closely, describing what they can see. Ask them to say what they think it tells us, using 'I think... because...' sentences. KS1 question stems:

What can you see in this picture?

What do you think this tells us about life long ago?

What is the same as today? What is different?

How do you know? What clues can you spot?

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Primary sources

1 historically grounded source types are available for this study:

1. The Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I (Primary Visual, )

Attributed to George Gower, this portrait was painted to celebrate the defeat of the Spanish Armada. It shows Elizabeth with her hand on a globe, the English fleet behind her and the wrecked Armada in the other window. It is a piece of political propaganda designed to project power and divine favour.

How to use: At KS1: compare with portraits of Queen Victoria and ask 'What do these pictures tell us about how each queen wanted to be seen?' At KS3: analyse as propaganda -- what symbols of power does Elizabeth surround herself with, and what message is being sent? Who was the intended audience? Location: Queen's House, Royal Museums Greenwich URL: https://www.rmg.co.uk/see-do/we-recommend/attractions/armada-portrait-elizabeth-i

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Disciplinary concepts foregrounded

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Key figures and events

Key figures: Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria Key events:

Elizabeth's accession 1558

Defeat of the Spanish Armada 1588

Victoria's accession 1837

Victoria becomes Empress of India 1876

Period: 1533-1901 Perspectives to include: Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria, subject in Tudor England, subject in Victorian Britain Significance claim: Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria were two of Britain's most powerful and long-reigning monarchs, but they ruled in very different eras and contexts. Comparing them develops understanding of how the same role (queen) can mean different things in different periods.

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Why this study matters

This pairing is explicitly specified in the NC as a vehicle for comparing 'aspects of life in different periods'. The 300-year gap between them makes the comparison powerful for developing chronological understanding. Both are significant figures, but the comparison reveals how much Britain changed between the Tudor and Victorian periods.

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Pitfalls to avoid

Reducing the comparison to surface-level differences (clothes, buildings) rather than exploring how the role of monarch changed

Not helping pupils understand the enormous chronological gap between the two queens

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Cross-curricular opportunities

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Historical thinking skills (KS1)

These disciplinary skills should be woven through teaching, not taught in isolation:

Change and continuity — Identify what changed and what remained constant across historical periods; assess the pace, nature and extent of change; distinguish between long-term trends and short-term fluctuations; understand that change can be experienced differently by different groups within the same society.

Causation and consequence — Understand why historical events and changes happened by identifying and explaining multiple causes; assess the intended and unintended consequences of events and decisions; distinguish between long-term structural factors and immediate triggers; construct causal arguments using historical evidence.

Historical evidence — Locate, select and use a range of primary and secondary historical sources; understand provenance and evaluate a source's utility and reliability in relation to a specific enquiry; corroborate claims across multiple sources; recognise that all sources are partial and that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Similarity and difference — Identify and explain similarities and differences within and across historical periods, societies and cultures; avoid anachronism by understanding people's lives and choices within their own contexts; make valid comparisons that illuminate both the distinctiveness of periods and the common threads of human experience.

Historical significance — Assess the significance of historical events, people and developments using explicit criteria such as scale of impact, duration, number of people affected, degree of change caused, and how an event is remembered and commemorated; understand that significance is not fixed but is constructed and contested by historians and societies over time.

Historical interpretation — Understand that historical accounts are constructed interpretations rather than neutral records; explain how and why different historians produce different accounts of the same events by reference to their questions, evidence, perspectives and contexts; evaluate the relative strengths and weaknesses of competing interpretations; construct and communicate argued historical interpretations of one's own.

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Vocabulary word mat

Prior knowledge (retrieval plan)

Pupils should already know the following from earlier units:

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Scaffolding and inclusion (Y1)

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Knowledge organiser

Period: 1533-1901 Key terms:

queen

reign

monarch

Tudor

Victorian

empire

significant

compare

Timeline / key events:

Elizabeth's accession 1558

Defeat of the Spanish Armada 1588

Victoria's accession 1837

Victoria becomes Empress of India 1876

Key figures: Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria Core facts (expected standard):

Significant Individuals and Their Impact: Explaining why an individual is considered significant by identifying the impact of their actions and comparing them with another individual.

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Graph context

Node type: HistoryStudy | Study ID: HS-KS1-006 Concept IDs:

HI-KS1-C003: Significant Individuals and Their Impact (primary)

HI-KS1-C001: Time and Chronology

HI-KS1-C002: Change and Continuity

Cypher query:

``cypher

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-[:DELIVERS_VIA]->(c:Concept)

-[:HAS_DIFFICULTY_LEVEL]->(dl)

RETURN c.name, dl.label, dl.description

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Generated from the UK Curriculum Knowledge Graph — zero LLM generation.