91¶¶Òõ

Please consent to cookies to view content.

' ); iframeDoc.close(); } } } } } const observer = new MutationObserver(switchSrc); observer.observe(document.documentElement, { childList: true, subtree: true, }); })();

91¶¶Òõ

Resources Education Jobs Schools directory News Magazine Courses Log out Help
Home feed
My list
Courses My Jobs Job alerts My CV Career preferences Resources Author dashboard
Settings
Edit account Log out
Home Resources Jobs Schools directory News Magazine Courses Register for free Log in Help

Home feed Edit account About us My products 91¶¶Òõ for schools Work for 91¶¶Òõ Log out
AQA GCSE Elizabethan England: Early Problems Faced by Elizabeth I (First Ten Years)

AQA GCSE Elizabethan England: Early Problems Faced by Elizabeth I (First Ten Years)

Subject: History

Age range: 14-16

Resource type: Lesson (complete)

Last updated

29 July 2026

pptx, 5.82 MB
pptx, 5.82 MB
PNG, 64.14 KB
PNG, 64.14 KB
PNG, 299.15 KB
PNG, 299.15 KB

The aim of this lesson is to investigate the major challenges Elizabeth I faced during the first ten years of her reign and evaluate which posed the greatest threat to her authority.

Students begin by exploring the wide range of problems confronting the new Queen in 1558, including her gender, the succession, religion, foreign policy, Ireland, taxation and finance. Through a series of engaging activities, they consider why Elizabeth’s position was far from secure and how each challenge threatened the stability of her reign.

The lesson develops students’ understanding through differentiated questioning, a thinking quilt activity and key vocabulary tasks, encouraging them to explain historical concepts and challenge common misconceptions. Students then compare the significance of Elizabeth’s early problems before deciding which was the greatest obstacle to her successful rule.

A knockout tournament or structured evaluation activity allows students to prioritise the most serious challenges, preparing them for two key AQA GCSE question types: the interpretation question and the ‘Write an Account’ question. Structured guidance is provided to help students build confident, analytical responses.

An enquiry question is introduced at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout, enabling students to track their progress and develop a deeper understanding of how Elizabeth established her authority during the early years of her reign.

Fully planned and ready to teach, the lesson develops historical enquiry, significance, interpretation, causation and GCSE exam technique.
Included in this lesson:

Fully editable PowerPoint
Investigation of Elizabeth I’s early challenges
Thinking quilt activity and key vocabulary tasks
Knockout tournament to prioritise Elizabeth’s problems
Interpretation and ‘Write an Account’ GCSE exam practice with model answer
Retrieval practice and plenary activities
Fully differentiated throughout with suggested teaching strategies

Please review this resource if you find it useful. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Get this resource as part of a bundle and save up to 30%

A bundle is a package of resources grouped together to teach a particular topic, or a series of lessons, in one place.

Bundle

AQA GCSE History: Elizabethan England Complete Bundle

**AQA GCSE Elizabethan England, 1568-1603** These ready to use exam focused resources on Elizabethan England cover the AQA GCSE topic in depth. These fully resourced lessons are perfect for busy teachers who want their students to master content, think like historians and succeed in their exams. These resources provide everything you need to deliver outstanding lessons, whether you’re introducing Elizabeth’s struggles for stability as a female monarch, exploring the Catholic plots and rebellions against her or unpacking the golden age of theatre. Students will also learn about Elizabeth’s court and government, the further challenges to her rule, Elizabethan society, exploration and the wider Elizabethan world. The lessons contain different tasks to challenge the students and are differentiated. Furthermore, each lesson focuses on how to answer GCSE practice questions from the exam, notably how convincing is the interpretation, writing an account, explain the importance and how far do you agree? The lessons are as follows: L1 An introduction to Elizabeth L2 Elizabethan Court and Government L3 Which problems did Elizabeth face in her first ten years? L4 Elizabeth and marriage L5 Who were Elizabeth’s key people? (free resource) L6 The Elizabethan Religious Settlement (free resource) L7 Threats from the Norfolk and Ridolfi Plots L8 The Essex Rebellion L9 Catholic threats at home and abroad L10 The Puritan threat L11 The threat of Mary, Queen of Scots L12 Wealth Status and fashion L13 Elizabethan Theatre L14 The Golden Age (free resource) L15 Poverty and the Poor Law of 1601 L16 Famous explorers (focus on Drake, Hawkins and Raleigh) L17 Planning the Spanish Armada (2027) L18 Planning for the Spanish Armada (2027) L19 Defeat of the Spanish Armada (2027) For further assessment materials, please visit the AQA website for specimen questions and answers. All the resources include suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and come in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change. Any reviews would be gratefully received to aid future planning.

£38.00
Bundle

AQA GCSE Elizabethan England Lessons and Resources Bundle

This bundle is the first part in a series of lessons I have created for AQA GCSE 9-1 Elizabethan England 1568-1603. Having taught this unit for a number of years, I have tweaked the order of lessons I now teach at the beginning. As well as teaching Elizabeth I's court, government and parliament, I have included Elizabeth’s favourites and an introduction to the religious settlement (which are offered as free lessons), as I felt students were getting confused without these aspects of the course being referred to early on. The theme throughout this bundle of lessons is to examine how Elizabeth tried to assert her authority and control in the first half of her reign. The lessons contain different tasks to challenge the students and are differentiated. Furthermore each lesson focuses on how to answer a GCSE practice question from the exam, notably in this unit a source, write an account and significance question. The lessons are as follows: L1: An introduction to Elizabeth L2 Elizabethan Court and Government L3 Which problems did Elizabeth face in her first ten years? L4 Elizabeth and marriage L5 Who were Elizabeth’s key people? (free resource) L6 The Elizabethan Religious Settlement (free resource) L7 Threats from the Norfolk and Ridolfi Plots L8 The Essex Rebellion L9 Catholic threats at home and abroad L10 The Puritan threat L11 The threat of Mary, Queen of Scots The lessons are enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lessons and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning. The resources includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and come in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change. Any reviews would be gratefully received.

£23.00

Reviews

Something went wrong, please try again later.

This resource hasn't been reviewed yet

To ensure quality for our reviews, only customers who have purchased this resource can review it

to let us know if it violates our terms and conditions.
Our customer service team will review your report and will be in touch.

£3.25
(no rating)0 reviews

Not quite what you were looking for?Search by keyword to find the right resource: