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AQA GCSE Elizabethan England: Mary, Queen of Scots and Catholic Threats

AQA GCSE Elizabethan England: Mary, Queen of Scots and Catholic Threats

Subject: History

Age range: 14-16

Resource type: Lesson (complete)

Last updated

29 July 2026

pptx, 4.18 MB
pptx, 4.18 MB
PNG, 134.87 KB
PNG, 134.87 KB
PNG, 347.11 KB
PNG, 347.11 KB

The aim of this lesson is to evaluate how great a threat Mary, Queen of Scots posed to Elizabeth I and assess the significance of her execution.

Students begin by exploring the life of Mary, Queen of Scots, from her turbulent reign in Scotland and the controversy surrounding her marriages to her flight into England and imprisonment under Elizabeth I. They investigate why Mary became the focus of Catholic opposition and why many believed she had a stronger claim to the English throne.

Using written sources, visual evidence and video clips, students examine the major plots associated with Mary, including the Ridolfi Plot, Throckmorton Plot and Babington Plot. Through a colour-coding activity, they evaluate how serious each conspiracy was before reaching an overall judgement about the threat Mary posed to Elizabeth throughout her imprisonment.

Students then use a Threat-o-Meter to justify whether Mary was a constant danger through her actions, or whether simply being alive made her a threat to Elizabeth’s authority and England’s stability.

The lesson concludes by examining Mary’s execution in 1587 and its consequences for Elizabethan England. Students complete GCSE exam practice focusing on the “Explain the importance of…” question, evaluating the significance of Mary’s execution for Elizabeth, Catholic opposition and the events leading towards the Spanish Armada.

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 one of the greatest threats to Elizabeth’s reign.

Fully planned and ready to teach, this lesson develops historical enquiry, significance, evaluation, source analysis and GCSE exam technique.

Included in this lesson:
Fully editable PowerPoint
Investigation of Mary, Queen of Scots’ life and imprisonment
Analysis of the Ridolfi, Throckmorton and Babington Plots
GCSE “Explain the Importance” exam practice
Structured writing support and exam guidance
Retrieval practice and plenary activities
Differentiated materials with suggested teaching strategies

Please leave a review if you find this resource 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

5

Something went wrong, please try again later.

duncan_fryer

7 years ago
5

gjbarker

7 years ago
5

This is a really good resource especially as part of the bundle. However, what's the name of the video as the link no longer exists.

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