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This lesson examines the following questions relating to Henry VIII:

• How did Henry VIII become King of England in 1509?
• What were Henry VIII’s main aims as king?
• What was Henry’s leadership style and his attitude to kingship?
• What were Henry’s strengths and weaknesses at the start of his reign.

This lesson has been updated in line with the amended specification and exam questions ready for the 2025 examinations.

This is a fully resourced lesson which includes a printable fact sheet based on the GCSE Edexcel specification as well as worksheets, discussion tasks, engaging background information, warm up tasks and learning reviews.

The downloaded lesson includes the following:

• 1x A4 worksheet about Henry’s aims as the King of England
• 1x A4 worksheet about Henry’s strengths and weaknesses

1x main Power Point:

• Slide 1: Title slide – Henry’s Accession to the throne – his strengths and weaknesses.
• Slide 2-3: As You Enter Warm Up – Two slightly different warm up tasks which ask students to think about and discuss what characteristics they think a Tudor & modern-day monarch should have.
• Slide 4-5: Starter – Source analysis task about Henry VIII’s personality with additional printable worksheet.
• Slide 6-16: Task 1 - Students are taken through 5 scenarios as Henry Tudor and asked which scenario they would pick. Answers and explanations included along with challenge questions for each scenario.
• Slide 17: Task 2 – Henry’s aims as king activity (linked to A4 worksheet)
• Slide 18: Task 3 – Henry’s strengths and weaknesses activity (linked to A4 worksheet)
• Slide 19: Follow Up Challenge Questions
• Side 20: Example Exam Questions
• Slide 21-22: Learning Review Quiz – With answers revealed
• Slide 23: Lesson Fact Sheet – Based on the GCSE Edexcel Specification

All images used in this lesson are in the public domain and are therefore copyright free at the time of publishing. Images which require attribution have been attributed in the notes section of each slide where the image appears. If you feel any errors have been made, please contact me at raschoolresources@gmail.com in the first instance to resolve any issues. My lessons are completed using PowerPoint and designed on widescreen formatting. Thank you.