The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee – 2022

Although this unit seems to adopt the typical coherent 6 session enquiry approach, and can be used as such, we anticipate that schools will only have time to teach selected parts of the whole, whether that be fewer questions, fewer aspects of each question, or simply fewer activities. As this is a single whole-school topic, greater care than usual will need to be taken to match the activity to the pupils’ age and ability. We have indicated those aspects which are more suitable for older pupils.

This unit of work has been designed to be used as a one-off study to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee. It covers her life from her role as Princess Elizabeth through her coronation, and other jubilee events, to her influence today. As Britain’s longest serving monarch her reign covers a 70-year period of massive change. The youngest children will focus mainly on a comparison between 1952 and 2022 to strengthen their grasp of similarity and difference. Older children will extend their chronological understanding to look at jubilees as far back as late Queen Victoria’s reign so they gain a better understanding of change through time. Underpinning the entire study is the use of evidence, whether it be photographs, oral reminiscences of key events, newspaper headlines or simply the images of Elizabeth we see around us today in the form of stamps, coins, and even pillar boxes.