The History of Parliament KS3 (11-14 year olds) schools competition, 2013

This is the ninth year in which The History of Parliament has run competitions for schools and colleges. This year, our key stage three competition will focus on the Reformation.

The competition will be in preparation for an entirely new resource that will be launched on this website this summer, ready for the next school year. This new schools section, www.historyofparliamentonline.org/schools, is currently under construction and an information page will be available online from early March 2013. This new section is the first from the History of Parliament that will include specially-written articles and biographies for 11-14 year olds and complimentary resources for teachers. The first topic available in our new section will also be the Reformation; this year’s competition will help us prepare for our new website.

The winners will receive prizes of book tokens, and will be invited to Westminster with members of their family and teachers for the presentation of their prizes.

Competition: Key stage 3 (11-14 year olds)

Imagine you are a Member of Parliament in 1536 and are either an enthusiastic protestant supporter of the religious changes of Henry VIII or a determined opponent of them. Write a speech that you might plan to deliver in parliament on the religious changes. You could focus on the following issues:

- Why the monasteries should, or should not, be dissolved

- Whether parliament, or the Pope, should be able to make decisions about the English church

- Whether or not ordinary people should be able to read or hear the Bible in English

Things to think about:

- What reasons does the MP have for his arguments on the subject? What were his own religious beliefs? Did he have some financial interests in the monasteries or local area?

- How would the issue have affected the MP’s constituents, the people who lived in his area? For example, was there a monastery close by?


If you like, you can find out who your local MP was at the time, and write from his point of view. You can find out who he was here on our website in the 1509-1558 constituencies section. Or you can make one up!

If possible, we would like as many entrants as possible to include photographs. If you are writing about a real MP, perhaps there is a monument of him locally, in his local church or his house. You could also include photographs of your local church and the changes it underwent due to the Reformation, or perhaps the local buildings that were once monasteries. All photographs should be taken by the student themselves, and the best will feature on our new schools website section!

For more information you can visit:

- The UK Parliament education service ‘Houses of History’ timeline

- Articles on the BBC

- UK Parliament ‘Living Heritage’ article on the Reformation Parliament

- More here in the 1509-1558 volumes

Competition rules:

1. For individual entries, the winner of the competition will receive a prize of a book token for £75.  The winner will be invited to visit the Palace of Westminster with up to two other members of their family, and a member of the school staff, for the presentation of the prizes (the History will pay reasonable travel/accommodation expenses for the student and accompanying members of his/her family: we regret that we cannot pay the travel or accommodation expenses of any accompanying school staff).

2. The competition is open to any student at a UK school or college who will not have passed his or her 15th birthday by 30th July 2013.

3. All entries must be accompanied by the following information, securely attached to or associated with the entry

   a) The candidate’s name

   b) The candidate’s school and its address, with a telephone or email contact for the school

   c) The candidate’s age at 30 July 2013

  d) A declaration, signed by the teacher, saying that the work, including any photographs submitted, is all the candidate’s own.

4. We regret that entries cannot be individually acknowledged, and will not be returned after the competition.

5. Any photographs included with the competitions must be taken by the entrants themselves and they must hold full copyright over these images.

6. Some entries may be used on www.historyofparliamentonline.org: those whose entries are used in this way will be contacted.

7. Entries should be sent to:

                  History of Parliament competition
                  18 Bloomsbury Square
                  LONDON WC1A 2NS


             Or to the competition email account:

                 Competitions@histparl.ac.uk
           (If sending entries by email, please send one email per individual entry)

8. Entries must be received by 30 July 2013.