Star Forts KS2 Topic Pack

A star forts topic pack for Key Stage 2 (ages 7 to 11): why cannons changed the shape of forts, label-the-star-fort, soldiers, gates and guns at Tilbury Fort and Fort George, put-it-in-order and before-or-after-1700 cut-out cards, a true-or-false quiz, a crossword where every answer is a real fact, a word search, a comic strip, a colouring page, a certificate and full answers.

What’s inside:

- Teacher page: how the pack fits KS2 history (Department for Education wording)

- Forts shaped like stars: four starter facts

- Why a star? How cannons changed the shape of forts: reading and questions (our own drawing)

- Label the star fort (our own drawing)

- Inside a star fort: soldiers, gates and guns at Tilbury Fort and Fort George, reading and questions

- Put it in order: four cut-out date cards

- Before 1700 or 1700 or later? Twelve cut-out sorting cards

- True or false quiz

- Crossword where every answer is a real fact

- Word search

- Comic strip to draw

- Cannon colouring page

- Star Fort Explorer certificate

- Answer key

- Credits, licence and sources

Pages: 17 (including cover and credits). Sizes: A4 (210 × 297 mm) and US Letter (8.5 × 11 in), both PDFs included in one zip.

Printing: Print at 100% / actual size on A4 or US Letter. Inside pages use light backgrounds and print well in black and white; covers are dark, so start from page 2 to save ink. The KS2 order and sorting cards are meant to be cut out.

Every fact is checked against named source pages from the Network of Vauban’s Major Sites, UNESCO, English Heritage, Historic Environment Scotland, the US National Park Service, the Japan National Tourism Organization, Fortress Bourtange, Visit Groningen, italia.it and the Department for Education (checked 3 Nov 2026), and the sources are listed on the pack’s credits page.

There are no photos in this pack: all drawings, puzzles and layouts are REALLYBYTE’s own work. Drawings are simplified impressions: not photographs, not reconstructions of any real fort, not to scale, and not copied from any site plan, map, guidebook, print, photo or book. Not affiliated with UNESCO, the Network of Vauban’s Major Sites, English Heritage, Historic England, Historic Environment Scotland, the US National Park Service, the Japan National Tourism Organization, the Hakodate or Hokkaido tourism bodies, Fortress Bourtange, Visit Groningen, Visit Palmanova, italia.it, the UK government or any museum. Their names, and the names of the places they look after, are used only to identify the places and sources we quote.

Licence: personal and single-classroom use. You may print as many copies as you need for your own family or your own class, and share it with your class through a password-protected platform. Please don’t resell, re-upload or share it publicly. For school-wide use, please email info@reallybyte.com.

Made by REALLYBYTE, the team behind star-forts.forts.im. Questions: info@reallybyte.com

This is a digital download: no physical item will be shipped.