History
Welcome to the History Department!
Our department is made up of historians with a range of specialisms and a shared passion for the subject. Together we deliver a knowledge-rich, chronologically coherent curriculum that takes students from the Iron Age through to the present day, and equips them with the skills of the working historian.
Studying History develops skills that reach far beyond the classroom. The ability to analyse evidence, weigh competing arguments and reach a reasoned judgement is invaluable in almost any field, and these transferable skills keep students' options open long after they leave our lessons.
We are committed to teaching a curriculum that tells the full human story, not a single-perspective account of the past. Alongside the traditional narrative of political power, our Schemes of Work deliberately centre the voices of those who were conquered, excluded or silenced — because doing so produces better History, not simply a more comfortable one.
History also builds independence. Students learn to test and challenge the interpretations of others, to read widely, and to construct their own evidenced arguments — skills that make them increasingly self-sufficient learners.
Our History Curriculum Map:
(History Curriculum Map 2026-2027 link)
Our Vision
We believe that passion produces academic success, not the other way round. Our aim is not simply to help students achieve the best possible History qualifications — although we work hard to ensure they do — but to create the curious, rigorous historians of tomorrow. From Year 7 to Year 13, every student is asked the same underlying question: who made this claim, when, why, and with what evidence? — and is expected to reach a reasoned judgement of their own.
Our Curriculum
At Key Stage 3, students follow a chronological journey from the Iron Age to the present day. Year 7 studies Medieval and Tudor England (1066–1603), including the Norman Conquest, the Feudal System, Magna Carta, the Black Death and the Reformation. Year 8 moves through the English Civil War, the Industrial Revolution, the Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Mughal Empire, including a Local History study of the River Wandle. Year 9 completes the journey with the World Wars, the Holocaust, the Cold War and post-war Britain, including the contribution and experience of the Windrush Generation. Throughout Key Stage 3, students develop and apply six historical thinking skills: causation, consequence, significance, change and continuity, interpretations, and source utility.
Year 7
Year 8
Year 9
At Key Stage 4, students follow the Edexcel GCSE History specification across Years 10 and 11. Three papers make up the qualification: Paper 1 – Warfare and British Society, c.1250–Present Day (30%); Paper 2 – Anglo-Saxon and Norman England, c.1060–1088, and Superpower Relations and the Cold War, c.1941–1991 (20% each); and Paper 3 – Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918–1939 (30%). GCSE History enables students to turn their interest in the past into structured, well-evidenced arguments.
Year 10
- Year 10 - History Subject Page
- Year 10 - GCSE Glossary Anglo Saxon & Norman England
- Year 10 - GCSE Glossary Warfare Through Time
Year 11
- Year 11 - History Subject Page
- Year 11 - GCSE Glossary Weimar & Nazi Germany
- Year 11 - GCSE Glossary Superpower Relations & the Cold War
At Key Stage 5, students follow the Edexcel A-level History specification across Years 12 and 13. Four units make up the qualification: Unit 1 – Britain, c.1785–1870: Democracy, Protest and Reform (30%); Unit 2 – The Unification of Germany, c.1840–1871 (20%); Unit 3 – Civil Rights and Race Relations in the USA, 1850–2009 (30%); and Unit 4 – a coursework Historical Investigation into the reasons for the Cold War (20%). Students have four hours of lessons a week and are expected to read widely and to engage with named historians and their disagreements.
Year 12
- Year 12 - History Subject Page
- Year 12 - A Level Unit 1 Britain, 1785 –1870:
- Year 12 - A Level Unit 2 Unification of Germany, 1840–1871
Year 13
- Year 13 - History Subject Page
- Year 13 - A Level Unit 3 Civil Rights and Race Relations in the USA, 1850 –2009
- Year 13 - A Level Unit 4 - The Origins of the Cold War
Enrichment and Extracurricular Activities
Our curriculum is enriched with visits and residential trips that connect classroom learning to primary evidence. Year 9 students can take part in a four-day residential trip to the First World War battlefields of Belgium and France. Year 10 students visit Normandy, seeing the Bayeux Tapestry in its original context and visiting the D-Day landing beaches, alongside a day visit to the Imperial War Museum, which also supports Year 11's Warfare and British Society unit. Sixth Form students are invited to apply for the Holocaust Educational Trust's Lessons from Auschwitz project, and receive dedicated preparation for applications to Oxbridge and Russell Group universities, including support with personal statements and interview technique.
Awards and Recognition
The History Department teaches the Holocaust in line with guidance from the Holocaust Educational Trust and the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education, and our students have taken part in national commemorations marking key anniversaries of the twentieth century's defining events.
Destinations
Many of our students go on to study History and related subjects at degree level, and our dedicated Oxbridge and Russell Group preparation programme in Years 12 and 13 continues to support students seeking competitive university places, including at Oxford and Cambridge. In 2025, two of our History A Level students went on to read History at Oxford, and in 2023 one gained a place at Cambridge, again to read History.
Subject Leader: Charlotte Stevens – cstevens@carshaltonboys.org