The National Curriculum at Key Stage 3 in England requires students to cover British history from 1066 to present, as well as a world study, a local study and a chronological unit of study that will reach back before 1066 to consolidate knowledge and understanding. At Key Stages 4 and 5, the content of the curriculum is decided by the Awarding Organisation and specification chosen by the school. However, students are required to work towards the same assessment objectives. The National Curriculum does not have to be followed by academies and free schools and models in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland vary from that adopted in England. 

Within the KS3 content framework students should: "identify significant events, make connections, draw contrasts, and analyse trends within periods and over long arcs of time. They should use historical terms and concepts in increasingly sophisticated ways. They should pursue historically valid enquiries including some they have framed themselves, and create relevant, structured and evidentially supported accounts in response. They should understand how different types of historical sources are used rigorously to make historical claims and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed.” (National Curriculum 2013 DfE)