At Diamond Wood Community Academy we have designed an ambitious, flexible, spiral curriculum which allows all pupils to create a broad range of opportunities and memorable experiences which are underpinned by our five core values, alongside our chosen key themes.
Overarching whole school topics have been planned to ensure the progression of skills, knowledge, experiences and vocabulary across school. This also allows pupils to develop strong links and connections between the things they learn. In turn, this allows them to ‘remember more’, ‘know more’ and ‘do more’.
The curriculum is topic based, however subjects are explicitly taught. This is obviously different in the Early Years, where children focus on the Prime and Specific areas of learning. However, the knowledge and skills that pupils are taught within the EYFS underpins all of this learning and is carefully planned to ensure progression across school and beyond.
Designing Our Curriculum
School Context and Cultural Capital
Diamond Wood Community Academy is committed to embracing our school context and cultural capital. We recognise that our pupils come from diverse backgrounds and have a wide range of cultural experiences. Our subject-specific curricula reflect this diversity and provide opportunities for pupils to explore and appreciate different cultures, while celebrating their own.
We ensure that our subject curricula integrate culturally relevant content and resources, promoting inclusivity and fostering a positive learning environment. Through our curriculum, we aim to develop students’ cultural awareness, respect, and understanding, equipping them with the skills to engage in a global society.
Our Curriculum Design: Progression between DWCA and Ravensthorpe Junior school
Staff at Diamond Wood Community Academy (DWCA) and Ravensthorpe Junior School (RJS) work closely together to ensure clear progression of knowledge and skills across all subjects. As our local feeder school, regular discussions take place between leadership teams and subject leaders to share curriculum intent, approaches and best practice. These collaborative working relationships are well established and continue to develop.
Ravensthorpe Junior School benefits from a number of subject specialist teachers, allowing them to design their own schemes of work. At DWCA, although we have fewer subject specialists, leaders are highly committed to developing their subject expertise. For this reason, we use high-quality, established schemes in selected subjects to support staff development, improve confidence and ensure strong outcomes for pupils.
Both schools follow a thematic curriculum approach while teaching subjects explicitly. This consistency supports a smooth transition for pupils as they move from DWCA to the Junior School.
Through ongoing collaboration and professional dialogue, both schools are confident that pupils are provided with strong foundations and clear progression to support their future learning.
Our Golden Thread Approach to Curriculum Intent and Implementation
At Diamond Wood Community Academy, we recognise the value and importance of having clearly defined concepts in our subject curriculums. Our ‘Golden Thread’ principle is implemented to ensure coherence, progression, and deepening understanding across the curriculum, driven by our carefully chosen concepts. Teachers make links between prior learning, current learning, and future learning, ensuring a smooth transition and building on children’s prior knowledge and skills. Having clearly defined concepts in our subject curriculums is essential for several reasons:
Clarity and Understanding
Clearly defined concepts provide a framework to organise and structure the subject content. This ensures that pupils have a clear understanding of the main ideas and themes, enabling them to make connections between different concepts and topics. By explicitly defining concepts, we can avoid confusion and ensure a coherent progression of learning across the school.
Depth of Knowledge
Well-defined concepts enable us to delve deeper into specific ideas, allowing pupils to develop a more sophisticated understanding of the subject. By focusing on key concepts, we can encourage pupils to explore the complexities and nuances of subject related phenomena, promoting critical thinking and analytical skills.
Transferable Skills
Each subject is not just about acquiring factual information but also developing transferable skills. Clearly defined concepts help us identify and teach relevant skills. These skills are applicable across various disciplines and can benefit pupils in their future academic and professional endeavours.
Meaningful Learning
By using clearly defined concepts, we can make learning in subjects meaningful and relevant to pupils’ lives. Linking concepts to real-world examples and local contexts helps them to see the relevance and applicability in their everyday experiences. This fosters a deeper engagement with the subjects and promotes a sense of curiosity.
Golden Threads
Core Values
Our whole school values of friendship, respect, honesty, cooperation, and responsibility have been carefully chosen to underpin our school ethos and guide the behaviour of all members of our school community. These values are crucial for young learners, especially those from a multicultural and diverse background such as the context of our school, as they provide a universal framework for understanding and navigating a complex and interconnected world. We embed our core values within all aspects of school life. This includes actively promoting them through teaching and learning, and ensuring all members of the school community model them consistently. We strive to promote parental and community involvement in reinforcing the our core values, ensuring a unified approach to nurturing the children’s social, moral, spiritual, and cultural development.
Key Themes
At our school, we believe in designing a curriculum that promotes holistic development and prepares our pupils for their future. We have carefully selected the following key themes to underpin all aspects of school life, from the Foundation Stage through to Key Stage 1. These themes are not only important for academic learning but also for fostering social, emotional, and cultural understanding, particularly taking into consideration the context of our school community. Our rationale and justification for choosing these key themes are rooted in providing an exceptional educational experience for our pupils.
Overarching Whole School Topics
The implementation of our whole school overarching topics aims to provide a cohesive and enriching learning experience for all pupils within the EYFS and KS1. While the topics promote cross-curricular links, it is emphasised that these connections are made judiciously, ensuring that subjects are taught explicitly and in-depth. The distinct nature of each subject is maintained. Our spiral curriculum design ensures that as pupils progress from Nursery to Year 2, their understanding of the overarching topics continues to deepen, building upon previous knowledge and experiences.
Our thematic approach aligns with the feeder junior school’s curriculum, promoting a seamless transition for pupils as they progress through their education. This collaboration aims to maintain consistency and progression in learning experiences, fostering a continuum of knowledge and skills.
Our curriculum design emphasises a broad and balanced approach, catering to the holistic development of pupils and promoting a rigorous and inclusive learning environment for all. With over 80% of our pupils being EAL learners, it is crucial to provide an educational framework that fosters language acquisition and cultural integration. Whole school overarching topics allow for the exploration of themes that are relatable and engaging for EAL learners, thereby enhancing their language development and understanding of the curriculum.
Subject Specific Substantive and Disciplinary Concepts
At Diamond Wood Community Academy, we believe that a well-planned curriculum should provide children with the knowledge, skills, and understanding they need to thrive academically and personally. Therefore, we have carefully designed our curriculum to ensure that it encompasses both the substantive and disciplinary subject specific concepts.
Substantive Concepts refer to the key knowledge and understanding that children need to acquire within each subject. They form the foundation of subject-specific learning and provide the building blocks for further exploration and application. Substantive concepts ensure that children gain a secure understanding of the content and key facts within a subject area.
Disciplinary Concepts focus on the skills and processes associated with each subject. They encourage children to think critically, solve problems, and apply their knowledge in real-life situations. Disciplinary concepts help children develop a deep understanding of a subject and enable them to become independent learners.
