Our Curriculum Model
At Educational Diversity, we understand curriculum as everything we deliberately plan to help our pupils learn, develop and prepare for their future.
Our curriculum combines academic learning with literacy and communication, personal development, essential skills, enrichment and experiences that prepare pupils for their next stage.
At the centre of our curriculum is the individual child or young person.
We recognise that pupils join Educational Diversity with different experiences, strengths, needs, starting points and intended destinations. Our curriculum provides a clear and ambitious framework while allowing the flexibility and adaptation needed to enable individual pupils to engage, progress and succeed.
The Educational Diversity Curriculum Model
Our curriculum is built around six interconnected elements:
1. Core Curriculum
We are ambitious for our pupils academically.
English, mathematics and science form an important foundation of our curriculum, alongside a wider range of subjects appropriate to pupils’ age, pathway and stage of education.
Teaching builds from pupils’ individual starting points and prior knowledge. We identify gaps and barriers to learning while ensuring that pupils continue to develop new knowledge, understanding and skills.
As pupils progress through Educational Diversity, curriculum choices and qualifications are increasingly shaped by their intended destination and preparation for their next stage.
2. Literacy and Communication
Literacy is everybody’s responsibility and is fundamental to successful learning.
We recognise that difficulties with reading, vocabulary, communication and language can significantly affect a pupil’s ability to access the curriculum, express themselves and engage successfully with education.
Literacy and communication are therefore developed across the curriculum, alongside targeted support where this is needed. We aim to build pupils’ confidence as readers and communicators and give them the skills they need to access learning, qualifications and opportunities beyond Educational Diversity.
3. Personal Development and Wellbeing
Personal development is an integral part of our curriculum.
Through PSHE, Thrive, Zones of Regulation and our wider relational approach, pupils are supported to develop their understanding of themselves and others, relationships, health and wellbeing and the wider world.
Where appropriate, pupils may also access targeted Thrive support based on individual assessment and need.
Our aim is to help pupils develop the self-awareness, regulation, confidence and independence that enable them to participate successfully in learning, relationships and life beyond school.
4. Essential Skills
Alongside subject knowledge, we explicitly develop the essential skills pupils need for education, employment and adult life.
Our Skills Builder approach develops:
Listening • Speaking • Problem Solving • Creativity • Leadership • Teamwork • Planning • Adapting
These skills are embedded across subjects, activities and wider school experiences so that pupils have repeated opportunities to learn, practise and apply them in different contexts.
5. Experiences and Enrichment
We want our pupils’ experiences at Educational Diversity to broaden their horizons.
Sport, outdoor learning, creative and cultural experiences, enrichment, vocational opportunities and experiences beyond the classroom enable pupils to discover interests and strengths, build confidence and experience success in different ways.
Our wider curriculum provides opportunities for pupils to encounter experiences that may previously have been limited or disrupted and helps them develop the knowledge, skills and cultural experiences they need for their future.
6. Pathways and Preparation for the Future
Everything within our curriculum ultimately contributes towards a successful next step.
From the point a pupil joins Educational Diversity, we consider their intended destination and the knowledge, skills, qualifications and experiences they will need to get there.
Depending upon the individual pupil, this may include preparation for reintegration into mainstream education, transition to another appropriate educational setting, vocational learning, further education, training or employment.
Careers education, work-related learning, vocational opportunities and encounters with Post-16 providers become increasingly important as pupils move through the school.
Personalised and always ambitious
Personalisation is an important feature of our curriculum.
We use assessment, pupil voice, One-Page Profiles and information from families, previous schools and other professionals to understand pupils’ starting points and identify the adaptations or additional support they may need.
Some pupils require targeted intervention; others may need changes to the pace, sequence or way in which learning is presented. Individual pathways may look different, but we maintain high expectations for what every pupil can achieve.
Bringing the curriculum together
These elements do not operate separately.
A literacy activity may also develop communication and teamwork. A vocational experience may apply maths, build independence and develop planning skills. Thrive work may help a pupil develop the regulation and confidence they need to re-engage successfully with classroom learning.
Together, the different elements of our curriculum enable pupils to develop knowledge, skills, confidence, independence and aspiration.
This supports every pupil’s journey through:
Connect → Re-Engage → Progress → Transition
and towards our shared ambition of empowering every child to thrive and flourish.
