What is the diamond model?

The diamond refers to the ‘shape’ of the educational journey - boys and girls start and end their learning together, but are taught separately in certain areas of the Learning Wheel when appropriate. These single gender classes work alongside co-educational classes and ability sets.

Why do we teach this way?

It has been shown that boys and girls mature at a different pace in their pre-teens. They can benefit from different teaching styles and classroom environments during these formative years, so we teach them separately for core subjects in the years leading up to GCSE choices.

Students can also face cultural legacies in certain subject areas. Boys often dominate the classroom in the Sciences because of the way these subjects are traditionally taught; girls tend to lead in English for similar reasons. Teaching these core subjects separately allows our teachers to adapt their teaching style accordingly.

What does it look like day-to-day?

Boys and girls are taught the same content, by the same teachers, and given the same opportunities - it is the pedagogy that differs. The result:

• Teachers can tailor learning and delivery techniques
• Boys and girls are less self-conscious in the classroom
• We engage our girls more with STEM subjects, and get boys interested in English and the Arts
• The individual comes first - smaller classes allow us to focus on each child’s needs, building their education around them

Form groups, clubs and enrichment, social activities and trips are all co-educational, with boys and girls mixing naturally throughout the school day. There are also co-educational project days, such as the recent Year 7 Patterns and Symbols day.

What’s next?

The educational experience of our learners is at the heart of all planning and decision making. This evolves over time and every year we will consider what is best for each cohort, in terms of the structure of the classes. Therefore, the diamond model will evolve with us over time, and is not set in stone.

 

Diamond model timeline: