At Don Valley Academy we follow a three year Key Stage 3 (Years 7, 8 & 9) and then a two year Key Stage 4 (Years 10 & 11). Students have the opportunity to opt and specialise at the end of Y9 in the humanities and open basket subjects taking these to the end of Y11. 

In Years 7, 8 & 9 students follow a core curriculum of English, Mathematics and Science. They also study both History, Geography and a MFL of either French or Spanish and then on rotation enjoy a wide range of creative and technical subjects. In addition, they study Ethics, Philosophy and Citizenship (EPC) and finally computing and core PE. The allocated amount of time is shown in the table below.

Depending on need, we also offer several alternative support packages. For example, we have the ‘Diamond’ cohort where some students have a different distribution of time allocated to subjects to allow for literacy and/or numeracy support or are identified as needing extra support in transition as well as curriculum intervention. These programmes include Accelerated Reading, Reading Recovery and Reciprocal Reading, as well as vocabulary building and cursive handwriting. Within numeracy, Sparx and xtramath.org are being used.

The diamonds groups are closely monitored throughout the year to ensure their curriculum offer is well suited to their needs. Students may be added to the groups if their needs change; this could be because of results from reading or numeracy assessments.

Below is an overview of the diamonds curriculum in each year group:

At the end of Year 9 students opt for three subjects that they will study in key stage 4 and certificate by the end of Year 11 (the list of all the current option choices is in the table below). Students all opt from either History or Geography to enable our students to maximise their attainment scores in the second Attainment 8 ‘basket’. During Year 9 students will also discuss the possibility of studying triple science. 

We are continuing with our exciting Year 10 curriculum, where over 35% of students will be studying the EBacc pathway. We strongly believe that studying a language is an important part of creating the ‘whole child’, learning to appreciate different people and cultures, whilst improving communication skills, metacognition, and life chances.

We offer a wide range of both subjects and qualifications which will cater for all needs from creative and technical qualifications to more academic and health related courses. We design our curriculum around each individual child, and it is, therefore, a bespoke curriculum. We work with students and parents/carers to ensure their choices will best match their enjoyment and potential in each case. Students will follow a course that best suits their abilities and could include: GCSEs, BTEC and Cambridge National or Technical certificates.

The full list of qualifications and time allocation for Year 10 are in the tables below. 

Updated September 2025

If you require further information about the curriculum, please contact us by emailing  info@donvalleyacademy.org.uk