The Diamond Jubilee High School, Hyderabad

Curriculum

Balanced Curriculum

The curriculum across the Pre-Primary, Primary and Secondary Sections is inter-connected and designed to ensure the holistic development of students. This integrated curriculum is supplemented by numerous activities, field trips and class projects.

The school follows a learner-centred pedagogy using Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences. This integrated learning approach caters to every child's learning style and strengths. Diamond Jubilee High School, Hyderabad (DJHSH), is also affiliated with the Telangana State Board, offering the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) programme to students from Grades 1 to 10.

The school aligns with the seven Aga Khan Education Services Global Quality Standards for Schools, which are School Leadership, Teaching, Curriculum, School Ethos and Values, Family and Community Engagement, Human Resources and Operation and Infrastructure.

The Teaching and Learning Approach

Pre-Primary

Research shows that high quality experiences in the early years are linked to positive outcomes associated with health, social and economic wellbeing as adults and that 90% of brain development occurs during the first five years of a child's life. DJHSH's pre-primary programme provide ongoing training and support for teachers to facilitate the provision of safe, stimulating, and nurturing early learning environments for young children.

DJHSH's Pre-Primary programme promotes holistic learning through a progressive, well-researched methodology of Shishu Pahel Padhati (SPP). SPP is a child-centred pedagogy and means 'child first'. It encourages children to plan and construct their own learning thus retaining their natural self-confidence, and to develop knowledge, skills, values and attitudes for their current and future needs. SPP focuses on experiential learning through hands-on activities that include opportunities to explore, experience, practice, reflect and share learnings. Our teachers plan and implement an engaging curriculum based on this theory to meet meaningful goals, while also being mindful of differentiation and diversity. The preschool follows a teacher-student ratio of 1:15.

Our qualified and experienced multi-lingual staff nurture and provide care to the students. Our school has spacious classrooms with abundant natural light, outdoor play areas, a well-stocked library and a large indoor gym area. A happy, safe and engaging learning space has been designed to provide an enriching environment for young learners that includes:

  • Indoor and outdoor learning spaces that promote activity-based and exploratory learning.
  • Teaching-learning materials that are child friendly and tactile to build curiosity, autonomy and ingenuity in children.
  • Classroom furniture and accessories that are ergonomic, safe and made with natural materials.
  • Classroom spaces that are organised to promote peer-to-peer and engaged learning.
  • Classrooms and corridors that are divided into eight learning areas, including reading, science, home and art corners.
  • Outdoor play to support gross motor skill development.

Primary

DJHSH's Primary Section provides a high quality curriculum that embraces intellectual, social, physical, artistic and emotional learning, underpinned by moral values and at an affordable fee. The natural curiosity and creativity of a child is nurtured through application-based learning methods. The syllabus is planned to facilitate learning where each child is given the best learning experience. Our teachers plan and design Curriculum Webs to ensure that every topic in the curriculum is integrated with other subjects.

Secondary

At the Secondary level, the Telangana state-prescribed curriculum is taught using innovative methods and activities. Lessons are supplemented by a variety of extra-curricular activities, field trips and class projects. Students also participate in a number of inter-school activities such as elocution competitions, debates, science exhibitions, creative writing and the arts. Our students learn through collective reflections shared with peers and facilitators and group discussions.

Co-Curricular Activities

To support student engagement and holistic development, the school offers a wide range of learning opportunities. DJHSH ensures that all students are able to utilise the available resources to help them to achieve their academic potential, desires and aspirations. The indoor and outdoor co-curricular activities are well-planned to engage all the students in variety of activities and clubs. Some examples are below.

PRIMARY
Art and Crafts
English Literature Club
Hindi Literature Club
Yoga
Eco Club
Dance
Life skills
Music
Karate

SECONDARY
Mathematics Club
Social Science Club
Telugu Literature Club
English Literature Club
Hindi Literature Club
Yoga
Computer
Eco Club
Interact Club (with the Rotary Club of Hyderabad)
Dance
Movie club
Life skills
Cooking Club
Sewing Club
Music
Drama
Karate
Arts and Crafts

Sports

The Physical Education (PE) department works all year round to provide opportunities for students to practice sports and participate in competitions. Our students have regular Games and PE periods through the week where they practice yoga, sport and other exercises. Students also learn about the rules of various sports. Sports include throwball, football, volleyball, kho-kho, kabaddi, table tennis and badminton. They also work on their cognitive skills through playing carom and chess.

Our students participate in many interschool competitions for sports. Year after year, our students are selected as National Players, making the school and their families proud.

Olympiad Examinations

Education today is constantly evolving. In an effort to keep up to date with the changes in the educational field and to challenge students, the school participates in internal and external Olympiads for English, Mathematics, Science and IT. These are held with support from organisations including the Science Olympiad Foundation (SOF), Unified Council, National Teachers Council, Ignited Mind Lab, Spell Bee, Neltas, Mastermind and All India School Science Teachers Association (AISSTA). Many of our talented students go on to qualify for the Zonal and National levels.

Cultural Activities

Music
Students are introduced to music from an early age in DJHSH. They enjoy music corners in the Pre-Primary Section and dedicated music classes in the Primary Section. They learn to sing and appreciate different genres of music during this time.

Dance
Students participate in aerobics and Zumba and other national and international dance forms.

Art Programme
Art is taught in conjunction with other subjects such as Social Science, Science and Mathematics. Our secondary students are encouraged to compete in interschool art competitions. They are also guided to take elementary and intermediate art exams.

Drama and Theatre
Drama is introduced from Grade 1 with the help of hands-on activities and games. Students learn the art of observation, body language, expression, gestures and voice modulation.

Annual Days
Our Primary and Secondary students eagerly look forward to DJHSH's annual plays, from The Wizard of Oz and Aladdin to Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet. The plays are scripted and adapted by our teachers and every part of the production is managed by our talented teachers, parents and students.

Class Assemblies
This weekly event brings Primary and Secondary students together, promoting a sense of oneness and family.

Special Days
DJHSH seeks to boost students' knowledge by learning about and celebrating special days. Navratri, Eid, Christmas, World Environment Day and even No Bag Day are some of the days we celebrate. Days such as Hindi Divas are celebrated with plays and inter-house competitions, with the aim of appreciating our national languages.

School Picnics
Picnics at theme parks, resorts and water parks are organised for the students annually.

English Language Development Programme (ELDP) Activities

  1. Cambridge English Language Learning (CELL) is based on the Cambridge English assessment curriculum components. It caters to students from Grades 2 to 9 and is tailored according to their learning levels. The programme is unique in its approach to teaching, learning and assessing students' English communication skills.

    It combines the experience and expertise of commercially available English Language Assessments with emphasis on the key skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing (LSRW). The key objectives of the programme are to:

    • Enhance communication skills.
    • Expose students to relevant non-curricular content.
    • Help students apply the learning in other academic and non-academic areas.
    • Develop real-life skills to use English as a medium of communication daily conversation.

  2. DJHSH conducts regular spelling bee contests, both oral and written from Grades 1 onwards. The team believes that learning how to spell words is a lifelong skill and builds the basic foundation that all students will need throughout their education and life in general.

  1. The Skit Kat programme is a unique language activity for Primary students to enhance their communication skills through drama, and is a part of the larger English language improvement intervention. Dramas enables students to develop their own identity by exploring meaningful fictional situations that have parallels to the real world. Through structured play and drama, children enact the stories from their English books to learn interactively across the curriculum.

  2. DEAR programme (Drop Everything And Read) was initiated to provide students with an enhanced reading experience. It gives the teacher a structured time to speak with each student about their reading, assess progress and provide targeted instructions. It gives students time to read, share what they have read and receive the support for further reading.

  3. Our Primary Section implemented an on-going buddy reading programme where older students read with younger students. The idea is to offer younger students one-on-one guided reading time to improve their reading and comprehension skills and vocabulary.

  4. Champion's trophy is a monthly inter-house competition where secondary students research an allotted, contemporary topic and present their research findings, followed by a group discussion and debate.