Mathematics
Overview
Mathematics is a vital part of the curriculum for all students. The
use of Mathematics can be seen in everyday life and in many forms of employment and decision-making. Mathematics greatly contributes across other areas of the school curriculum by developing students’ abilities to solve problems, to calculate and reason logically, algebraically and geometrically.
Mathematics can enable students to find joy in both the journey and the outcome when solving elegant solutions to complicated problems. It can help to build confidence in students, giving them a secure understanding of mathematical reasoning whilst linking relationships between different topics both within and outside of Mathematics.
We challenge all students alongside building their confidence and ability within the subject. It is important that all students enjoy their time within maths lessons subject and that their efforts and achievements are celebrated. The celebrations take many forms, from Stars of the Week, positive points, postcards home, to work being shown on Twitter and Instagram
We offer a broad based curriculum to all students and strive to ensure they develop a positive and confident attitude to the subject. Through well planned lessons and appropriate teaching methods and resources, we develop students’ analytical skills, ability to problem solve and experience success and enjoyment in the subject. It is our continual aim that every student leaves Year 11 having developed an enjoyment for Mathematics as well as meeting or exceeding their target grade.
A current focus for us is to develop the students oral and written communication skills within the subject and encourage students to recognise the application of Mathematics in a wide variety of everyday situations
Much work is also done to contribute to other areas of the school curriculum where mathematical skills may be relevant. Teachers in the Maths department are always available to support other staff in suggesting common strategies in dealing with mathematical concepts and give guidance as to levels of success.
Maths equipment
In order to be able to access the content of all lessons students are expected to bring with them all the relevant equipment. For maths students will need:
Pen, pencil, green pen, ruler, protractor, a pair of compasses and a scientific calculator.
The calculator we recommend is: Casio FX-83GTX Scientific Calculator
Assessments
All students have regular low stakes assessments throughout the academic year. These are marked by their teacher, feedback is given and targets are set. Any issues that have arisen from these assessments are addressed in proceeding lessons as well as interventions sessions where possible. All assessments are internally monitored and the results form part of our data rich tracking.
All year groups will also have a more summative assessment, often at the end of the academic year, which enables us to put together individualised Maths Improvement Plans for our students. This adds to the detail of information we hold on all our students with regard to their mathematical progress.
Enrichment and intervention
There are many enrichment and intervention opportunities available which include:
- Pi Club for the more able students at KS3
- Entry and practice for the international UKMT challenges
- Maths week
- Monthly maths quiz, Winner receives a £20 voucher
- Lunchtime drop in sessions for all KS4 students
- Morning Maths sessions for all Year 11 students that runs from 8am to 8:30am every morning
- Targeted intervention sessions for all year groups at tutor time and after school.
Celebrations include: Star of the week, Postcards home, phone calls home, reward on Class Chart, Positive points, ‘I’ve been tweeted’, Instagram posts
Curriculum and scheme of work
The department curriculum intent and an overview to what is being taught in each year groups can be found here.
The curriculum content includes Number, Algebra, ratio and proportion, Geometry and Measure, Probability and Statistics. Students study material from each of these areas throughout the Key Stages at a level appropriate to their ability. Students will be encouraged and expected to apply their knowledge in a variety of contexts.
Our focus in KS3 is about instilling a love of mathematics soaked in confidence, setting firm foundations for GCSE and beyond.
There is an increasing emphasis on problem solving as only 40-50% of GCSE exam marks are for use of standard techniques. The remaining marks are for reasoning, interpreting, communication and problem solving. Students will be given very few formulae in the exam so it is very important that they learn the formulae as they come across them in lessons and are confident in applying them.
Students will be given plenty of practice through classwork, homework, problem solving assignments, tests and examinations. The use of ICT will be encouraged to enhance the learning process and to develop wider skills.
Students are taught in sets according to their mathematical attainment. Students are tested regularly both with formative and summative assessments and can be moved between sets if deemed appropriate. Enrichment and problem solving activities are built into the schemes of work throughout and our regular testing enables both staff and students to work on any areas that are not as fully mastered as we would like. All tests inform our individual maths intervention plans and we work with the students and parents to iron out any concerns/issues/misconceptions as soon as possible.
Homework is set weekly. Each year group has an online homework platform. Year 7 and 8 work with My Maths, Year 9 with Dr Frost, Years 10 and 11 with Maths Watch and KS5 with MEI and My Maths.
The teaching within the department is based on the National Curriculum programmes of study and GCSE Mathematics Edexcel Specification - link below.
Our bespoke schemes of work have been written and designed in-house with the needs and learning styles of our students very much in mind. We do not believe in buying in a scheme of work written by an external company as it is vital that the work is as appropriate for our students as possible.
We follow the Edexcel GCSE course at the two available levels – Foundation (grades 1 to 5) and Higher (grades 4 to 9). Students are entered according to their ability.
Students for whom GCSE is too difficult can gain an Entry Level Certificate.
Our more able students are offered AQA level 2 Certificate in Further Maths as well as Edexcel GCSE in Statistics. This is an excellent taster as they consider ‘A’ Level Maths in the sixth form as well as an opportunity to gain an extra qualification.
We also offer A levels in Maths and Further Maths.
For further information about the courses described above, please visit:
Edexcel GCSE
https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-gcses/mathematics-2015
Entry Level
Level 2 Further Maths
https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/mathematics/aqa-certificate/further-mathematics
Edexcel GCSE Statistics
https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-gcses/statistics-2017.html
A Level Maths
https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-a-levels/mathematics-2017.html#%2Ftab-1
A Level Further Maths
For any Year 11 and 13 students who want to do any extra revision for their mock exams will find some papers linked below as well as the markschemes.
If you do have a go at any of these and need help, please speak to your maths teacher or anyone else in the department who will be more than happy to help.
GCSE
Set 1 Paper 1 Foundation Markscheme
Set 1 Paper 1 Higher Markscheme
Set 1 Paper 2 Foundation Markscheme
Set 1 Paper 2 Higher Markscheme
Set 1 Paper 3 Foundation Markscheme
Set 1 Paper 3 Higher Markscheme
Set 2 Paper 1 Foundation Markscheme
Set 2 Paper 1 Higher Markscheme
Set 2 Paper 2 Foundation Markscheme
Set 2 Paper 2 Higher Markscheme
Set 2 Paper 3 Foundation Markscheme
Set 2 Paper 3 Higher Markscheme
A Level