Maths

We aim to develop the full potential of every pupil in mathematics. We aim to ensure that every pupil experiences success and enjoyment in the subject whether it be equipping them with sufficient mathematical skills for their day-to-day life or providing them with a firm foundation for those wishing to pursue Mathematics beyond GCSE. In addition, we hope that we can open our young people’s eyes to the creative, imaginative and inspiring world of mathematics. Some key ideals are:

• To improve each student’s sense of self-worth and independence.
• To improve each student’s mathematical literacy commensurate to their ability.
• To engage a student, they must see the value in what they are learning, or be enjoying themselves.
• To have safe and joyous classrooms, where no answer is treated without respect and attention and all students are equally valued.
• To develop resilience, character, confidence and independence even when faced with challenging problems.

We teach a broad, sequenced and ambitious curriculum, where future teaching is based on the building blocks taught previously and take a mastery approach to the teaching of mathematics for understanding.  The key principles and concepts are broken down into small connected and structured steps enabling interleaving and application to range of contexts. There will be opportunities for students to develop procedural fluency in mathematics through varied and frequent practice of key facts (through retrieval starters and low-stakes quizzes), with increasingly complex problems over time. This will enable pupils to develop conceptual understanding (declarative knowledge) and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.  We see that the appropriate use of manipulatives and multiple representations allow students to build and scaffold learning. This is part of our CPA (Concrete, Pictorial and Abstract) approach. Pupils will have opportunities to think for themselves and reason mathematically (conditional knowledge) by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language.

Key Stage 3 (years 7, 8 & 9)

Students are taught a range of topics from the five key strands of Mathematics: Number, Algebra, Geometry & Measure, Ratio & Proportion and Statistics & Probability. The new scheme of work has been designed with interleaving as a key element. For example, Year 7 starts with developing algebraic thinking and further development of algebraic skills is then woven throughout the years so students reinforce and extend their knowledge and understanding.

Students will sit a progress test after each topic to enable teachers to provide feedback on students’ strengths and areas of improvement. Pupils will then act on the feedback through targeted feedforward questions.  In addition to this, a formal assessment at the end of each term will be sat to cover all topics taught throughout the year.

By the summer of 2023, the mastery scheme of learning for Years 7-9 (following the White Rose curriculum) will be in place. Year 10 will follow this scheme from September 2023.

Key stage 4 (Years 10 & 11)

Students are taught a range of topics from the five key strands of Mathematics: Number, Algebra, Geometry & Measure, Ratio & Proportion and Statistics & Probability. The curriculum is currently a gap-fill/recovery curriculum, ensuring that students have concrete foundational knowledge of the KS3 curriculum before they move onto the new more complex concepts required for higher mathematics.

Students will sit a progress test at relevant points to enable teachers to provide feedback on students’ strengths and areas of improvement. In addition to this, formal GCSE papers will be modelled and attempted each month.