Mathematics

Staff members:

• Mrs C Wells – Head of Department
• Mrs V Beltrami – Teacher of Mathematics, Key Stage 5 co-ordinator
• Mrs L Talkowski – Teacher of Mathematics, Key Stage 4 co-ordinator
• Miss S Coughlan – Teacher of Mathematics, Key Stage 3 co-ordinator
• Miss L Williams – Teacher of Mathematics
• Mrs L Gillespie – Teacher of Mathematics
• Miss C Rendell – Teacher of Mathematics
• Mrs B Manser – Teacher of Mathematics
• Mrs E Sparrow – Teacher of Mathematics
• Miss R Pinney – Teacher of Mathematics
• Miss R Jones – Teacher of Mathematics
• Mr M Clark – Teacher of Mathematics

Additional Staff

• Mr A Harris – Headteacher
• Mrs C Landeg – Head of Year 7
• Ms D Bennett – Mathematics Teaching Assistant

Aims and Objectives:

Mathematics is the language of logic and the process of problem solving through structured method and strategy. It provides a foundation for understanding how the world works and can open our eyes to surprising and beautiful things. We aim to develop all pupils’ curiosity about the problems they encounter and their abilities to tackle these confidently in an efficient, logical manner using a wide range of mathematical skills and concepts. We will work together on knowing how to carry out calculations and on knowing why techniques work, so that we can build the confidence to apply these in both familiar and unfamiliar contexts.

Curriculum

Our starting point is the National Curriculum and the GCSE Subject Content and Assessment Objectives produced by the government. These emphasise reasoning and problem solving but start with the importance of fluency. Pupils will have varied and frequent opportunities to practise and improve their core skills, both in class and as homework tasks. Where pupils show strong skills quickly, they will be challenged to apply them in sophisticated ways; other pupils may need to take time to master skills before moving on.

Pupils receive 6 lessons of mathematics per fortnight in KS3 and 7 per fortnight in KS4 and are set one homework assignment each week.

During Key Stage 3, pupils meet content in the five strands of Number, Algebra, Ratio and Proportion, Geometry and Measures, Probability and Statistics. We recognise that different pupils will have different starting points and structure our topics in KS3 through a series of stages, adapted for our pupils from the Kangaroo Maths Scheme.

At Key Stage 4 pupils follow the Edexcel GCSE Mathematics course. There are two tiers of entry for GCSE mathematics: Higher tier, where grades 9 – 4 are available, and Foundation tier where grades 5 – 1 are available. For both tiers, the examination consists of one 1 1/2 hour non-calculator paper and two 1 1/2 hour papers for which a calculator may be used.

At Key Stage 5 pupils follow the two year Edexcel A-Level Mathematics course. The course content is two thirds pure mathematics and one third applied mathematics.

For our more able pupils, we also offer the two year Edexcel A-level in Further Mathematics. This course has a similar structure to the standard A-level also comprising pure and applied content.

Resources:

The department has 9 teaching rooms, all of which have projector and audio facilities. In lessons we use a variety of text books, worksheets and activities designed to suit each class and the current topic. For KS5 we are trialling an online text book. All pupils have access to a range of online and interactive learning facilities including MyMaths and MethodMaths (for GCSE).

Extra-Curricular:

Each week in term time we offer open after school Maths Drop Ins, where pupils can ask about any aspect of the mathematics they have been studying or, indeed, other areas of mathematics they have been exploring. These run on separate days for each Key Stage. Details will be advertised to pupils by class teachers.

Each year a large number of pupils take part in the individual and team National Mathematics Challenges. We also organise STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) workshops in school with the support of local industry.