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Maths

Curriculum Content Overview

To provide all students with a rewarding experience of mathematics. We will prepare students to become confident, numerate individuals who have developed transferrable skills which they can apply in all aspects of their adult life.
This is accomplished through our commitment to excellent teaching; delivering a well-designed, rigorous, demanding and inclusive curriculum with an interesting variety of lessons to motivate, engage and empower all students. We have high expectations of all students to recognise their ability and achieve their best. Students are encouraged to develop their own skills and knowledge in analysis, reasoning, creativity, collaboration and self-evaluation so that they can meet the mathematical problems they face with proficiency and thoughtfulness.

Key Stage 3

In KS3, Maths is taught over 7 hours per fortnight. In addition, some groups will have one extra numeracy hour per fortnight taught by either their class teacher or another member of the Maths team. While drill and practice are essential to improving skill and confidence in Maths, we do make links with other subjects and the wider world so there is an applied and practical element to maths lessons. Our KS3 students take part in the UK Maths Trust Challenges and in Year 8 students have the opportunity to take part in the Inter-School Maths Quiz which is run from the UEA.

Key Stage 4

Year 10 and Year 11 consolidate knowledge acquired in Year 7 to 9, revisiting topics to strengthen skills while continuing to develop knowledge at a more advanced level. Students at this stage will be thinking about their next steps so the intent for KS4 is to maintain interest and love of the subject to encourage participation in Mathematics beyond GCSE as well as to prepare students for life after secondary education.

The awarding body is Edexcel. There are 3 exams; 1 non-calculator and 2 calculator. All are equally weighted with a maximum of 80 marks. The grade awarded is based on a total score from all 3 exams.

Key Stage 4 Level 2 Certificate in Further Maths

The intention of the Level 2 further Maths is to stretch and challenge the higher ability students, while supporting their GCSE Maths at the same time. They experience a wider range of Mathematics, including topics like differentiation, which will support them in their further studies as they move on to A Level. They see questions written in a different style to the GCSE, which develops their problem solving and application of knowledge, but also requires them to improve their written communication of their ideas as there is a greater emphasis on proof. We challenge the students’ knowledge of some of their GCSE topics, like surds and indices, which develops their confidence when it comes to the main GCSE style questions, but it boosts their enthusiasm too as they tackle more complicated Maths. We develop their enthusiasm for the subject by exposing them to ‘A Level’ style topics and areas of maths they have never seen before, with the hope that they will continue that passion and work with us on the A Level the following year.

Key Stage 5

A Level Mathematics is an interesting, thought provoking and challenging course. In 2019, it was the most popular A Level to take in the UK (JCQ data) so it is one you don’t want to miss out on! It develops vital quantitative and thinking skills that universities and employers are keen to see. Students enjoy increasing their knowledge from GCSE, being able to see how that maths they learn can be applied to different situations and that real feeling of satisfaction when you solve a tricky problem! Students will develop their knowledge and skill in mathematical argument, language and proof, problem solving and mathematical modelling. The use of technology including calculators and graph software is interwoven throughout the course to help students develop a greater understanding of the methods, but also keeping up with the modern world where technology is part of our everyday life.

The Further Maths AS and A Level is an extension of A Level Maths but also introduces a wide range of new concepts, including Discrete Maths. This is a newer study of maths, which is still being developed now and has applications to computer science and business. We aim to further develop the problem-solving skills of the students and through the pure elements of the course we expose the students to some quite abstract concepts in the form of polar coordinates and complex numbers. There is scope within the pure and statistical elements for the students to consolidate ideas from the main Maths A Level and move them on to more difficult applications. We continue to use technology throughout the course for students to investigate concepts for themselves initially and to help them to make links between concepts. The course is an excellent idea for those students who are considering degree level Maths as some of the topics are similar in the first year of the degree, so we try to support this through use of problems solving questions, related to STEP style problems that they could be required to study.