SubjectsMathematics

Our Curriculum Intent

Our Mathematics curriculum sets out to achieve the following aims. Students will:

• be confident and competent in key numeracy skills and be able to apply and recognise the value of numeracy skills to their lives and everyday applications.

• understand that Mathematics is a much richer subject than merely performing a procedure to generate an answer for a test.

• develop an interest and passion for the pursuit of Mathematics and thus a desire to study a Mathematically-related subject to A’ Level and beyond.

Our curriculum is designed to give teachers the resources, training and time to:

• promote specific thinking skills in our students

• secure students’ understanding before attempting further progress

• develop the metacognitive skills of self-reflection and self-assessment

Through teaching approach and use of relevant and current resources, we will encourage our own developed model of 5 key thinking skills for success in Mathematics. As well as being taught to read, write and talk about Mathematics with confidence and fluency, our students will learn to think: critically; curiously; creatively; collaboratively; computationally. We believe that these skills will inspire confidence in our students to take on the many types of challenge that formal assessment questions pose and, therefore, improve the chance for examination success.

We understand that students do not make confident progress in Mathematics if they have not secured the foundational prior knowledge necessary for more advanced skills later in the course. Students who carry mathematical miscomprehensions carry a burden which prevents them from enjoying long term success in Mathematics and our curriculum aims to ensure that no student is left behind.

Our students will learn that Mathematics is more than a subject at school but a language and a tool that they can apply with confidence to their lives and their work and careers in the future.

Implementation

All new students entering Year 7 commence study of our Mastery Mathematics course, which is based on the empirically proven Shanghai approach. All year 7, 8 and 9 students follow the same course at the same pace, with each class teacher using differentiated resources to allow for variance in learner ability and profile within a class and ensure that the individual needs of the learner are met. All Year 7 – 9 students study a core range of topics from the Key Stage 3 National Curriculum. At the start of year 10, students are set based on ability and historical achievement so that their focus for the completion of Key Stage 4 is streamlined and focused for success in the Foundation and Higher OCR GCSE courses.

In line with Academy curriculum design, we follow a 3-Cycle format of approximately 10 teaching weeks followed by two weeks of revision, assessment and reflection and consolidation. We recognise the power of students learning to organise their thinking and learning (metacognition) and so use the cycle structure to underline and develop these skills. We teach the students to complete a Question Level Analysis of each of their assessments giving them personalised data on their understanding and miscomprehension of subject content.

At Key Stage 5, we assess regularly giving the students a low-stakes assessment approximately every three weeks. Alongside these assessments, the students have a homework task book for weekly practice.

Impact 

The quality of teaching within the department is strong. We have developed a consistent approach to learning, assessments and student reflection and collaborate and communicate effectively to share best practice. We regularly review ourselves against the teaching standards to minimise complacency and instil a culture of consistent improvement.

We have broadened the scope of our teaching and learning at Key Stage 3 with a growing number of mini Mathematical projects. These projects aim to contextualise Mathematics for our students and offer a rich opportunity for cross-curricular foci. For example, the Shower Save project challenges the students to consider their personal impact on the environment, the related engineering aspects of supplying water and collecting waste water to and from homes. More STEM-related projects are in the planning, enabling students to see the real-world value of Mathematics and how it integrates across the wider curriculum.

Our students value the challenge offered by the UKMT Mathematics Challenge. 150 students across year 7 and 8 entered the Junior Challenge and 30 students entered the Intermediate Challenge. In both challenges, around 10% of participants achieved a Bronze or Silver Award. The UKMT Maths Challenges promote the pursuit of mathematical problem-solving, improvement in which is beginning to show through in the way students tackle more challenging questions requiring a deeper level of thought and consideration.

Our excellent teaching at Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 has led to the Academy’s best ever Mathematics GCSE results in 2023 with the highest Progress 8 score ever achieved of +0.2 and 65.7% of students achieving Grade 4-9, above the national average for the first time. Furthermore, 13.5% of students achieved Grades 7-9, another Academy record. This improved engagement has led to success at Key Stage 5, A’ Level Mathematics. In the past few years, students have achieved the top grade, and some have progressed to study mathematics-related subjects at university. The developing depth of curriculum in Key Stage 3 and 4 has encouraged more students to want to pursue Mathematics at a higher level and thus we are able to offer Further Mathematics to students.