Mathematics

We believe that students deserve a creative and ambitious mathematics curriculum, rich in skills and knowledge, which ignites curiosity and prepares them well for everyday life and future employment. It is our aim to support every student to achieve success in mathematics and to foster a positive attitude to the subject.

It is our intent that every student leaves our school with the mathematical knowledge and skills they need to deal confidently with mathematical problems they meet in everyday life and that they require to take their desired next steps.

The curriculum and its delivery will enable students to understand the mathematics that they are taught. We aim to use concrete, pictorial, abstract teaching to enable students’ development of mathematical concepts. The curriculum will enable students to become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics through frequent and varied practice and to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately. They will also learn to reason, conjecture and justify.

Proficiency with number enables students to progress through the mathematics curriculum and so we begin year 7 with a focus on number and calculations. Throughout year 7 have a weekly programme of times tables to help build students confidence in the instant recall of multiplicative facts.

We have carefully sequenced the national curriculum for mathematics at KS3 into about 14 topics in each of years 7, 8 and 9 so that students meet topics in an appropriate order and have multiple opportunities to revisit earlier ideas on which they need to build. 

All National Curriculum content is covered by the end of year 9 so that students are ready to access the GCSE syllabus in years 10 and 11. 

At KS4, our grouping by prior attainment in half year bands enables us to pitch the delivery of new content to students who will sit either foundation or higher tier at the end of their GCSE course. We also have a third strand, covering foundation content with elements of higher tier content which some of our middle prior attainers follow until half way through year 11 when a decision about appropriate tier of entry can be made.

We use the AQA exam board. We want students leaving us to have no door closed to them, and to have every opportunity to pursue the career of their choice ensuring they are active members of society. 

At KS5, we use the Edexcel exam board. In Year 12 we start by covering all of the AS pure mathematics. We then move on to study the mechanics and statistics elements of the course once algebraic fluency has been established.

From September 2023, this model will also be used in Year 13. This is to allow students the opportunity to revisit throughout the year the more challenging aspects of the course, which are part of the pure syllabus. We want to foster a love of mathematics in students before they leave us, enabling them to pursue further education or a career in mathematics.

Please find the curriculum overview document in the link below.

Curriculum Map for Maths