Mathematics

Curriculum Intent

The Mathematics Department aims to provide all students with a rewarding and enjoyable experience of mathematics. We will prepare students to become confident, numerate individuals who are able to deal with all aspects of mathematics in their chosen career and in all aspects of their adult life.

This will be accomplished through our commitment to excellent teaching, a well-designed curriculum with an interesting variety of lessons to motivate and engage all students. We have high expectations of all students so that they will recognise and achieve their full potential. We hope that students will develop their own skills in analysis, reasoning, creativity, collaboration and self-evaluation so that they can meet the mathematical problems they face with thoughtfulness and enthusiasm.

Curriculum Features

To become fluent in numerate techniques that support good progress in mathematics and are essential life skills for be prepared for further education and working life
To develop the oracy skills and use of technical language in the subject so that students can articulate their thoughts and provide reasoning for their work
To provide deep learning of mathematical concepts through mastery learning activities throughout the five year curriculum
To enhance students knowledge of mathematics in the real world by providing contextual learning experiences such as learning compound percentages by studying mortgages
To provide learners the opportunity to study mathematics further through additional curricular opportunities in statistics and further mathematics.
To build mathematical resilience to support problem solving throughout the curriculum and develop that as a skill which can be used cross curriculum
A curriculum that is designed for students to learn to their ability as well as aspiring to improve throughout

Co-curriculum Enrichment

Mathematics has strong ties with the other STEM subjects with the core skills learnt being applied to contextual problems in Science and technology. There are topics that overlap throughout the subjects such as Pythagoras for Vectors with Science and using Scales in Technology.

It is one of the key principles of mastery to provide students with enrichment opportunities and we provide this by creating maths events at key points in the scheme of work all the way through to providing students the opportunity to study for Functional Skills maths to create further opportunities in college or studying for GCSE further mathematics to allow students to create a pathway to further study in Mathematics.

Overview

Mathematics at Werneth School is an exciting and interesting subject which is related to the world around us. We have adopted a ‘mastery approach’, which means that when a concept has been mastered students will then solve complex problems and apply to real life scenarios to develop depth of understanding. A, 5 year scheme builds skills, year on year, to enable students to become fluent in maths and have the ability to apply what they know to unfamiliar areas of the curriculum; an essential life skill. Units are taught in six week blocks where students knowledge is evaluated every two weeks. There is a final summative assessment at the end to grade student efforts

In our classrooms, students experience a variety of activities including problem solving, group work and investigations, alongside more traditional consolidation, and practice. We are a well-resourced department of 10 specialist teachers with access to many dedicated resources such as PiXL and Hegarty Maths. All of these are available to support the student’s independent learning outside the classroom.

All students are expected to bring their equipment to maths lessons including a pen, pencil, ruler and scientific calculator. Homework is set weekly and takes differing forms dependent on year group.

Curriculum Content

Years 7 and 8

Both these years are directed towards ensuring that students have a firm foundation of the fundamentals of maths allowing them to strive in later years. Students study maths in seven one hour lessons a fortnight. Topics are taught in sequential six-week blocks. Students will be assessed both in lessons and every two weeks. Students will sit a formal assessment before each report, so you get the most up to date and accurate picture of where your son/daughter is.

Years 9

In year 9 expectations of learning increase on students in Maths and students now receive eight lessons a fortnight with more emphasis on problem solving and independent learning

Year 10

In year 10 students will follow one of two paths, either foundation or higher. There is the opportunity for students to swap between tiers into year 11 dependent on performance. Students now receive nine lessons over a two-week period

Year 11

In year 11 the stream students follow will be finalised in January after the first mock examination. Students will sit two mocks exams the first in December and then later in March to give you the most up to date information regards their current and predicted attainment. Schemes of learning for the five year scheme finish at the end of Autumn two to allow teachers to take additional time if required to aid student understanding and so that we can undertake a full revision schedule

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Extra-Curricular

In the Maths department we believe that students should have the opportunity to extend their learning as far as they like. To help encourage this we provide the opportunity for students to study two additional GCSE’s if they would like to. These are GCSE Edexcel statistics and GCSE level 2 further maths. These are full qualifications