Mathematics

Intent

Our vision statement is to be a department with well supported, highly skilled teachers, who enable all students to become confident and enthusiastic Mathematicians.

We intend for all our students:

•  to understand topics in depth, with greater depth for rapid graspers, and to be able to make links between topics.
•  to be able to reason mathematically and use precise mathematical language.
• to be able to recall and use mathematical facts and methods efficiently and flexibly.

We also see it as our role to explicitly teach cultural capital by giving students opportunities to see the power and wonder of mathematics. Across all year groups we interleave opportunities to apply maths in context and we ensure that basic financial literacy is explicitly taught. 

We have high aspirations for all our students and recognise that problem solving is not only a key skill in Mathematics but across all subjects that apply numeracy skills.

Challenge and depth are built into every lesson with opportunities for reasoning, problem solving and developing conceptual understanding.  All students are encouraged to complete challenge homework. Many students apply this learning to the UKMT Maths Challenges.

Meeting the needs of SEND and Pupil Premium students

In accordance with our whole school policy, maths teachers place SEND and Pupil Premium students at the heart of their lesson planning.  

We provide for the progress of SEND and Pupil Premium students by:

• A focus on high quality teaching and learning
• Ensuring that SEND and Pupil Premium students are targeted with probing questions during hands down questioning
• Encouraging attendance at lunchtime and after school support sessions
• Prioritising SEND and Pupil Premium students for intervention
• Mixed ability groups from Year 7 and proactive streaming from Year 9
• A core teaching assistant embedded in the Maths Department and actively involved in planning and support

Retention

Our curriculum is taught to be securely learnt. The mastery approach means that students are given the chance to explore concepts in depth before moving on, so they are not rushed through content. We know that students need the chance to regularly practice knowledge and skills that they have learned. Our students are given a carefully planned diet of retrieval questions - in starter questions at the beginning of lessons and in their online homework tasks.

Assessment

A guiding principle of our assessment model is that it should help students to become independent learners. Knowledge organisers include a list of all the topics to be covered, and links to relevant online tasks. This is regularly referred to and students are encouraged to select appropriate revision tasks for their individual needs. After each assessment, students are given time to reflect on their strengths and areas to improve, and are advised to proactively address these by using their feedback to identify the best online tasks to help them improve. Booster lessons are designed to go over topics with which the whole class may have struggled.

Curriculum sequence

Our maths curriculum is planned as a coherent journey from the end of KS2 to GCSE and beyond. New topics always build on prior learning and make links to different areas of mathematics and other relevant subjects.

All students move through the curriculum at broadly the same pace.  From the middle of Term 1 in Year 7, some students will be in classes which receive more support. These students may begin with looking more closely at some more foundational skills to support the work covered in a unit and will therefore spend longer on some units. Classes are regularly reviewed, and the curriculum is designed to allow students to move between classes where appropriate.  

The tables below give a broad overview of the curriculum for each year.  For each term, students are given a knowledge organiser which gives much more detail about the content covered that term and gives example questions as well as links to relevant online resources. These documents are also shared with students on Teams as well as having a hard copy in their books.

Year 7

Unit 1	Unit 2	Unit 3	Unit 4	Unit 5	Unit 6
Place value, ordering, and rounding	Algebraic expressions	Addition and subtraction	Equality and equivalence	Multiplication and division	Understanding fractions
Unit 7	Unit 8	Unit 9	Unit 10	Unit 11	Unit 12
Negative numbers	Further algebraic manipulation	Angles	Equivalence of fractions decimals and percentages	Calculations with fractions and percentages	Probability

Year 8

Unit 1	Unit 2	Unit 3	Unit 4	Unit 5	Unit 6	Unit 7
Primes factors	Ratio and multiplicative reasoning	Sequences	Axes, scales and linear graphs	Data, charts and averages	Rounding	Area of polygons
Unit 8	Unit 9	Unit 10	Unit 11	Unit 12	Unit 13	Unit 14
Multiplying and dividing fractions	Working with percentages	Algebraic manipulation	Substituting into formulae	Real-life graphs	Solving equations	Classifying shapes and symmetry

Year 9

From Year 9 onwards, some students are placed in “Higher Plus” classes, following an adapted scheme of work which incorporates extra material and enables these students to study GCSE Further Maths alongside GCSE Maths.

Unit 1	Unit 2	Unit 3	Unit 4	Unit 5	Unit 6	Unit 7
Types of number and limits of accuracy	Algebraic Manipulation and Solving Equations	Percentages and Financial Contexts	Probability	Proportional Reasoning	Geometric Reasoning (angles, constructions and loci)	Pythagoras, Perimeter, Area and Volume

Year 10

Unit 1	Unit 2	Unit 3	Unit 4	Unit 5	Unit 6
Enlargements Similarity and Trigonometry	Line Graphs, Reflections, and Graphical solutions to equations	Data Handling and further probability	More complex area and volume	Plotting and solving quadratics	Different types of graphs

Year 11

GCSE Mathematics is split into Foundation tier or Higher tier. The Foundation tier covers grades 1 – 5 and the Higher tier covers grades 4 – 9.  Both tiers challenge students to reason, problem solve and apply their mathematical skills to a range of contexts.

In Year 11, the Higher and Foundation schemes of work diverge, because some content on the national curriculum is “Higher tier only” and is not assessed on the Foundation tier. 

Year 11 Higher

Unit 1	Unit 2	Unit 3	Unit 4	Unit 5
Functions and transforming graphs	Trigonometry in non-right angled triangles	Vectors	Circle Theorems	Surds
Unit 6	Unit 7	Unit 8	Unit 9	Unit 10
Quadratic Sequences and solving simultaneous quadratics	Combinations and Permutations	Histograms	Velocity time graphs and area under a curve	Further algebraic proof

Year 11 Foundation

Most of these units revisit previous topics and give the opportunity to refresh and extend students’ knowledge. After these units there is time for mixed revision, responsive to the needs of each class.

Unit 1	Unit 2	Unit 3	Unit 4	Unit 5	Unit 6
Equations, formulae and identities	Plotting and solving quadratics	Written methods and worded problems	Data handling and averages	Pythagoras and Trigonometry	Geometric reasoning (angles and transformations)
Unit 7	Unit 8	Unit 9	Unit 10	Unit 11	Unit 12
Rounding and error intervals	Compound units of measurement	Volume and surface area	Sequences	Linear Functions	Vectors