Intent

In the School of Mathematics we believe Maths  gives us the opportunity to traverse the world around us. From the miniscule- looking at how atoms behave to the engineering involved in building cars and planes and even the natural world to the grandest scale of the expanse of the universe and the planets and stars that make up the night sky.

The National Curriculum for Maths aims to ensure that all children:

Become fluent in the fundamentals of Mathematics, including through varied and frequent practise with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils have conceptual understanding and are able to recall and apply their knowledge rapidly and accurately to problems

Reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language

Can solve problems by applying their Mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.

This is why, in lessons, we promote the use of problem solving and analytical thinking to inspire curiosity and build confidence in all our children. Using the Mastery approach allows us to explore maths comprehensively and to a high standard in order to help our students to be able to tackle any mathematical problem they face. We are hoping our curriculum will allow students to meet the many exciting challenges that they will encounter as a student during their exploration of maths and gain the confidence required to face the unknown. 

We believe that the most important part of learning in Mathematics is that the journey towards the answer is more important than the final answer.

Implementation

Since we as a subject focus on the development of mastery, problem solving and analytical thinking, we have thought carefully about how we can implement this in every key stage. Our other main focus is to develop the resilience of our students as we believe this is key to how students approach mathematics and its challenges.

Throughout the KS3 curriculum, we focus on implementing the development of mastery, problem solving and analytical thinking. We do this by subscribing to the ideas that underpin the Singaporean style of teaching and the use of the ‘Discovery Mathematics’ series of textbooks to support this. This focuses the teaching and learning on a deeper understanding of the principles of the key domains of knowledge: Number, Algebra, Ratio and Proportion, Geometry and Statistics, where students work through at a pace that suits their ability. We develop the resilience of the students through the use of whiteboards, which helps students to learn that mistakes and misconceptions are never the end of the journey but a stop on the way there.

The development of mastery, problem solving and analytical thinking in KS3 leads directly to supporting the introduction of new knowledge and skills that are introduced in KS4. During the KS4 curriculum, we start to diverge in terms of differentiation, where high attaining pupils are introduced to the additional mathematical content. We continue to look to develop their fluency, reasoning and problem solving through the use of varied questioning relating to the real world.

Our KS5 curriculum offers next steps for our students to explore Mathematics through the A Level curriculum. This helps them to relate mathematical problem solving to a wider array of  real world issues, especially through the Statistics and Mechanics elements of the A Level. As well as the introduction to new key concepts such as Differentiation and Integration, students  further develop the key knowledge gained throughout their studies at KS3 and KS4.

Impact

We hope that through our curriculum we help students to develop into confident, passionate and knowledgeable mathematicians. Throughout their curriculum journey, we hope they learn to relish the challenge of mathematics and secure the concepts of mathematics that help them to solve problems that they will come across in everyday life using logical reasoning that has been built through their lessons. This will hopefully be shown through our assessment of their knowledge using content that has a problem solving focus, and as prior knowledge being recalled to scaffold their learning of new knowledge. We also realise our intent by relating the key concepts of Maths to next steps for students whether this be KS4, further/higher education or employment.

Progression Map

Please view the additional documents in school:

• Curriculum on a page
• Knowledge Organisers