Please find details of our KS3 and KS4 curriculum below.
Key Stage 3
Intent: To secure and develop a depth of understanding in maths that engages and challenges pupils. We incorporate building skills in an already knowledge rich curriculum and aim to develop and apply problem solving skills through focussing on the depth of the curriculum rather than acceleration. With depth will come fluency – noticing relationships between different topics to improve efficiency as well as develop reasoning skills. By including investigations and small projects pupils will see cross curricular links and see the use of the mathematical skills that have been acquired to beyond the classroom. By empowering the pupils, the aim is to give them a sense of enjoyment and purpose in mathematics.
We have adopted the Mastery approach which takes the content and principles of the National Curriculum and intertwines it with successful education systems internationally and aiming for pupils to become experts in each strand of learning we visit. Through life after levels pupils can see what topics they need to focus on in order to become mastery in every topic.
Working with our local maths hub is helping us grow the curriculum. The Scheme of Learning is designed to engage and enthuse pupils in maths where we aim to develop independent, reflective, resilient, life-long learners. Our maths Scheme of Learning is guided by the 3Is – intent, implementation and impact and promotes Growth Mindset dispositions. We hope that all pupils can achieve high standards in mathematics which the stretch activities that we offer help to accomplish this along with a clear purpose for assessment. Pupils are encouraged to have autonomy and take ownership of learning as well as develop a love for learning.
Year 7 pupils are taught in Mixed Attainment sets and Year 8 pupils are taught in sets. Movement between sets is decided by looking at the performance in tests, how pupils have performed in class and end of year examinations. The curriculum content is divided into:
- Number
- Algebra
- Ratio, proportion, rates of change
- Geometry and measures
- Probability
- Statistics
These topics are taught through:
Coherence
Lessons are broken down into small connected steps that gradually unfold the concept, providing access for all children and leading to a generalisation of the concept and the ability to apply the concept to a range of contexts.
Representation and Structure
Representations used in lessons expose the mathematical structure being taught, the aim being that students can do the maths without recourse to the representation
Mathematical Thinking
Ideas are not passively received but must be worked on by the student: thought about, reasoned with and discussed with others
Fluency
Quick and efficient recall of facts and procedures and the flexibility to move between different contexts and representations of mathematics
Variation
Learning is sequenced in a way that activities and exercises used within a lesson and follow up practice pay attention to what is kept the same and what changes, to connect the mathematics and draw attention to mathematical relationships and structure.
We hope pupils will be resilient and are able to tackle open-ended problems. By following the National Curriculum, then pupils will become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics; reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations using mathematical language and can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication.
We are delving longer but deeper into topic in order to address the aims of the National Curriculum, our long/medium term plans have been adjusted to allow longer on topics. Each lesson develops the concept from the previous one in logically sequenced small-steps so that progress and understanding is enhanced. The units are designed in such a way that we can interleave topics. Algebra is learnt early in the journey so that is can be incorporated into topics such as area and angles.
Pupils have access to a number of online tools. Home Learning tasks are set each week on Sparx. Tasks are personalised and there is a huge focus on developing every single pupil’s understanding of Maths concepts through personalised retrieval practice. Pupils also have access to Maths Pad which supports pupils with a collection of engaging and rigorous online and paper based tasks.
Our highest attaining pupils in Years 7 and 8 take part in the Junior Maths Challenge run by the UKMT (United Kingdom Maths Trust).