Maths

Mathematics is a creative and highly interconnected discipline that has been developed over centuries, providing the solution to some of history’s most intriguing problems. It is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. Our high-quality mathematics education therefore provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject. ​

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Our maths department uses a spiral curriculum that builds on knowledge and understanding from Key Stage 2 and then throughout the five years. The maths curriculum for years 7 – 9 is matched to the National Curriculum and we follow the Edexcel Pearson exam specification for the end of year 11. The key concepts from the National Curriculum of Fluency, Problem Solving and Reasoning are threads that run throughout our curriculum, and we carefully build mathematical knowledge and skills systematically and over time to draw connections across different ways of looking at mathematical ideas. Pupils learn new material in manageable steps, allowing them to find connections between mathematical ideas and previously learned knowledge to allow them to move forwards to the next lesson, unit of work, year and key stage.   ​

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All pupils study the same curriculum at years 7 to 9 which is designed around the principles of mastery. It is ambitious for all. It is structured and resourced to allow all pupils to make progress and it incorporates scaffolded resources, so all pupils have the same end point. Although the schemes of learning are shared by the Trust, our academy adapts the long and medium term plans to suit the needs of the pupils in our school. Resources are provided to support teachers by the Trust but as professionals in our own classrooms we plan and resource our lessons for our pupils.  ​

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Through the mathematics programme of study we enable pupils to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to progress to further education, employment and training with increasing numbers able to progress directly to level 3 qualifications. ​

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Encourage your child to succeed – please reinforce the belief that doing well in Maths is achievable. ​


Homework will be set weekly on Sparx Maths however we strongly encourage your Son/Daughter to use their free time to access Sparx Maths as regularly and frequently as possible as it is an incredibly powerful tool for students to use. It will reinforce the learning and support that they have received in lesson and will give them the ability to consolidate their knowledge or move on to more challenging areas of Mathematics. It is a subscription service that the Academy has purchased for all students and every topic has an instructional video and a quiz that contains questions for them to complete after the video. It has been statistically shown that more time spent on Sparx Maths will lead to positive gains in terms of marks attained on assessments. ​

All Maths classrooms have scientific calculators. Students are encouraged to have their own scientific calculator to use at home to familiarise themselves with it and to revise/complete homework efficiently. The school uses the Casio FX-991CW. ​

Curriculum Intent Statement ​

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. Our mathematics curriculum will give students the opportunity to: ​

  • become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately. ​
  • 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 preserving in seeking solutions. ​
  • can communicate, justify, argue and prove using mathematical vocabulary. ​
  • develop their character, including resilience, confidence and independence, so that they contribute positively to the life of the school, their local community and the wider environment. ​

Pedagogy ​Enrichment ​Other general principles ​
Our pedagogy is underpinned by: ​a mastery approach to the teaching of mathematics for understanding ​a spiral curriculum basing future teaching on the building blocks taught previously ​concepts that are broken down into small connected and structured steps enabling application to range of contexts ​variation to develop deep and holistic understanding ​procedural fluency and repetition of key facts to free up working memory ​manipulatives and multiple representations used to build and scaffold learning ​marking and feedback that informs planning and addresses misconceptions promptly ​questioning planned intelligently ​interventions that are timely, planned and effective from Trust wide unified assessments ​students who see error as a learning opportunity and are resilient in their learning ​We will enrich our curriculum by: 
​offering further opportunities for students to study mathematics whether with GCSE Statistics or Further Mathematics ​establishing cross-curricular links especially through the learning of numerical skills and application in other areas ​holding Trust-wide competitions and participating in national competitions to celebrate best work and extraordinary effort ​using external resources to enhance and support independent learning and revision ​experience of practical implementation of mathematics in everyday life for financial and numerical confidence and security  ​opportunities to promote STEM and further/higher education learning and careers ​
Our curriculum will enable students to: ​learn within a coherent and exciting framework which does not limit students ambitions ​develop new skills through a variety of interesting contexts to foster enjoyment ​develop a rich, deep and secure subject knowledge ​understand what they are doing well and how they need to improve ​explore the breadth and depth of the national curriculum ​build on their understanding of the importance of British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and tolerance and respect ​improve their spiritual, social, moral and cultural understanding to develop confidence in their own financial and numerical understanding ​

Meet The Team

​Mrs R. West  ​​RWE  ​Learning Leader  
​Mr. A. Horton  ​​AHO  ​Deputy Learning Leader  
​Mrs R. Cooper  ​​RCO  ​Trust Director  
​Mrs. H. Sherwood  ​​HSH  ​Teacher  
​Mr. A. Joy  ​​AJY  ​Teacher (Maths & PE)  
​Mrs. L. Potter  ​​LPO  ​Teacher (Maths & PE) (0.8)  
​Mr. S. Kirk  ​​SKI  ​Teacher (Maths & PE – 1 hour Maths)  
​Mr. A. Lawis  ​​ALA  ​Teacher (Maths & PE)  
​Mr. R. Harley  ​​RHA  ​Teacher (ECT2)  
​Mrs. H. Boswell  ​​HBW  ​121 Tutor (0.6)  
​Mr. M. Thomas  ​​MTH  ​Vice Principal​
​Mr. R. Saunders  ​​RSA  ​Vice Principal (Maths & PE)  
​Miss. A. Stockdale  ​​AST  ​Assistant Principal 

Our implementation ​

Why we teach maths the way we do ​

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We know that progress is measured by knowing more and remembering more. Each lesson is started with a retrieval learning activity where pupils revisit previous work to consolidate, relate and gain accuracy. This allows rapid and accurate recall and frees pupils’ cognitive load so they can work with increasing independence, apply their mathematical knowledge to more complex concepts and procedures, and gain enjoyment through a growing self-confidence in their ability.   ​

Our connect activity is directly linked to the previous lessons work which was marked and evaluated to ensure all pupils can work through misunderstandings and misconceptions before progressing on. It addresses any identified gaps in pupils’ mathematical knowledge that would hinder their capacity to learn and apply new content.   ​

The new learning then flows on from the work previously completed without leaving any pupil behind. During the new learning which is teacher led with clear explanations, modelling, frequent checks and guided practice, our lessons relate the topic to any links in previous learning including identifying areas for problem solving and reasoning. The problems will develop deeper in difficulty.   ​

Our lessons conclude with a demonstrate task to allow the pupils to individually assess, using low stakes methods, their own understanding before the work is then collected to be used to plan the most appropriate teaching point in the sequence of lessons.   ​

Each area of study in mathematics is connected to the others and we retrieve, affirm and build the knowledge and understanding as we progress through the National Curriculum. For example when learning about and how to apply Pythagoras’ theorem in year 9 we need previous teaching from Number with an understanding of square numbers and square roots, from Algebra with the application of substitution and rearranging equations and from Geometry in the knowledge of the properties of shapes and specifically triangles.   ​

Pupils also learn to apply their mathematical knowledge in science, geography, computing and other subjects. For example, we teach the principles and understanding of using standard form in year 9 to support the learning in science.   ​

Through the mathematics programme of study, we enable pupils to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to progress to further education, employment, and training with increasing numbers able to progress directly to level 3 qualifications.  ​

Our work with the Trust involves having a team of specialist Directors who support our work in the department, sharing good practice across the Trust and providing CPD for our teachers.   ​

What we teach in mathematics – Implementation – year by year  .​

Year 7   

In year 7 maths lessons we begin by work in number, ensuring that the foundations are mastered to secure progression throughout the rest of the curriculum.  We look at different types of number, including place value, decimals and fractions.  Within fractions we progress from understanding what fractions are, to working with fractions using the four operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  The skills gained make certain that the knowledge learnt can be used in a variety of ways to solve increasingly complex problems.  We also discover and discuss different types of factors, multiples and primes and develop our reasoning skills to be able to justify and explain solutions to questions and challenges.  ​

We move on to explore the beginnings of algebra and solving equations. We interleave all the previous understanding of number to help us understand and appreciate the unknown. We can then apply all the knowledge to the understanding of shape and appreciate the rules and beauty of geometry ensuring each step is about knowing more and remembering more as we move up the spiral curriculum.  ​

Statistics is often seen as a real world application of mathematical skills and during year 7 we start to be able to understand how mathematics is used in the financial and business world to describe, compare and contrast.  ​

Year 8  

In year 8 maths lessons we continue to embed and develop the number skills, ensuring that the knowledge gained in previous years has been consolidated.  We now look at how fractions, decimals, percentages and ratios are interconnected to be able to build a broad understanding and enable learners to select the appropriate representation for different problems. We embed this knowledge into questions that also involve powers and roots and the order in which calculations should take place. The algebra established in the beginnings of secondary school mathematics is built on and explored, connecting the abstract theory to the visual and applied use of algebra in graphical questions. The continued use of the unknown and generalisation in algebra is interweaved with the geometrical discoveries and appreciation of the facts and knowledge of how mathematics is applicable in the real world. We also explore the idea of chance, risk and probability.  ​

Year 9  

In year 9 we progress further up the spiral curriculum adding components as part of the bigger composite picture. We continue to cover the National Curriculum whilst extending the content in preparation for GCSE, ensuring there are strong foundations in place. Each element develops the application and methodology in mathematics to a deeper understanding. We explore the extension into number and scientific notation, linking our work with the science curriculum and delve into the links between proportionality, graphs and ratio.  During year 9 we investigate the links between previous and new number work and the great geometrical discoveries of Pythagoras and the venture into the exploration of trigonometry. We also take time to begin to delve into one of the most prevalent, and easily related to real life, areas of mathematics in the news – Statistics.  ​

Year 10   

In year 10 we spend additional working with statistics, statistical analysis supports the understanding of experiments in science and the connections to, and with the social sciences. The geometrical work at this level connects to future and previous learning with the introduction of vectors and proof which links to logistical problem solving and justification.  ​

Year 11  

In year 11 we ensure all links between the components are connected to build the composite picture to be numerate and mathematical in all aspects of life and progress on to further study. All areas are studied in depth and secured by nurturing the separate parts to ensure expert and successful outcomes. ​

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Our implementation ​

Why we teach maths the way we do… ​

We know that progress is measured by knowing more and remembering more. Each lesson is started with a retrieval learning activity where pupils revisit previous work to consolidate, relate and gain accuracy. This allows rapid and accurate recall and frees pupils’ cognitive load so they can work with increasing independence, apply their mathematical knowledge to more complex concepts and procedures, and gain enjoyment through a growing self-confidence in their ability.   ​

Our connect activity is directly linked to the previous lessons work which was marked and evaluated to ensure all pupils can work through misunderstandings and misconceptions before progressing on. It addresses any identified gaps in pupils’ mathematical knowledge that would hinder their capacity to learn and apply new content.   ​

The new learning then flows on from the work previously completed without leaving any pupil behind. During the new learning which is teacher led with clear explanations, modelling, frequent checks and guided practice, our lessons relate the topic to any links in previous learning including identifying areas for problem solving and reasoning. The problems will develop deeper in difficulty.   ​

Our lessons conclude with a demonstrate task to allow the pupils to individually assess, using low stakes methods, their own understanding before the work is then collected to be used to plan the most appropriate teaching point in the sequence of lessons.   ​

Each area of study in mathematics is connected to the others and we retrieve, affirm and build the knowledge and understanding as we progress through the National Curriculum. For example when learning about and how to apply Pythagoras’ theorem in year 9 we need previous teaching from Number with an understanding of square numbers and square roots, from Algebra with the application of substitution and rearranging equations and from Geometry in the knowledge of the properties of shapes and specifically triangles.   ​

Pupils also learn to apply their mathematical knowledge in science, geography, computing and other subjects. For example, we teach the principles and understanding of using standard form in year 9 to support the learning in science.   ​

Through the mathematics programme of study, we enable pupils to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to progress to further education, employment, and training with increasing numbers able to progress directly to level 3 qualifications.  ​

Our work with the Trust involves having a team of specialist Directors who support our work in the department, sharing good practice across the Trust and providing CPD for our teachers.   ​