Curriculum Information for Maths
Our curriculum intention is to empower teachers to inspire students with an accessible, engaging and coherent journey through mathematics. The maths faculty staff at Tottington High school are passionate about ensuring young people are equipped with knowledge and skills for the next stage of their lives after high school. This is achieved through working as a team and promoting inclusivity, striving to achieve the best every day and inspiring pupils to reach their goals.
At KS4 we follow White Rose curriculum sequencing. The curriculum is broken down from years into blocks and from blocks into small, logical steps. Each step helps develop core maths skills in students which they will need in the learning journey ahead.
At KS3 we currently follow the Sparx curriculum sequencing. The carefully considered sequencing of content ensures that students have gained the fluency required to access upcoming units of work. Subsequent units provide ample opportunity for frequent retrieval of prior knowledge by incorporating cross-topic content.
Our curriculum at KS3 is aligned with the other schools in SET however it has been agreed at a trust level that a pilot curriculum will begin at Tottington from September. The fully resourced curriculum has been designed by the head of maths using the guiding principles of mastery, the science of learning and other leading educational theory. Students will begin a five year coherent curriculum journey exploring each area of maths in depth. Centrally planned resources will be used by the team to ensure a high quality of teaching for every student. A teaching handbook will be available to enhance the teaching pedagogy of ECTs and experienced teachers alike.
Every maths lesson will begin with a Do Now activity. The purpose of the Do Now is to retrieve previously acquired knowledge in order to combat the effects of the forgetting curve. This kind of activity can be referred to as retrieval practice and is widely credited by educational research as the most effective way to begin learning.
After the Do Now, the teacher will activate the students’ schema which is relevant to the new knowledge in that lesson. Learning that is connected to previously acquired knowledge is more likely to be remembered and allows students to learn more. To enhance student learning, only a small amount of knowledge will be given at a time.
Once the new knowledge has been explored, the teacher will model how to apply the knowledge to a skill. To maximise student attention to the teacher example, students will not write down this example.
After the expert model, the teacher will complete a worked example under the visualiser which all students will journal. Worked examples allow students a point of reference in the learning journey which they can refer back to if they require support later on in the lesson.
Once the worked examples have been journaled, it is time for the students to demonstrate whether they can apply the new learning. One of the best ways to assess for learning in maths is to use mini whiteboards. The teacher can capture the success of the learning of all students simultaneously. Routine and non-routine examples should be trialled to assess whether the students are ready to attempt independent practice or if further instruction is required.
Independent practice is an opportunity for the students to experience success and embed the newly acquired knowledge. Independent practice should contain suitable challenge to allow students to deepen their understanding through practice. Where appropriate, teachers will provide scaffolding so that all students can achieve the same level of success.
Throughout each part of the lesson, the teacher will be questioning students constantly to build a better understanding of how well the students have grasped the learning.
Our assessment plan offers plenty of opportunity for retrieval practice and assessment of long-term learning. It is designed to assess student’s capabilities in newly acquired knowledge whilst promoting their retention and recall of knowledge over time.
Progress and attainment data is collected three times a year from the exams sat in Autumn, Spring and Summer, these assessments take into consideration all learning to date, interleaving the learning that has taken place. Interim assessments and quizzes take many forms, are varied in style to meet a variety of disciplines and are appropriate to the topic being taught.
Feedback can take the form of “Live marking” in the classroom where students have opportunity to correct and improve their work in the moment as well as whole class feedback and question level analysis.
A calendar for further enrichment in Maths is available through opportunities of further study. It is our vision that all year groups will have access to meaningful enrichment in the subject outside of their normal classroom lessons through experiences cross-curricula activities. Students are regularly encouraged to think critically in competitions and puzzles shared within the Academy. We have entered the national UKMT challenges at KS3 and have historically had success in this national challenge. Homework is designed to support the understanding of key concepts and is issued to all students within their school class charts. Sparx homework links in with the learning of key vocabulary and terminology and practices core skills and the application of knowledge.
Maths can lead on to further study at A-Level and degree level in the subject as well as Economics. Maths underpins any role and career but has strong links to the following careers:
- All forms of engineering
- Data analyst
- Data scientist
- Chartered accountant
- Investment analyst
- Research scientist (maths)
- Financial and economic careers
- Statistician
- Astronomer
- Data led processing in sales
Careers information can be found using the link below.
https://successatschool.org/advicedetails/186/Why-Study-Maths%3F
http://www.mathscareers.org.uk/
https://targetcareers.co.uk/uni/degree-subject-guides/313825-mathematics-degrees-what-you-ll-study-and-your-career-options
http://www.futuremorph.org/wp-content/uploads/games/scienceandmaths/index.html#/intro
http://www.futuremorph.org/
https://successatschool.org/advicedetails/770/what-are-stem-subjects
Revision Sites
Sparxmaths.co.uk (pupils have their own login details. If they are unsure of them please speak to the class teacher).
(Plenty of revision materials categorised by topics including video clips and answers.)
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