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. We aim to ensure our students gain a love and appreciation for all the mathematics around them and will fully enjoy mathematics.
Our curriculum design embeds learning by having a spiral curriculum. The five main areas of number, algebra, ratio and probability, geometry and statistics are taught in a cycle. Each time students revisit an area, they are exposed to more complex content, building on what they have already learnt. Our connected curriculum helps students link topics throughout the five main areas of mathematics and cross curricular. We ensure the level of challenge is high enough for the most able, with scaffold and support available for students who need it; enhancing and enriching student understanding within a pure and problem-solving context.
Our curriculum has three key principles:
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Deep Understanding
Our practice embeds the importance of deep understanding. We achieve this by allowing the pupils to represent concepts in a variety of different ways using both objects and pictures. Knowledge underpins and enables the application of skills; both are entwined, we have defined key knowledge that students need to know to be successful and use of regular diagnostic quizzes, and assessment for learning particularly using mini whiteboards is a common feature of Maths lessons. By embedding the key knowledge of Mathematics, students can be fluent to extend to solve problems.
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Mathematical Thinking
We believe that it is essential for students to develop mathematical thinking in and out of the classroom to fully master mathematical concepts. We want students to think like mathematicians, and constantly refer to ‘why’ techniques work, encouraging students to make connections between ideas and topics. As a department we offer opportunities, across all year groups, for enrichment activities including school visits and individual or team competitions through the UKMT and AMSP.
In addition at KS5, students have the opportunity to attend a Maths Symposium, where students join schools from across Norfolk to hear from influential mathematical speakers as well as the chance to ask questions.
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Mathematical Language
We believe that pupils should be encouraged to use mathematical language throughout their Maths learning to deepen their understanding of concepts. We want students to incorporate Mathematical language in their everyday lives which supports problem solving in real life.
The way students speak and write about mathematics has been shown to have an impact on their success in mathematics. We therefore use a carefully sequenced, structured approach to introducing and reinforcing mathematical vocabulary throughout Maths lessons, so students have the opportunity to work with word problems from the beginning of their learning.
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