Skill

Year 9 is our opportunity to review the KS3 Fundamentals and make sure students possess essential skills they will need in everyday life such as telling the time, calculating change, as well as understanding units of measurement. In KS4 this progresses by supporting students for a future of making informed decisions about the use of technology, managing money, and through preparing students for their GCSE examinations – providing them with further learning opportunities and broadened career choices.

Criticality

Mathematics is the science of problem solving; it is a fundamental part of human thought and logic. This is done by taking the information presented to you, using your prior knowledge and resilience, to find solutions or even produce further questions. Students begin with concrete examples of real-life situations or a pictorial representation of the problem at hand, and progress to understanding and manipulating abstract representations in order to generate solutions. Students gain critical evaluative skills through well informed perspectives.

Character

Mathematics provides the ultimate way of building mental discipline, encouraging logical reasoning and mental rigor. Problem solving, resilience, curiosity and creative thinking are important in all aspects of life and learning mathematics develops these character traits. It also encourages critical thinking. For example, it is important students can understand potentially misleading information in advertising statistics to make informed, sensible decisions.

Experiences

Students will build resilience during their learning because making mistakes is a crucial part of the process of understanding mathematics and addressing misconceptions. Resilience is important in all aspects of life and students will build this through their experiences in maths lessons. Class discussions will enable the development of mathematical reasoning, and teaching tailored to each student’s needs will give them a comprehensive experience of mathematics.

Curriculum Map