The Mathematics Department comprises of 10 teachers who teach in a dedicated suite of classrooms for most of the curriculum time. The Department also has a number of support staff who assist with SEN pupils, intervention strategies and administration.
Pupils are set by mathematical ability with Year 7, 8, 9 having 10 sets and Year 10 & 11 with 11 sets. In Key Stage 3 & 4, pupils are grouped flexibly allowing movement between groups on an ongoing basis.
From September 2007 all pupils began following the revised EDEXCEL modular scheme of work and a variety of online and other resources are used as teaching and homework resources. The Statistics GCSE course is studied as an option choice.
The Department uses a variety of resources including ‘Framework Maths’ textbooks at Key Stage 3 and ‘ SMP Interact’ & Edexcel recommended GCSE textbooks at Key Stage 4. A very large bank of worksheets and electronic resources are also available as well as various items of equipment to assist in the delivery of the NNS. Interactive whiteboards are fitted in all of the mathematics rooms and pupils have access to Mathematics personal computers
The Department makes good use of the school website and VLE to ensure revision resources such as ‘past papers’, podcasts and exemplar material are easily available to all pupils.
Pupils in Key Stage 3 are entered for the Leeds University Mathematics Challenge.
The Department had excellent Key Stage 3 results up until 2008 with the abolishment of the National Tests in 2009 and at Key Stage 4 the Department has again shown excellent value added with pupils achieving above national average results for the last 4 years ( 2006+)
It has been a policy of the school to enter a significant number of pupils for the November GCSE examination and this continued in November 2009 with 75% of the entry (164) gaining a GCSE grade at A*-C. The results in June 2010 were excellent with 68% of all Y11 pupils gaining a grade C or higher in Mathematics ( 7% above challenging FFTD estimates for 2010)
The Department will be working towards achieving over 60% A*-C in the November 2010 series and then 70%+ in June 2011.
Year |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
A*-C % |
59 |
64 |
60 |
68 |
The Levels of Progress that pupils make in Mathematics(3+,4+) have been above the Local Authority and National averages for 3+ and 4+ for the last 3 years(2008/9 & 10).
The Department embraces new initiatives and ‘catch–up‘ and coaching sessions for low attaining Year 7/8 pupils as well as a new scheme of work for weak Level 4 pupils have been introduced. Booster sessions for Year 11 pupils are arranged within curriculum time as well as outside of the school day (Easter activities as well as City Learning Centre activities). A support club for KS4 pupils runs after school on a Thursday evening and is very well attended by pupils and colleagues (the most popular club in the school)
A ‘Maths week’ for Key Stage 3 pupils runs in the summer term with many activities involving primary pupils and members of the public.
Science college status( specialising in Mathematics & Science since September 2004) has significantly helped the Department raise standards and now it is expected that colleagues in the Mathematics Department become leading practitioners, able to disseminate good practice to colleagues in other curriculum areas.