Maths

Curriculum Statement

The aim for Regents Park Community College Mathematics curriculum is to ensure that all learners develop fluency within the subject. We want learners to be confident in applying core knowledge and reasoning skills  to solve a wide variety of practical problems.

Intent

Our intent is to provide a broad and balanced curriculum that is accessible to all students in addition to offering opportunities for all students to develop a high level of numeracy required for success in adult life. We strive to provide a wide ranging and engaging curriculum that builds on Key Stage 2 learning and prepares students for Key Stage 4 and beyond.  This is achieved though the design of our Key Stage 3 curriculum cementing competencies and developing skills from Key Stage 2 to equip pupils for Key Stage 4 and both key stages are underpinned by a mastery approach.  We offer SEND Provision to support access for all, including SEND schemes of work and assessments for key stage 3 to support with any additional needs.

This support is continued into key stage 4 as we offer our students additional pathways to support and challenge our students.

Our expectation is for students to respect the views of others when explaining processes and take pride in displaying workings clearly. They should creatively seek solutions to problems and apply learning in a variety of contexts.  Students should challenge themselves by tackling questions which take them towards the next step in their learning journey.  Literacy, in particular higher tier vocabulary, is used by staff and students effectively in lessons as part of Mathematics language.

Skills and processes in Mathematics are transferable across other subjects and close cross curricular links have been established especially in Science and Geography.

Implementation

Years 7, 10 and 11 have 5 maths lessons a week and Years 8 and 9 have 4 maths lessons a week.  Each lesson is one component of a broader topic.  The lessons will always be a part of a sequence of lessons or learning experiences which will build mathematical understanding and problem solving capacity, improve fluency and develop mathematical reasoning skills.  The mathematics scheme of work is cumulative and adaptive offering challenge and support for those that need it.  The scheme of work builds on key skills where topics are revisited and retaught to strengthen and extend students’ skills, building in challenge and developing confidence.

To assess students in maths, we conduct assessments that are carried out throughout the year. These consist of low stake quiz's designed to test recent knowledge acquired as well as more formal assessment, non calculator and calculator assessments.  Our assessments are cumulative and are designed to check progress over time.

To support the teaching of mathematics within the department and across the school students are taught the same techniques and methods to standardise teaching for all.  There is a curriculum map that is followed with specific content and teachers plan and resource own lessons to suit the needs of the learners.

Impact

Feedback is focused and we give the students an opportunity to reflect and work on areas they need to improve upon.  Following assessments we identify areas of weakness and we use different approaches to address misconceptions within lessons. Appropriate interventions will be put in place to further support those students who may be struggling.

A vigorous Question Levelling Analysis is completed for each exam that year 11 complete. This is used to inform students and parents about what they should be working on at home to help them prepare for their GCSEs as well as informing class teachers about what they need to reteach to fill in any gaps that students have.

A full Monitoring and Evaluating schedule with key dates is published so all department members are fully aware of what will be monitored to develop a more open and positive ethos on drop ins and book looks.  All assessments are all now focused on personalised progress, through use of colour coding and student feedback.

There are clear expectations for staff and these are delivered though both department and school policies.