Intent (based on the National Curriculum)
Students should view Mathematics as a creative and highly inter-connected discipline, providing the solution to some of history’s most intriguing problems. Students should see that Mathematics is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and all forms of employment. Students should receive a high-quality mathematics education that provides a foundation for understanding the world, enables students to reason logically and mathematically, solve problems, develop an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and experience a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.
Implementation
Our curriculum for mathematics aims to ensure that all pupils:
- become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately
- reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language
- can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and nonroutine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions
- enjoy exploring mathematical ideas and developing connections between concepts throughout the curriculum
- have the confidence and ability to apply the mathematics required to lead a successful working life
Key themes and concepts
Links to KS2
- Students should gain a deeper understanding, become increasingly fluent with mathematical concepts met at KS2, and have a more developed understanding of the connections and links between these concepts.
Links within KS3 topics
- Students should develop further connections across mathematical ideas to develop fluency, mathematical reasoning and competence in solving increasingly sophisticated problems. Students should move fluently between representations of mathematical ideas.
Relationship to wider KS3 curriculum
- Students should apply their mathematical knowledge in science, geography, computing and other subjects. Consistent mathematical methods should be used in all maths related subjects across the school. By exposing students to these consistent mathematical methods throughout their school journey they will be better prepared to retain and build on their prior knowledge.
Links to KS4
- Students should have a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts, make rich connections and links between these concepts and be able to apply their knowledge to solve unfamiliar multistep problems. They should be able to apply their mathematical knowledge to other subjects and use a calculator efficiently.
Enrichment
Students are encouraged to widen their interests in Mathematics through the following opportunities: UK Mathematical Challenges, UKMT team challenges, RET Maths Challenges, Mathematics Inspiration Lectures. Additional activities can be found on the RET Enrichment Padlet https://padlet.com/teresarobinson/RET.
