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wyedean School

Aspire Together, Achieve Together

Wyedean is an academic & nurturing global school committed to
World Class C21st learning for all. We aim to turn dreams into futures.

Mathematics

Our vision

We believe that all students can be successful with mathematics regardless of their starting point.

Our Philosophy and approach

Our curriculum promotes the mastery of concepts. We spend longer on topics and delve deeper in to them, as opposed to rushing through content. We believe that this allows students a greater opportunity to develop fluency and become more proficient in applying what they have learnt.

Our assessment structure is one that is designed around retention. We use regular low stakes quizzes on various topics to assess whether our students have retained their prior learning and are able to apply it. We plan lessons around the information taken from these quizzes to ensure that we are always plugging the gaps of what has not been retained.

As a staff we are committed to our own professional development. We regularly spend departmental meeting time improving our teaching by engaging with current educational research. We often observe each other teach in order to learn from each other. Currently the evidenced based practice that we have been engaging with consists of (but is not limited to) cognitive load theory, retrieval practice, variation theory in teaching mathematics, interleaving practice, spaced practice and research around feedback.

During the 2015-2016 academic year we collaborated with the GLOW Maths Hub on a national project to improve mathematical reasoning opportunities in lessons. We learnt a lot from this experience and have spent time embedding these ideas into our practice.

Our Curriculum

Please click the below links to find our schemes of learning at KS3 and KS4 with supporting videos.

 Year 7 scheme of learning please click HERE

Year 8 scheme of learning please click HERE

Year 9 scheme of learning please click HERE

Year 10 scheme of learning please click HERE

Year 11 scheme of learning please click HERE

Assessment dates in Maths 2017/18 please click HERE

 Hegarty Maths

As a department we make use of Hegarty Maths (www.hegartymaths.com). We use this website for setting homework, but it is also incredibly useful for independent work as it contains excellent tutorial videos and plenty of quizzes to allow for practise. Practise is the only way to improve in maths, there is no shortcut, but the excellent explanations in the videos make a big difference to how successful students can be.

If students are struggling with maths in school then this website is an excellent way to help catch up. Below there are a few documents which students can print off and gradually work through (we would advocate about 1 per week, which would take about 30 minutes) and over time their maths will show a marked improvement.

Student starter guide to using the website:

Higher tier GCSE revision list

Crossover GCSE revision list (students aiming for a grade 5 on higher or foundation)

Foundation GCSE revision list

Here is a booster pack for KS3 students, but can be useful for older students too. It contains the maths skills that are needed to be built on at secondary level maths. We would encourage students to use this to make sure they are fluent in these skills, or work on the ones they struggle with by using the Hegarty Maths videos and quizzes: (Hegarty Maths KS3 booster pack)

Here is a booster pack for A level maths students. These are all of the skills that A level maths students will build upon through A level maths. Students should make sure they are fluent in these skills prior to starting A level maths and work on any that they know are weaker by making use of Hegarty Maths: (Hegarty Maths A level transition course)

Enrichment

Mathematics is a hugely interesting subject with many opportunities for enrichment. Enrichment opportunities we are running or have recently run are:

How to Help Your Child at Home

We get a lot of requests from parents who would like to support their child at home. Below there is advice on how to do so. The words extending, secure, developing, emerging and not yet reached refer to our Key Stage 3 reporting system.

If they are ‘Extending’

Students should log in to their account on www.diagnosticquestions.com (see their class teacher for their log in details). From here they should click on ‘questions’ on the left hand side. There are then tabs along the top of this page. Click on ‘collections’. Then click on ‘United Kingdom Mathematics Trust’.

Here you will find a selection of quizzes on different topics. You can also choose ‘maths challenge practice quizzes’ where the quizzes will be a variety of topics. These quizzes are excellent problem solving practice of more challenging types of questions.

The Dr Frost Maths website offers a similarly excellent variety of maths challenge practice. To set up an account go to: http://www.drfrostmaths.com/homework/

If they are Secure/Developing

Students should use the scheme of learning with supporting videos that are linked above. They should watch the videos of the topics currently being studied, or that they know they struggle with. They should then practice questions from that topic. A great source of practice questions for every topic can be found here: https://corbettmaths.com/contents/. If you are unsure which topic your child would benefit from looking over most then please email their class teacher for advice.

Not all parents are confident with mathematics themselves, so the videos provide an excellent opportunity to learn along with the student, or to be confident that the explanations the students are receiving are up to date and accurate.

If they are emerging/not yet reached

Students who are emerging or not yet reached very often struggle with their times tables. If they are in year 7 or year 8 they will automatically have been signed up the Times Table Rockstars website www.ttrockstars.com/. They should use this website to continually practice their times tables. Little and often is the best way so a few games each day would be hugely beneficial.

If they are not in year 7 or 8 but struggle with their times tables, please contact Mr Moss by email (mossb@wyedean.gloucs.sch.uk) and he will set an account up.

If they are emerging/not yet reached but are good at their times tables then very often they have missed a topic earlier in their education or not had enough practice to master it. These students should go to https://corbettmaths.com/5-a-day/gcse/ and complete the ‘numeracy’ sections of the 5 a day. As before, little and often is the best approach. Students should also follow the advice given in the ‘secure/developing’ section above and follow the scheme of learning at home for consolidation. 

Websites to be aware of

* denotes log in details required. Please contact your child’s class teacher for these.

 

 

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