Mathematics
The Faculty of Mathematics
In Mathematics – we seek to develop pupils fluency and numeracy, reasoning, and problem-solving skills for them to have a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts which permeate throughout the real world.
The Mathematics Curriculum:
Mathematics is a creative and highly interconnected discipline that has been developed over centuries, providing the solution to some of history’s most intriguing problems. It is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology, and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. A high-quality mathematics education therefore provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.
“Every child a mathematician”
The aims of the mathematics curriculum are to ensure that 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 non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions
- Experience a broad curriculum covering the main mathematical strands: Number, Algebra, Shape and
- Space, Ratio and Proportion, Statistics and Probability
- Become reflective and resilient learners who are willing to make mistakes and learn from them
- Understand how and why methods are used and can select efficient methods to solve simple and more complex problems.
Faculty Tour
The Mathematics department at the Fernwood School consists of 12 teaching staff and 1 numeracy support teacher. The staff are committed to the providing all pupils with the opportunities to thrive in their fluency, reasoning and problem solving, which is encouraged throughout key stage 3 and 4. The development of pedagogy at The Fernwood School is something we are deeply passionate about.
The Mathematics department continues to improve its contributions to the success of the school through examination results with Grades 9 – 5 and 9 – 7 improving year on year since the introduction of the new GCSE. Progress 8 for mathematics is healthy, positive and has also risen year on year. We, at The Fernwood School, wholeheartedly believe in the notion of ‘Every child a mathematician’ and therefore teach our pupils in ways that allow them to embed and deeply understand concepts to enable them to make connections across many different topics within and outside the subject. Our commitment to this is embodied in our curriculum at key stage 3 with pupils starting their journey with us in mixed attainment groups. This has been a highly successful endeavour, which will continue to develop and improve as we reflect on the curriculum each year.
At Key Stage 4, our most able mathematicians can take OCR Additional Maths, a Level 3 qualification, that supports pupils in their readiness for A-Level maths.
Information about Tier of entry
Teachers will use in-class assessments and mock exams, alongside other summative and formative assessments throughout years 10 and 11 to provide a predicted grade for the end of year 11.
Decisions on tier of entry are evidence based and the mock exams are an important part of the decision-making process. If students want to sit the higher paper, this must be supported by secure evidence.