Mathematics

The Subject of Mathematics

Mathematics is essential for everyday life and understanding our world. It is also essential to science, technology and engineering, and the advances in these fields on which our economic future depends. It is therefore fundamentally important to ensure that all students have the best possible mathematics education. They need to understand the mathematics they learn so that they can be creative in solving problems, as well as being confident and fluent in developing and using the mathematical skills so valued by the world of industry and higher education.

Mathematics is a language.  It is the only truly universal language, and it is an essential part of our personal and working life.  Mathematics is not only a language and a subject, but it is also critical in fostering logical and rigorous thinking: as such its influence is immense.

Mathematics contributes to the school curriculum by developing students’ abilities to calculate; to reason logically, algebraically, and geometrically; to solve problems and to handle data. Mathematics is important for students in many other areas of study, particularly Science and Technology. It is also important in everyday living, in many forms of employment, and in public decision-making. As a subject in its own right, Mathematics presents frequent opportunities for creativity, and can stimulate moments of pleasure and wonder when a problem is solved for the first time, or a more elegant solution to a problem is discovered, or when hidden connections suddenly manifest.  It enables students to build a secure framework of mathematical reasoning, which they can use and apply with confidence. The power of mathematical reasoning lies in its use of precise and concise forms of language, symbolism and representation to reveal and explore general relationships. These mathematical forms are widely used for modelling situations; a trend accelerated by computational technologies.

Our Mission Statement

“To equip each individual with the knowledge, conceptual understanding and skills which will enable them to develop as enthusiastic and confident mathematicians and prepare them for the next stage in their life.”

Aims of the Faculty

• To ensure depth before breadth, allowing students to gain a sound understanding in key mathematical concepts and develop fundamental mathematical skills that will enable them to prosper at all levels, up to and including at university.
• To set challenging targets with high expectations for all students.
• To offer a variety of approaches to teaching and learning to engage and motivate students and demand their active participation.
• To smooth the transition for students between Key Stages and ensure progression in teaching and learning throughout their time at Leventhorpe.
• To explore enrichment opportunities outside the curriculum to enhance students’ enjoyment of mathematics.

Maths at Leventhorpe

Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 students have 7 hours of lessons per fortnight. Our curriculum includes numeracy, algebra, geometry, ratio & proportion, statistics and probability and we ensure that problem solving is imbedded across all of these threads. We cover every aspect of the curriculum, interleaving topics within each year group, to ensure that students see links across these different areas of mathematics. 

Our homework is set each week using MyMaths (www.mymaths.co.uk) for which every student has their own personal login. Every fortnight our students sit a Knowledge Recall Quiz that assesses a mix of recent teaching with previous topics to strengthen retention and understanding.

In Key Stage 5, we offer A Level Maths, Further Maths, Core Maths and GCSE resit. 

We offer trips across the Key Stages including Bletchley Park, Maths in Action, and Oxford University STEM conference for girls – It all adds up. 

Here are overview details of our Key Stages and please use the links below to access a more detailed overview of our curriculum from Year 7 to Year 13.

Key Stage 3 Maths Overview

Key Stage 4 Maths Overview

Key Stage 5 A Level Maths Overview

Key Stage 5 Further Maths Overview

Key Stage 5 Core Maths Overview

Key Features of KS3 Maths at Leventhorpe

• In Year 7 students are taught across 4 bands with a higher and lower group in each band. In Year 8 students are put into sets across two bands.
• All the content in our Scheme of work is based on the Maths KS3 National Curriculum.
• Within Year 9 we start to cover some GCSE topics to prepare them for the transition into their GCSE.
• Students are set half termly homework tasks from MyMaths which is an online platform that students have personal logins for.
• Every fortnight, students sit a Knowledge Recall Quiz in class which enables teachers and students to check and reflect on understanding and retention of topics taught across the year.
• We have assessments every term to track pupil progress and following this, we make any necessary set changes and arrange any necessary intervention.
• We have intervention for a select group of KS3 students which covers lots of basic numeracy and written mathematical methods to support their learning in class.
• We offer our keen KS3 mathematicians Parallel, which is a challenging weekly problem-solving competition set up by Mathematician Simon Singh.  We also offer the Junior UKMT Individual Maths Challenge where students compete for certificates with thousands of other talented mathematicians across the country.
• Each half-term, every member of the Maths Faculty nominates a ‘Mathematician of the moment’ who get a certificate and their picture up on the wall celebrating their hard work and progress.

Key Features of KS4 Maths at Leventhorpe

• Students will be taking Higher tier or Foundation tier in their GCSE. Higher allows grades from 3-9, while Foundation allows grades from 1-5. Grade 4 being a ‘standard pass’ and Grade 5 being a ‘good pass’.
• We teach to the Edexcel 9-1 GCSE specifications.
• Our curriculum covers a range of numeracy, algebra, geometry, ratio & proportion, statistics and probability and we ensure that problem solving is imbedded across all of these threads.
• Students are set half termly homework tasks from MyMaths which is an online platform that students have personal logins for.
• Every fortnight, students sit a Knowledge Recall Quiz in class which enables teachers and students to check and reflect on understanding and retention of topics taught across the year.  We have assessments every term to track pupil progress and following this, we make any necessary set changes and arrange any necessary intervention.
• In Year 11 we offer our talented KS4 mathematicians the FSMQ (free standing maths qualification). This is a challenging qualification that allows students to study A Level topics which will support students who wish to continue studying mathematics. Our keen KS4 students also have the opportunity to enter the Intermediate UKMT Individual Maths Challenge where students compete for certificates with thousands of other talented mathematicians across the country.
• Each half-term, every member of the Maths Faculty nominates a ‘Mathematician of the moment’ who get a certificate and their picture up on the wall celebrating their hard work and progress.

Key Features of KS5 Maths at Leventhorpe

• A Level & Further Maths students have 9 hours of lessons per fortnight split between 2 teachers. One teacher focuses on Pure Maths while the other teacher focuses on a mix of Applied and Pure. Core Maths students have 4 hours of lessons per fortnight with one teacher. 
• We teach to the Edexcel A-Level specifications.  A Level students study Pure and Applied (Statistics & Mechanics) while Further Maths students also study Further Pure Maths, Decision Maths and Further Mechanics.
• Assessments at the end of each topic are based on past paper questions and interleave material from previous topic with new material.
• Our A Level & Further Maths students have the opportunity to enter the Senior UKMT Individual Maths Challenge where students compete for certificates with thousands of other talented mathematicians across the country.