Mathematics

Curriculum page subject to review.  

Our Directors of Learning design sequences of lessons which combine with our Personal Development Programme delivered by Form Tutors. These closely align with our mission to ‘Teach What Matters’, a deliberate approach to ensure we address challenges that our students are likely to face and to give them the best possible chance of meeting their limitless potential. 
We want all Holyhead students to be able to;

• Solve problems
• Apply knowledge to the real world
• Adapt to change and be resilient to failure
• Be aware of their own thought processes and memory (metacognition)
• Be articulate and express themselves
• Think critically

We want all students at Holyhead to be strong in relation to the following attributes;

• Leadership
• Organisation
• Resilience
• Initiative
• Communication

We also want them to recognise the best of human thinking and appreciate the fundamental British Values. 

Our curriculum in Mathematics forms a backbone to our ethos statement to Teach What Matters. We want our students to think like mathematicians, not just DO the maths and therefore our aim is to create the very best Mathematicians. The need for students to develop mathematical thinking in and out of the classroom is at the crux of being able to fully master mathematical concepts. We challenge students to think, act and speak like those working in the field would. We do this through using quality first teaching which ensures students understand underlying Mathematical principles and can apply them in a variety of familiar and unfamiliar contexts. We encourage our students to learn about mathematicians from diverse backgrounds. Mathematicians who are inspiring and who they can resonate and identify with, be it Mary Jackson or Elbert Frank Cox. In recognising that mathematics is a skill we use daily and a skill we need in life, we want our students to understand that they can use the maths they learn to unlock doors of opportunity for their future aspirations. We believe that pupils should be encouraged to use mathematical language throughout their maths learning to deepen their understanding of concepts. The way students speak and write about mathematics has been shown to have an impact on their success in mathematics. We, therefore, aim to use a carefully sequenced, structured approach to introducing and reinforcing mathematical vocabulary throughout maths lessons, so students have the opportunity to work with word problems from the beginning of their learning. To assist with the retention of maths knowledge metacognitive strategies are being used alongside regular retrieval and modelling. At Holyhead, we want the learning experience of students to be able to; explore, wonder, question, conjecture, experiment and make theories in order to guide their own journey. 

We aim to ensure that all students:

1. Become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that students develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.
2. Reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language
3. 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.

Number

1. Understand & use place value in calculations.
2. Understand & use negative numbers (directed numbers).
3. Understand & use a variety of mathematical vocabulary.
4. Identify when to use BODMAS / BIDMAS.
5. Use written methods for calculations
6. Recognise & use powers and roots in calculations.
7. Equivalence of Fractions, Decimals and Percentages.
8. Define & interpret percentages.
9. Round numbers to an appropriate degree of accuracy.
10. Estimation and approximation

Albebra

1. Understand algebraic notation.
2. Substitute values into formulae.
3. Simplify & manipulate algebraic expressions.
4. Change the subject of formulae.
5. Solve linear equations.
6. Recognise, sketch & produce linear & quadratic graphs.
7. Understand properties of graphs.
8. Generate terms of a sequence & generate the nth term.
9. Recognise arithmetic & geometric sequences.

Geometry and Measure

1. Find area, perimeter & volume of shapes and solve associated problems.
2. Understand & use angle properties.
3. Derive & use standard constructions.
4. Recognise & use properties of polygons.
5. Understand congruence & similarity.
6. Perform & describe transformations.
7. Understand & use Pythagoras’ Theorem.
8. Understand & use trigonometry.

Ratio, proportion and rates of change

1. Change between units (time, length, area, volume/capacity, mass)
2. Use scale factors in a variety of situations.
3. Work with fractions.
4. Work with ratio.
5. Work with percentages (including percentage change)
6. Solve problems involving direct & inverse proportion.
7. Use compound units such as speed, unit pricing and density.

Probability

1. Understand the difference between experimental & theoretical probabilities.
2. Understand that the probability of outcomes sum to 1.
3. Understand the probability scale
4. Organise sets of data systematically using tables & Venn diagrams.
5. Understand the language associated with probability.
6. Understand and use sample space diagrams.

Statistics

1. Identify different types of data (discrete/continuous/grouped)
2. Construct and interpret appropriate diagrams for a variety of data.
3. Find an use averages (mean, median, mode)
4. Find and use range to describe data.
5. Describe simple relationships between data.
6. Construct and interpret scatter diagrams.

In Key Stage 4, all students study the Pearson Edexcel GCSE Mathematics course.

Pearson Edexcel Level 1/Level 2 GCSE (9-1) in Mathematics

Qualification aims and objectives

The aims and objectives of the Pearson Edexcel Level 1/Level 2 GCSE (9–1) in Mathematics are to enable students to:

• develop fluent knowledge, skills and understanding of mathematical methods and concepts
• acquire, select and apply mathematical techniques to solve problems
• reason mathematically, make deductions and inferences and draw conclusions
• comprehend, interpret and communicate mathematical information in a variety of forms appropriate to the information and context.