Mathematics

Our vision for Mathematics at Holy Trinity:

• A KS3 curriculum that has substantial rigour and depth with frequent opportunities to refine, improve and revisit.
• Academic results which lead the achievement of the school, that are consistently significantly above the national average so that students can compete at the highest national and international level.
• A culture of success with outstanding teaching and learning that is balanced with robust and rigorous tracking, monitoring and intervention.
• To inspire an interest and curiosity in mathematics that equips students with skills for life and encourages a large number of students to choose the subject for A Level.
• To promote a curiosity about mathematics that sees students want to find out how the skills they learn can be applied to real life or can be seen in real life.
• To develop children's proficiency and working knowledge of mathematical concepts so that they can apply those skills beyond their maths lessons.

Teachers who are:

• Passionate, reflective, inspiring, creative and devise opportunities for students to take risks.
• Highly skilled, have high expectations and have an excellent subject knowledge.
• Proactive and consistent with issues in the classroom.
• Providing high quality written and verbal feedback that enables students to fill any gaps and make rapid and sustained progress.
• Using data effectively to enable students to inform personalised planning so that students can achieve their potential and make maximum progress whatever their individual needs.
• Informed by research, reading and action-research – including exam board reports, CPD etc.
• Invested in their own professional development in a manner which drives what they do on a daily basis in the classroom and spurs them on to obsessively want to be better.

Learners who are:

• Able to show clearly how they reach an answer both in their written work and class discussions
• Curious and able to draw on an extensive prior knowledge and apply it to new situations
• Invested in their own achievement, progress and who are working harder than their teachers.
• Resilient, able to accept constructive criticism and reflective enough to identify their next steps.
• Engaged and have the ability to take on board different approaches to solving the same problem.
• Lifelong mathematicians.

GCSE Mathematics has a Foundation tier (grades 1 – 5) and a Higher tier (grades 4 – 9). Students must take three question papers at the same tier.

This is a linear qualification. In order to achieve the award, students must complete all exams in November or May/June in a single year. All assessments must be taken in the same series. November entries will only be available to students who were at least 16 on the previous 31 August.

All GCSE exams in mathematics will include questions that allow students to draw on elements from within and across different topic areas, and questions that allow students to provide extended responses.

Courses based on this specification in mathematics aim to enable students to:

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

More information can be found here.

Students should only be entered for the Higher Tier if they are capable of achieving 6 - 9. For candidates who are borderline 4/5, the Foundation tier is advised. For those students achieving exceptional results on the Foundation paper, the Grade 6/7 can be awarded.