Mathematics

Head of Department: Miss S Rusher
email: sarah.rusher@destafford.org.uk  

The Mathematics Department is a dedicated team working together to put mathematical understanding at the heart of the school.

Key Stage 3 Maths

Students study Maths for 4 hours per week in Year 7 and 8. It is one of the core subjects that follow directly on from the primary school curriculum. The skills, methods and application of skills learnt at Key Stage 3 develop understanding and confidence, to prepare students for the GCSE curriculum.

Students are set from the beginning of Year 7 based on data from primary schools and our own baseline assessments.  Setting is reviewed twice a year, with a focus on placing students where they are confident and secure to enable them to make the optimum progress.

Extra-curricular opportunities include the Junior Maths Challenge in Year 8, and Maths Master classes held at the University of Surrey.

Year 7 and 8​

In year 7 and 8 students follow the ’Mastering Numeracy’ program.  This program of study is used to target and overcome the evident numerical challenges that students face when studying for their GCSE’s.

This approach focuses on students being challenged (at a level appropriate to the student) by considering mathematical representations that depict the underlying structure of mathematics.  This helps children to fully grasp concepts and achieve fluency through carefully structured problem solving tasks, questions and exercises that use theoretical and practical variation.  Progressively, it provides a solid understanding of numeracy and develops conceptual reasoning and procedural fluency.

Key areas in the ’Mastering Numeracy’ program include influences from Number, Algebra, Shape and Data.

Key Stage 4 Maths

Maths is a core subject at GCSE. Employers and further education institutions expect students to hold at least a C grade (Grade 5 from 2017) as an indicator of their numeracy and readiness for further study or work.

In Year 9, 10 and 11 students study Maths for 4 hours per week. They will continue to develop and will move on to applying the skills and knowledge they have developed at Key Stage 3, working to even higher levels of challenge and difficulty.

Assessment is entirely through examination at the end of the three years of study. We follow the Edexcel specification. Students are entered for either Foundation (grades C-G, or 5-1) or Higher tier exams (grades A*-C, or 9-4), according to how well they perform.

Year 9 and 10

Year 9 and 10 are opportunities to consolidate and develop the ideas from KS3.

More advanced topics at GCSE level include:

• Number -limits of accuracy, repeated percentage change

• Algebra- quadratic equations, advanced formulae

• Shape - Pythagoras, combined transformations, loci

• Data - cumulative frequency, box plots and averages of grouped data

Year 11

During Year 11 the students working towards the higher-level GCSE will encounter the most challenging Maths so far. Students working towards the foundation GCSE will continue to embed and develop the skills from Year 9, 10 and KS3.

• Number – Direct and inverse proportion

• Algebra – Simultaneous equations and algebraic fractions

• Shape – Volume and surface area of cones and spheres

• Data - Histograms and stratified sampling