Maths

Intent: why do we teach what we teach?

At LSA we want every child to enjoy learning and be successful in Mathematics and we are determined to maximize both the progress and attainment of all our students. We believe in ‘Challenge for all’ and we promote independence and a love of learning.

At LSA we aim to stimulate students’ curiosity, interest and enjoyment in Mathematics. We aim to prepare our students for everyday life beyond LSA and their future employment. We aim provide opportunities for students to develop transferable Mathematical skills which will also aid their progress across other areas of the curriculum.

At LSA we enrich our curriculum by encouraging students to participate in internal, local and National Mathematics competitions. We strive to enhance students’ Cultural capital by making them aware of where the Mathematics comes from, through Mathematicians and the etymology of technical vocabulary.

Implementation: how do we teach what we teach?

At LSA we follow a 5 year spiral curriculum where skills are reviewed and extended for future teaching on the building blocks taught previously. This is sequenced to build upon prior knowledge and allows for topics to be interleaved within later topics. We ensure the level of challenge is high enough for the most able, with scaffold and support available for students who need it.

• Concepts are broken down into small structured steps enabling application to range of contexts
• Procedural fluency is developed through regular retrieval homework
• Manipulatives and multiple representations are used to build and scaffold learning
• Feedback is used in lessons to addresses misconceptions promptly
• Students are encouraged see errors as a learning opportunities
• Students learn in a non-judgmental environment where taking risks in learning is encouraged
• Students develop their resilience and independence when faced with unfamiliar problems, so that they can transfer these skills across other subjects at LSA and beyond
• Students are encouraged to reason mathematically, develop structured justifications to solutions using the correct technical vocabulary
• Interventions for underachievers are timely, well planned and effective
• Assessments are sat regularly (every 4 topics of work) in class to support knowledge retrieval and encourage students to reflect upon their progress and revision strategies

Impact: how do we know what students have learnt and how well they have learnt it?

The impact of our Mathematics curriculum can be seen through the analysis of the school GCSE results. The Mathematics department consistently achieves one of the highest progress 8 measures across the school.

Departmental Quality Assurance shows students taking pride in their work in Mathematics, and they enjoy the level of challenge and variety of learning activities.

Maths Curriculum