Maths

Our Vision

At Bowland High our ambition within the Maths department is to create an environment where students love to learn and appreciate why and how maths will contribute to their lives and society. The mathematical skills gained will allow students to become successful citizens, who reach their full potential in their choice of field, contributing to the local and wider economical community. We want our learners to appreciate the beauty of mathematics and through our curriculum, provide opportunities to develop curiosity, imagination and the understanding that a deep knowledge of maths means that anything is possible.

Inspiring

Our aim is to ignite a passion for maths in all our pupils, whether they intend to pursue a future career in maths or those who merely want to enjoy the satisfaction that comes with applying previously learnt components to answer non-routine problems. Ambitious core knowledge and extension opportunities have been identified within the learning journey to stretch and challenge all learners.

To be successful mathematicians we strive for our students to demonstrate wider skills by being independent, resilient, fluent, confident problem solvers who can articulate and reason mathematically to make informed decisions. These skills are embedded throughout the curriculum alongside the different mathematical skills required to become successful members of society.

In the Maths department we aim to establish cross-curricular links especially through the learning of numerical skills and application in other areas. Pupils participate in national and internal competitions to celebrate best work and extraordinary effort. We encourage the use of external resources and platforms to enhance and support independent learning and revision. We provide experience of practical implementation of mathematics in everyday life for financial and numerical confidence and security, and links to careers and relevance in life beyond the school gate.

Knowledge Rich

Our curriculum comprises of five strands in each year: number, algebra, geometry, ratio and proportion, and statistics. All these strands interleave over time and are key to supporting learners become successful mathematicians by having the confidence and ability to utilise and apply their powerful knowledge to a range of practical applications.

Our students become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately. It is important to us that pupils 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 preserving in seeking solutions. Pupils can communicate, justify, argue and prove using mathematical vocabulary.

Ambitious

Maths is a subject that often polarises opinion, we do not subscribe to the opinion that you’re either good at maths or you’re not. Our curriculum is designed to overcome this and build tenacious learners who are willing to answer questions even if they’re unsure. From Year 7 through to Year 11, pupils are expected to engage with us in this challenging subject, which will lead to them securing excellent knowledge in this curriculum area, along with developing their character, resilience, confidence and independence, so that they contribute positively to the life of the school, their local community and the wider environment.

Accessible

Our curriculum will enable students to learn within a coherent and exciting framework which does not limit student’s ambitions. Students who succeed quickly are challenged by rich and analytical problems before being moved on to new concepts. Students who are less mathematically fluent are supported in their learning by being taught in small groups with extra teaching support and additional intervention where appropriate.

Lunchtime sessions are available to all students in all year groups in order to provide extra support to make progress and act upon feedback from lessons.

Regular assessments of knowledge, skills and application identifies priorities for intervention and future delivery, and also encourage students to reflect on their progress.

Research Informed

In the Maths department we use a mastery approach to the teaching of mathematics for understanding· We have in place a spiral curriculum basing future teaching on the building blocks taught previously. Each lesson begins with retrieval and repetition of key facts and skills to free up working memory.

All new concepts are broken down into small connected and structured steps enabling application to range of contexts. The first stage is to ensure understanding and procedural fluency and progress from this to problem solving and reasoning.