Mathematics

Having a clear ethos and culture is important for a department. What does maths look like here?

We are an improving department. Everyone can learn maths given the right amount of time, support and effort. Our five year curriculum, starting with year 7 and building on the skills learned in primary school, allows pupils to spend more time on less topics earlier in their journey to better master the content. This ensures that students are taught the objectives outlined in the National Curriculum in year 7 to 9. In key stage 3, students are taught for 4 hours per week in year 7 and 8 and 3 hours per week in year 9. Students are separated into two populations, with each population set by attainment.
In key stage 4, we have recently moved to setting students across the whole year group, enabling us to provide more opportunity for students to learn more of the mathematics that will prepare them for later stages. We can then make later decisions on whether students will sit the higher or foun-dation GCSE examination.
We are aiming to develop students’ mathematical fluency, reasoning and problem solving with facts, concepts and pro-cedures as well as support them to use mathematical vocab-

ulary. This will enable them to make links between ideas within maths and across subjects.
We know that spaced practice is important so every lesson begins with an “entry task” on prior learning to support memory recall and each unit is punctuated with weekly home learning practise tasks via our online platforms. Stu-dents in all year groups are set homework on Sparxmaths.com, which sets tasks on current and prior learn-ing to support spaced practise.
Our aim is to support students by modelling and explaining, at times using special equipment, the mathematics they need to learn. We challenge them through our chosen tasks and “challenge questions” to make students think hard over time as well as develop reasoning and problem solving. We want to develop confident and resilient mathematicians.
Through our motto “Maths Opens Doors” we promote and deliver a variety of information on futures, enrichment and educational pathways that a qualification in maths can lead to, including the realistic option of University. We also aim to educate the children of Blackpool to become financially aware and inform them about important concepts such as debt, credit, tax, safety and wellbeing. More information can be found at www.montgomerymaths.co.uk/maths-opens-doors.

There are different ways by which and
reasons why students are assessed in maths

Teachers have access to perquisite quizzes to assess current learning. There are regular low stakes quizzes to gain insights into prior knowledge strengths and weaknesses. Blocks of work are punctuated by end of block assessments. These are followed up by Learning Improvement Feedback Time or “LIFT” - time dedicated to giving feedback to the students as a class, making improvements, talking about misconcep-tions and providing extra practice where needed. This goes some way to our efforts to leave no child behind.

Students in year 11 are assessed in Autumn Term 2 for finals 1 before completing their GCSE in May and June with Edex-cel—three 90 minute papers covering a large sample of the curriculum. Paper 1 is non-calculator and paper 2 and 3 are calculator papers.
There are regular GCSE classes after school and our depart-ment have catch up sessions for home learning for students who do not complete it on time or don’t have access to tech-nology at home. All students are now also given access to Completemaths.com/TUTOR—an online tutor system to support them with their maths studies.

Students and parents often need support along the school journey with maths. What do we offer?

Through our website www.montgomerymaths.co.uk, students and parents can gain access to support with learning maths, including resources and curriculum links for remote learning. There is information around how to revise maths and how you can check students’ homework has been completed.
Every student is given a Sparxmaths.com login, a website dedicated to teaching every skill in maths via videos,

linked to quizzes for students to get extra practice at home, with that important scaffolded support.
Students in key stage 4 are provided with revision guides and revision cards. We are now beginning to implement a knowledge organiser in year 7 to support students remember the key knowledge they need to know.
We want our parents to work with us to help students to see maths as a valuable, accessible subject for all students.