Maths
Confidence with mathematical reasoning is essential for everybody’s future.
Some students will pursue pathways requiring advanced mathematical skills. Many will enter careers that hinge on their ability to be adaptable and to solve problems. All will engage in financial planning and decision-making that will be critical for their long-term happiness and wellbeing. The Chaucer mathematics curriculum is built to ensure that all students have the mathematical fluency, reasoning and problem-solving skills to not only excel in assessments, but to fulfil their hopes and dreams in the world beyond.
The mathematics team set a high bar regarding what we expect of students and in turn what students expect of themselves. Our focus is on ensuring that students can confidently use the skills learnt to reason and solve problems.
Curriculum Intent
The maths curriculum is built to ensure that students become fluent in core mathematical concepts and over time develop their ability to use and apply that knowledge across a range of contexts. Over KS3, students continually develop their basic skills before moving onto using and applying and problem solving. At KS4 some topics are revisited in a more in-depth way, whilst others are built on by exploring new content.
Key Stage 3 Curriculum Overview
In Year 7 and Year 8 students follow a ‘mastery’ curriculum:
- A range of units that build the foundations from which to successfully progress to the demands of the GCSE course
- A balance between learning skills and then applying them to problem-solving and reasoning questions
- A focus on depth and the micro-steps of each skill, rather than skimming the surface of topics.
Students are grouped in sets. Each unit is studied at a level of complexity appropriate for each set, with three levels of challenge (‘Entering’ ‘Core’ and ‘Advanced’).
Year 7 Curriculum Content
Topics Covered:
- Four operations, decimals and place value
- Negatives
- Multiples, factors and primes
- Expressions
- 2D and 3D shapes
- Averages and range
- Indices and BIDMAS
- Angles
- Representing data
- Area and perimeter
- Sequences
- Rounding and estimation
- Decimals, percentages and fractions
Key Knowledge and Skills:
- To be able to calculate with whole numbers, decimals, negative numbers and fractions.
- To understand key mathematical terms such as factor, prime, multiple and square number.
- To recognise 2D and 3D shapes and their properties.
- To understand that percent means out of 100.
- To begin to manipulate algebraic expressions and use correct algebraic notation.
- To draw and interpret a range of charts and graphs.
- To describe and continue a sequence.
- To round to a given degree of accuracy.
- To calculate the area and perimeter of a range of 2D shapes.
- To find the mean, median, mode and range of a data set.
- Recall and use key facts about angles.
- Use a protractor to accurately measure angles.
Assessment:
- Students will complete short end of unit assessments after each topic
Homework:
- Homework tasks will be set on the topics listed above in the form of exam style questions
Links to Careers and Preparation for Life in Modern Britain:
- We endeavour to find links between what is being learnt and its real-life application, such as calculating interest rates when studying percentages.
- We have a culture of ongoing knowledge retrieval and improvement in all maths lessons, giving students a depth of understanding, readying them for their next steps after they leave Chaucer.
Year 8 Curriculum Content
Topics Covered:
- Representing data
- Ratio and proportion
- Finance – best buys, utilities, currency
- Coordinates, linear and quadratic graphs
- Probability
- Measures, scales and bearing
- Solving linear equations
- Circles
- Transformations
- Scatter diagrams
- Angles at parallel lines
- Surface area and volume
- Constructions and drawings
Key Knowledge and Skills:
- To draw and interpret a range of charts and graphs, including scatter graphs.
- To reason proportionally.
- To solve a range of problems involving money, such as calculating best buys and currency conversions.
- To plot coordinates and basic lines.
- To express probability as a fraction.
- To use ruler, protractor and compasses accurately and effectively to make constructions and scale drawings.
- To solve simple linear equations to find an unknown value.
- To be able to name the parts of a circle.
- To know and use the formula for area and circumference of a circle.
- To complete reflections, rotations, translations and enlargements of 2D shapes on a grid.
- To identify and use key facts about angles on parallel lines.
- To calculate the surface area and volume of a range of 3D shapes.
Assessment:
- Students will complete short end of unit assessments after each topic
Homework:
- Homework tasks will be set on the topics listed above in the form of exam style questions
Links to Careers and Preparation for Life in Modern Britain:
- We endeavour to find links between what is being learnt and its real-life application, such as calculating interest rates when studying percentages.
- We have a culture of ongoing knowledge retrieval and improvement in all maths lessons, giving students a depth of understanding, readying them for their next steps after they leave Chaucer.
- The finance unit looks closely at how utilities bills are calculated, value for money and currency conversions.
Year 9 Curriculum Content
Topics Covered:
- Algebraic expressions
- Area and perimeter
- Decimals
- Indices
- Linear equations
- Number properties
- Angles
- Fractions
- Probability
- Rounding, approximations and bounds
- Pythagoras
- Circles
- Place value, BIDMAS and four operations
- Standard form
- Percentages
- Statistical calculations
Key Knowledge and Skills:
- To be able to calculate with whole numbers, decimals, negative numbers and fractions, using the correct order of operations.
- To calculate the area and perimeter of a range of 2D shapes, including compound shapes and those expressed algebraically.
- Use index notation correctly and apply the laws of indices to both numerical and algebraic problems.
- Solve a range of linear equations, including ones with brackets or variables on both sides.
- To identify the HCF and LCM of two numbers.
- To express a number as its product of primes.
- Recall and use key facts about angles.
- To round a number to a given degree of accuracy.
- Pythagoras’ Theorem.
- To convert between standard form and ordinary numbers.
- To estimate the mean of grouped data.
Assessment:
- Students will complete short end of unit assessments after each topic
Homework:
- Homework tasks will be set on the topics listed above in the form of exam style questions
Links to Careers and Preparation for Life in Modern Britain:
- We endeavour to find links between what is being learnt and its real-life application, such as calculating interest rates when studying percentages.
- We have a culture of ongoing knowledge retrieval and improvement in all maths lessons, giving students a depth of understanding, readying them for their next steps after they leave Chaucer.
Key Stage 4 Curriculum Content
We study the OCR 1-9 GCSE course. Students follow one of three pathways (‘Lower Foundation’, ‘Upper Foundation’ or ‘Higher’), progressing through the GCSE units at a pace appropriate for the ability of each group. There are three papers to complete in the final GCSE exams.
Assessment
Every Key Stage 3 and GCSE unit finishes with an end of unit assessment, generating a grade for each student. This enables us to track individual students’ topics of strength and areas for improvement.
Each year group also sits two TSAT assessments. These enable performance to be analysed across the Trust schools.
Additional support and intervention
The maths team host weekly after school examination preparation sessions.
We employ an intervention tutor and a dedicated teaching assistant to provide small group / one-to-one support for underachieving students.
Key knowledge and Skills in Key stage 4 (Years 10 & 11)
Students will study a range of units under the headings
- Number
- Algebra
- Ratio, proportion and rates of change
- Geometry and measures
- Probability
- Statistics
In addition to the above, students should:
- Be willing to have a go and know that making mistakes is part of the learning process
- Be willing to develop mathematical skills through independent practice in and out of maths lessons
- Set out mathematics in an ordered and structured way, showing all their working, taking pride in their work
- Have a good level of subject oracy and be able to justify and explain their mathematical reasoning
- Check answers for reasonableness
- Be able to describe numbers and shapes in terms of their properties
- Use geometric instruments accurately and effectively
- Use a scientific calculator
- Be able to apply proportional reasoning in a range of problems – pie charts, recipes, value for money, rates of change
- Understand the importance of algebra to solve contextual problems
- Plot coordinates and draw graphs accurately
- Recall and apply and manipulate a range of formulae
- Analyse and compare data sets