Mathematics
The Maths department includes the following staff:
- Mr J Regan – Lead Teacher of Maths
- Miss J Derrick – Teacher of Maths & Assistant Headteacher
- Miss K Wigg – Teacher of Maths & Assistant SENCO
- Miss S Dowling - Teacher of Maths
As a fundamental member of the STREAM focus at SST Maidstone, the Maths department engages students in a well sequenced curriculum to support the developing numeracy skills of students. Students are guided through key skills and knowledge in the subject, supported by platforms such as Sparx Maths, TTRockStars and Numeracy Ninjas.
The maths department run a weekly Numeracy club for students that have been identified as struggling with their basic numeracy fluency. Students participate in a range of rich tasks, with the use of manipulatives, their iPads and a variety of individual and group tasks to develop their confidence in basic mathematical skills. The maths department also run seasonal clubs such as UKMT club during the build up to the junior and senior UKMT challenges and participate in the National Cipher Challenge run by Southampton University in the second term.
The department is always looking to work collaboratively with other departments both in SST and in the wider trust schools to ensure consistency between departments with regard to methodology, trips out of school and curriculum development.
Curriculum Intent
At SST, we believe that our students deserve a creative and ambitious mathematics curriculum, rich in skills and knowledge, that will ensure they have the core competencies in everyday life and future employment after their time at SST. Our curriculum aims to pique students' interest, challenge them, and inspire them, while also providing them with opportunities to:
- Master the fundamentals of mathematics. This should be accomplished through varied and consistent practise. Over time, students will develop conceptual understanding and the ability to confidently apply knowledge precisely.
- Use mathematics to reason by following a line of inquiry, speculating on concepts and generalisations, and defining proofs.
- Apply mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems of increasing complexity to solve problems. This should be accomplished by breaking problems down into smaller steps and persevering in the challenge of tackling these.
- Use mathematical vocabulary to communicate, justify, argue, and prove.
- Build their character, including resilience, confidence, and independence, so that students can contribute to the life of the school and the community.
Our mastery approach aims to maximise each student's academic achievement through a spiral curriculum that builds on each student's prior knowledge each year. Each lesson will allow students to consider what prior knowledge they already have, highlight the new knowledge contained in the lesson, and provide ample opportunities for students to practise the new knowledge through a variety of activities. Lessons are scaffolded and differentiated through the use of manipulatives, which provide multiple representations of concepts and help to avoid overloading students' working memory.
As a new school, we are proud of the relationships we have already established with the other secondary schools in the trust and collaborative professional development that allows us to constantly challenge each other and develop our curriculum.
Year 7 and 8 students will be taught for a total of 6 hours over the course of two weeks, with time spent working on basic numeracy skills, rich tasks, investigations, practising prior knowledge, and establishing new knowledge.
Students in year 9 will be taught for a total of 7 hours over the course of two weeks, with time spent working building on the knowledge they have gained in the previous two years, whilst we ensure the curriculum is wider and more varied than the national curriculum requires students begin to discover key topics such as trigonometry, indices, simultaneous equations and conditional probability.
Curriculum Topics
Key Stage 3 - Year 7 and 8
Students follow the White Rose Maths scheme of learning that we have slightly altered and adapted to suit our student’s needs.
The specification for this can be found here.
Key Stage 3 - Year 9
Students should experience year 9 as a transition year between Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4. This is a bespoke curriculum designed at SST that will continue to challenge and support all of our students. Students will have the opportunity to further develop their mathematical fluency and also come across new mathematical topics that will be key for Key Stage 4.
The topics students will be taught can be seen in the Key Stage 3 Learning Journey.
Key Stage 4 - Years 10 and 11
Students studying maths at SST with follow the Edexcel GCSE Mathematics Specification.
The specification for this can be found here.
Years 12 and 13
The Maths department at SST will be looking to offer:
- Core Mathematics
- A – level Mathematics
- A – Level Further Mathematics
Transition Information
Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 3
Lessons are all differentiated and designed to allow students to choose their level of difficulty with the help and support of their teacher for guidance so students are not overwhelmed and their confidence is allowed to grow.
Mistakes are hugely encouraged, we all learn from mistakes and if we are not making mistakes we are not growing and challenging ourselves enough.
There is an opportunity for students to join the numeracy club to further consolidate their basic numeracy skills through rich and interactive tasks.
Key Stage 3 to Key Stage 4
During key stage 3 students will be taught a wide range of content following a mastery curriculum. From this, students should feel confident when entering their first GCSE years in Mathematics.
Extra curriculum opportunities are provided through a variety of events, including: UKMT challenges, number day and maths week.
Key Stage 4 to Key Stage 5
Students will be supported in their transition from KS4 to KS5 through taster lessons that will take place after all GCSE exams have been completed. Students will be encouraged to speak to their teacher about the similarities and differences in KS4 to KS5. KS5 begins with a number of topics overlapping with KS4 allowing students to settle to the work confidently.
Beyond Key Stage 5
Students are given opportunities to look at different routes to continuing their mathematical knowledge at university, whether that is a pure mathematics degree, a degree with heavy mathematical content or a joint honours degree. Students are further supported by sharing with them how Mathematics can aid them in finding employment or an apprenticeship after completing KS5.
Extended Curriculum Opportunities
Click here to view the Extended Curriculum Opportunities for Maths.
