Curriculum Intent
The Mathematics curriculum at HGSA has two main aims:
- To develop mathematical skills and deepen knowledge
- To transfer mathematical learning experiences in classrooms to future learning and across and beyond the school curriculum
Our curriculum is designed on the understanding that all learners are individuals, but the strong belief that all students can develop, improve and learn in all areas of mathematics.
Our curriculum aims to engage students in concepts and topics that will allow them to develop into well rounded citizens able to contribute to society. All students will become functional and develop a level of understanding that will equip them for further study, their future lives and chosen careers.
Students will learn mathematics that is instantly applicable to their lives and will be able to transfer their acquired skills and understanding to new and unfamiliar contexts, both within and external to the mathematics curriculum. For example, they will learn transferable skills that will provide them with the tools required to be successful in subjects such as geography, science. and technology. They will also develop skills that they will need to operate successfully in the adult world as well as developing a deep understanding required for further mathematical study.
We aim for students develop a secure, long-term and adaptable understanding of mathematics, which will allow opportunities to develop mathematical fluency and reasoning, as well as students being able to learn how to solve maths problems without having to simply memorise procedures. Our mathematics curriculum fosters resilience on a daily basis through problem solving and understanding of complex concepts, encouraging students to persevere and try different methods to arrive at a correct solution. Students are encouraged to build on, and learn from their mistakes in all maths lessons.
Curriculum Implementation
In all year groups, typical lessons have two surface aspects: skill and concept development.
Skill development
The mathematics faculty recognise the need for students to become fluent with mathematics that they already hold a certain level of understanding. These skills are addressed during the beginning of most lessons via the school’s teaching and learning framework through long-term retrieval tasks. These tasks follow a two-week cycle where common themes are addressed for 8-10 lessons. Within the long term retrieval tasks there is also the opportunity for students to apply their skills through reasoning or problem solving tasks. Some of the skills explored during this phase of the lesson might then be built upon during the concept development phase, but this is not the aim nor the intention of the long-term retrieval tasks.
Teacher assessment and intervention during this phase of the lesson is crucial, particularly during the beginning of each cycle. A long term retrieval task usually takes between 5-10 minutes at the beginning of the lesson, however, if teacher assessments deems that there is a specific misconception/lack of knowledge and understanding, then the LTR task can be elongated to address this.
Concept development
The planned content of this phase of the lesson has been carefully designed so that students are constantly building upon their prior knowledge. The sequence of lessons is hierarchical and builds upon the secure foundations from students previous phases of learning.
We recognise that there are five domains that exist within the core mathematics curriculum. Within each domain, there are sub-topics that students need to learn. Each of the five domains are studied each academic year, with the next year building upon the previous year.