Maths

Maths Curriculum Intent Statement

At Abbey Park School our aim is for all students to acquire a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of mathematics regardless of starting point or background.

An Abbey Park learner:

• Will fluently and accurately recall, apply and explain facts and concepts using correct mathematical language.
• Will solve problems and reason mathematically by having the curiosity to explore conjectures, test hypotheses and generalise results.
• Through mastery, will develop confidence to use mathematics across curriculum areas and in the wider world.

An Abbey Park mathematics classroom is an environment in which students have the freedom to explore and conjecture mathematically and in which they understand that it is good to struggle as this leads to a sense of achievement and an understanding that learning never ends. 

We are in the process of upgrading our curriculum to become a 5-year mastery spiral course. Since 2019/20 we have been rolling out the Ark Academies Mathematics Mastery curriculum. The carefully designed plan has full coverage of KS3 and GCSE curriculums by sequencing topics to build upon and extend learning from one term to the next. Representations are used to support students’ conceptual understanding and then repeatedly drawn upon to support students in making connections between topics. The curriculum plan is inclusive and all students study the same content at the same time. Through the department workshop meeting and the mastery website, teachers are equipped with the skills and resources to differentiate appropriately within their lessons. In all year groups mathematics classes are streamed. This allows us to give all students the required support throughout the 5-year curriculum. We also have a specialised Transition Teacher to further support low ability pupils when they arrive at Abbey Park School in year 7. This cohort of pupils receive differentiated mastery resources to support the delivery of the Key Stage 3 curriculum.

Currently year 10 and 11 are following our legacy Edexcel curriculum. Students follow either the higher or foundation course. We will continue to roll out the mastery curriculum over the next two years until all students follow the 5-year plan.

To enable proficiency in problem solving, our mastery curriculum supports:

• Literacy through the use of accurate mathematical language in every lesson. This is generally delivered through a talk task where students are required to discuss and explain the concepts being taught. Students are often required to justify answers through verbal and written explanations.
• Mathematical thinking through a careful selection of tasks that encourage students to compare, contrast, imagine, express, conjecture, justify, specialise and generalise.
• Conceptual understanding by through demonstration of a range of representations and encourage students to share their answers using manipulatives, models or an abstract answer.

Our pupils sit three, formal, milestone assessments each year. Each milestone assessment takes the form of an hour-long, closed book, written paper. In KS3 students will be assessed on the content that has been taught in the previous term. The final milestone assessment will take place in the exam hall and assess content that has been taught that academic year. In KS4 students will sit a mixture of GCSE papers and papers that assess recent learning. Year 11 are assessed on a more regular basis due to their mock examinations. In addition to our milestone assessments, students sit regular mini-assessments that we call ‘topic tickets’.  Topic tickets are regular, low-stakes, assessments that allow students to identify strengths and weaknesses and an opportunity to reflect on their learning. They are also an effective method of interweaving and retrieval. Topic tickets are designed by the individual class teacher in order that they are personalised and differentiated to the needs of each class. They give teachers a focus to their marking and help inform the planning of the next lesson/s. Topic tickets should be set approximately every two weeks unless students are sitting a milestone assessment. Topic tickets will be marked quickly and generally returned to students in the next lesson.

After all assessments (milestone and topic ticket), pupils have the opportunity to Make a Change (MAC) during a review lesson. During this time, pupils can reflect on their strengths WWW (What Went Well) and weaknesses HTI (How to Improve) of a specific assessment as highlighted by their teacher. Pupils can then attempt a similar problem to the one they get wrong after the teacher has demonstrated a model answer.

To support the curriculum the department manages wave 2 intervention and session 6 as a key opportunity for GCSE exam practice.

As a team with a range of Mathematics-related interests and backgrounds, our CPD is three-fold:

• Weekly department workshops focused on implementing and understanding the concepts and constructs underpinning mathematics mastery.
• Mathematics-specific, educational CPD on all the platforms offered by TPAT.
• Research and discussion regarding current mathematical educational research, primarily through books and blogs.

KS3 and KS4 Maths Curriculum Maps

Click below in 'Related Documents' to view curriculum maps.