Maths Update

This term, from Year 7 to 11, the Maths Faculty has carried on the work on deep understanding, confidence and competence in maths.

In terms of content, the foci have been:

• Year 7 - Applications of numbers 

• Year 8 - Algebraic techniques 

• Year 9 - Reasoning with data 

• Year 10 - Geometry of angles and circles 

• Year 11 - Multiplicative, Geometric & Algebraic Reasoning  

On 25 January, 25 Year 7 and 8 students took part in the 25th Anniversary Edition of the UKMT Challenge: four students scored above 70%. 

On 2 February, 19 Year 9 students took part in the Intermediate UKMT Challenge; the results will be in after the half term break and we hope that some of our students will qualify for the Maths Olympiad.

To trigger the Maths curiosity among students, the Maths department has started a weekly ‘TLA Maths Challenge’ which is displayed in the library. This challenge comprises of two components: 1. A maths puzzle to check their numeracy and 2. ‘Say it again better’ to check their maths vocabulary.   

The Maths Faculty has carried our ongoing work to identify and close gaps in learning, especially the Year 7 cohort with the use of the National Centre for Teaching Excellence in Mathematics Check Point activities: their open ended tasks help teachers to highlight reasoning patters in students and identify eventual gaps in understanding of key concept (e.g. negatives numbers, perimeter, etc).

In Year 7, a group of students has been selected to attend small group tuitions as part of the national programme of Numeracy Catch-up, to help them to shorten/close the gaps with their peers.

In Year 11, a group of students has been selected to attend our Intervention Programme, small group lessons with a specifically designed curriculum.

The Maths faculty also ran several enrichment programmes, which have been proven to be very popular (some of them with more than 50 students!): Rubik’s cube, chess club, UKMT Challenge and Sci-facts debate. Our enrichment activities aim to open students' minds to the breadth and depth of mathematics, foster/develop brain fitness, feel good about solving a challenge and develop communication skills.