Intent – What are we aiming to achieve through our curriculum?
- For all students to develop into confident and competent mathematical thinkers that can apply their mathematical knowledge to a range of challenging situations.
- Develop a positive and confident attitude to mathematics, enjoy mathematics and reach their full potential as mathematicians.
- Present an environment where all students can learn Maths to the best of their ability and where all students’ needs are addressed positively and sensitively.
- Offer a variety of approaches to teaching and learning to engage and motivate students, encouraging their active participation in Maths.
- Provide students with techniques to enable them to investigate and solve problems in maths lessons and other curricular areas.
- Encourage resilience, perseverance and an acceptance that struggle is often a necessary step in learning.
- Develop and extend a student’s ability to express themselves clearly; to reason logically and to be able to generalise.
- Build a student’s confidence in their own ability and develop mathematical skills for their usefulness and applicability in the real world.
- Develop mathematical knowledge and oral, written and practical skill that encourages confidence and enjoyment.
- Utilise students’ interests and popular current events in the world to stimulate learning.
- Set realistic yet challenging targets, with high expectations for all students.
- Give each student a chance to believe in themselves as mathematicians.
- To ensure all students leave The Valley School with a Maths qualification which reflects the best of their ability.
Implementation – How are we delivering our curriculum?
- We follow the Herts For Learning Essential Maths curriculum, which meets the requirements of the National Curriculum but is adapted specifically for students with SEND.
- Essential Maths is based on learning sequences which enable teachers to teach a carefully planned, small-step progression through the maths national curriculum, deepening understanding year on year.
- In accordance with best practice in maths teaching, lessons have a significant practical content, to ensure that students understand the learning through manipulating resources, before moving onto written and symbolic representations of the problem.
- We ensure complete consistency across the school, so that when students move classes or year group, the format of lessons, methods and resources are familiar and the progression is uninterrupted.
- It caters for the needs of all individuals and sets them up with the necessary skills and knowledge for them to become successful in their future adventures.
- We ensure that students only move on when they are secure in their learning, by recording progress at the end of every learning sequence and using this to inform further teaching.
- The Maths curriculum is designed to be challenging and appropriate to each student’s stage of development.
- The Maths Curriculum offers opportunities for cross-curricular learning, to ensure students make significant personal development and relevant links to real life situations.
- Methods are modelled and students are encouraged to use appropriate speaking and listening skills to interact with one another and extend and reflect on their responses;
- Students understanding is extended by focused questioning and discussion;
- Students’ are encouraged to explain their reasoning of a problem and use a range of problem solving skills;
- Calculators and other ICT resources are used effectively to solve problems
- Students’ skills are developed in handling information effectively and using the internet appropriately as a learning tool to find things out, develop ideas and exchange and share information.
- The Maths curriculum is designed to build and expand on previous skills and subject knowledge, over a 5-year period. It also plans for opportunities for repetition to embed knowledge, increasing the chance of information recall and to integrate new knowledge into larger ideas.
- We offer a wide range of qualifications in Maths, which are selected to appropriately challenge, based on each student’s stage of development, including:
- Maths (GCSE)
- Maths (Entry Level Functional Skills)
- Maths Functional Skills (Level 1 and 2)
- Non-Qualification Maths Units for learners below Entry Level
- All classes have a maximum of 12 students per class to ensure there is a high level of support available from the teacher and Learning Partner;
Interventions may include:
- Specific targeted numeracy small group activities run outside the classroom. These will be limited to a number of weeks to minimise disruption to the regular curriculum;
- Maths and Numeracy targets;
Assessment
Student progress and understanding is tracked for every Learning Sequence in the Curriculum, and this information is used to inform further learning.
Maths teachers use a range of formative and summative assessment procedures to assess progress and attainment, including:
- Live marking of work;
- Verbal feedback;
- Self/peer assessment;
- Age assessment tasks;
- Informal/formal examinations
Impact – What difference is the curriculum making to our pupils?
- Students understand the relevance and importance of what they are learning in relation to real life concepts.
- They will have a deeper understanding of mathematics, develop lifelong transferable skills and are able to use their Mathematical skills to solve real life problems.
- Numeracy is embedded across the school and feeds into other subjects. Excellent progress in Maths has a significant benefit for students in other subjects.
- The vast majority of students leave The Valley School with at least one formally recognised Maths qualification.
- Many students join mainstream colleges/sixth forms at post-16 where they study a range of different qualifications and subjects following excellent progress from their starting points in Maths and following successful completion of the Maths GCSE, Entry Level or Functional Skills qualifications.
- Students are well-prepared for the next stage of their education.
- Functional skills and life-skills are embedded throughout the Maths curriculum and are personalised for each student. This supports students to make the step to post-16 provision and meets their needs when entering the world of work.
