The Mathematics faculty
“Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater.” – Albert Einstein
“Without mathematics, there’s nothing you can do. Everything around you is mathematics. Everything around you is numbers.” – Shakuntala Devi
Intent
In Mathematics we want all of our pupils to be learned and wise. In the Mathematics department, we enable our pupils to develop a love of learning Mathematics on their journey to becoming learned and wise adults. We encourage them to work hard, achieve high standards, and experience success. To ensure that knowledge is remembered because it is revisited regularly in explicitly and implicitly structured ways.
Please click below for details of our Maths curriculum
Year 7 Maths curriculum
Year 8 Maths curriculum
Year 9 (Higher and Foundation) Maths curriculum
Year 10 and 11 (Higher and Foundation) Maths curriculum
Every maths teacher considers the dignity of the students in front of them, even as the students walk through the door. SEND is a massive consideration not just in where the students are seated but also in how we question students. Fear of Maths is a common occurrence in SEND students and therefore as Maths teachers we need to adapt and encourage these students differently to how we would encourage more able students. For instance, whole class questioning is not appropriate with weaker students, especially when teaching more difficult content. It is more fitting to question students quietly when walking around the room and praising them when they are correct. Slight gains are everything to SEND students. This is how we enshrine human dignity in our classroom interactions.
Economically, there are millions of decisions made everyday where human dignity has to be considered alongside financial constraints. The NHS makes enormous, life altering decisions on a day to day basis, balanced against fiscal responsibility.
Common Good
It is to the benefit of everyone in society that every member of that society is given a high quality Maths education. By providing this to our students we are also impacting not just their futures but the futures of everyone they go on to interact with. Students who achieve better at GCSE maths have better life chances and are therefore less likely to commit crime. Arguably, by going on to higher education and ergo higher paid employment, people are more likely to make healthier lifestyle choices. Our contribution to the common good is providing high quality teaching towards GCSE Maths which if passed leads to all the positive things mentioned above.
Stewardship
In every lesson students have to take ownership of the equipment we lend to them and the classroom environment as a whole. Calculators, rulers, compasses and protractors all need to be treated with respect just as students should respect the wider environment as a whole. This a good life lesson for the students: how to treat things that don’t belong to you. Treating things you don’t own with the same respect as things you do own is a valuable and necessary lesson.
Participation
By providing a high quality maths education to our students, we are giving them the tools to actively participate in society in a positive way. Every student leaves Holy Trinity with a Maths qualification (almost all with GCSE Maths). This is our contribution to them, allowing them to enter the world and not just participate but contribute something to it.
Preferential Option for the Poor and Distributive Justice
The context of our school means that we are providing Maths education to mostly disadvantaged students. Everyday, we are providing a preferential option for the poor as we are helping students from a community that is severely deprived. This also links to distributive justice. By providing the maths education that we do, we are endeavouring to equip our students with the tools to provide themselves a fairer share of society’s resources. They leave us with the means to create their own distributive justice.
Subsidiarity and Solidarity
Subsidiarity in Maths is about students understanding their own specific role in their Maths education. We as teachers can provide the expertise and equipment but it is about student understanding their role in this process which ultimately leads to their success in it. As students approach Year 11 it is crucial that they understand their specific needs and communicate this with their teacher so that the teacher can provide the specific and necessary knowledge to them. If a student is strong at algebra but weak at geometry, it is important that the student and the teacher focus on geometry as this is the area of greatest need. This mutual understanding is how we understand subsidiarity in maths. Solidarity with other cultures is the essence of maths. Maths is often talked about as a universal language and this is because modern maths is the embodiment of ideas from all over the world. Pythagoras Theorem and Trigonometry originated from Ancient Greece, Algebraic language originated from the Middle East and Calculus originated in Northern and Central Europe. There are numerous other examples and no doubt the future of maths will have many more contributions from around the world. In terms of questions in lesson, subsidiarity comes from demonstrating to students the most efficient method to solve a problem. This can be seen in solving quadratic equations where students are told to specifically not use trial and improvement. Solidarity can be seen in any question relating to Pythagoras or simplifying algebra.
Promoting Peace
Generally, our classroom environment is peaceful as we set the stage for tolerant discussion of different methods to solve problems. A lot of the time there are several ways to solve a problem in lesson and it is the job of the teacher to ensure that the discussion that takes place is done with respect to differing view points.
Similar to our contribution to the common good; providing a high quality Maths education to our students also promotes peace in the sense that our students are less likely to commit crimes in the future because of the qualifications they receive from us. People with higher levels of education are more likely to be in good paid employment and therefore are less likely to commit crime. This shows how we promote peace in society by equipping students with the tools to live peacefully. In terms of questions in lesson, any question that has several valid methods is a good opportunity to promote peaceful discussion. For instance, finding a percentage of an amount or percentage increase and decrease.
