The aim of our Maths curriculum is to produce confident and numerate problem-solvers who not only achieve well but contribute in the ‘real-world’ as business owners, cooks, engineers, architects, scientists, beauty developers or computer programmers. They will be inquisitive, resilient, thorough and be able to see how maths underpins everything including its myriad of connections with other subjects and careers.
The maths curriculum at The Kibworth School is a 5 year curriculum that links knowledge already studied at primary school to the knowledge that is required to continue study at A’level for those who wish to do so. Within this there are many strands to cater to students’ varied depth and speed of understanding. Students are put into broad sets in Y7 & Y8, and put in narrower sets in Y9 in line their depth and application of knowledge.
Within the maths curriculum students will study the skills that are necessary to understand the world around them and support the wider curriculum. They will be taught to reason, interpret and communicate mathematically. Teachers will regularly reference the wider uses of the maths students are studying in the classroom. Student work is assessed regularly to enable teachers to adapt the curriculum a class is studying to address gaps in knowledge that are needed to understand the level of mathematical knowledge. Problem solving is developed so students are able to rationalise their understanding within maths and across other subjects.
Retrieval tasks are built within the maths curriculum to improve the retention of knowledge and the interlinking of topics.
The maths curriculum addresses 5 key topics
In every year students are exposed to these topics, but the weighting in each year will vary based on the student’s ability. This is particularly true from Y9 to Y11 where students specialise their learning towards either the foundation or higher tier for GCSE. In Y11 the curriculum is adaptive, each class has a bespoke curriculum written for them based on their prior understanding at the end of Y10 and the GCSE tier they are being entered for in Y11.
GCSE Maths
We use the AQA Exam board and specification (8300). The GCSE Mathematics course will be examined through three terminal examination papers; 1 calculator and 2 non-calculator papers. Each is 1 hour 30 minutes in length and consists of 80 marks. Students will be expected to have memorised formulae for the exam.
The qualification is split into two tiers of entry, foundation and higher. Foundation covers questions at grades 1 to 5. Higher covers questions at grades 4 to 9.
Each examination will consist of a mixture of question styles, from short, single-mark questions to multi-step problems. The mathematical demand increases as a student progresses through the paper.
Additional information
Most College & University courses will require a grade 4 in Mathematics. There is also now a requirement of students who do not reach this grade at the end of Year 11 to re-sit their GCSE Mathematics at College, up to the age of 18.
Mr. R Taylor
[email protected]
Kibworth Mead Academy,
Smeeton Road
Kibworth
Leicester
LE8 0LG
T: 0116 279 2238
E: [email protected]
