Maths
Maths at Rugby High School
Maths Department Vision Statement
The aim of our curriculum is to produce confident and able mathematicians who have reached their potential and have developed mathematical behaviours. To help students take their first steps into the wider world of mathematics.
Mathematics is a hierarchical subject and as such our curriculum is designed to provide our students the best opportunity to progress through their study of mathematics. All the required areas of the curriculum are covered; algebra, geometry, number and statistics. Lessons are sequenced so that the powerful knowledge required to underpin further study is secured as best as possible, by ensuring a mix of retrieval of knowledge and new material.
We use multiple forms of assessment to aid this, in class quizzes and more formal tests. These will always encompass the entirety of the mathematics a student has covered to allow us to know how well they have progressed through their study.
Teaching is in the whole school teaching groups in the first two years. Students learn by a mixture of techniques including routine exercises, investigational course work and by using computers. We encourage the sensible use of calculators. From year 9 onwards the teaching groups are re-organised according to current abilities: thus students approach the end of Key Stage 3 and GCSE examinations at an appropriate pace. Every pupil is entered for the UKMT Maths Challenge in every year that they are studying mathematics.
Year 7 Maths
Course content:
- add, subtract, multiply, divide with directed numbers
- perform calculations using the correct order of operations
- use index notation
- perform tests of divisibility
- find the HCF and LCM of a pair of numbers
- express a number as the product of its prime factors
- understand various number sequences – primes, squares, cubes,triangular, Fibonacci
- simplify surds
- understand the basic rules of indices
- construct and solve linear equations
- calculate the perimeter and area of 2D shapes
- understand the equivalencies of fractions, decimals and percentages
- find equivalent fractions and write
- calculate fractions of amounts
- add, subtract, multiply and divide with fractions
- calculate percentages of amounts
- calculate the mean, median, mode and range of a set of data
- construct and interpret pie charts, bar charts, scatter graphs and stem-and-leaf diagrams
- understand, and be able to use, the probability scale
Further content is also covered. For full details see the Year 7 Curriculum Map.
Assessment:
Autumn term - Test
Spring term - Test
Summer term - end of year exam
Year 8 Maths
Course content includes:
- how to use all 4 operations with fractions within the context of word problems and the topics covered in year 7
- how to understand the information given in ratio questions and manipulate ratio to extract what is required in a problem
- how to combine ratio to compare previously unlinked quantities
- how to use direct and inverse proportion to compare and investigate linked variables
- how to apply algebra to what they know of angles in parallel lines
- how to use interior and exterior angles of polygons
- how to use the rules of indices and standard form, including fractional indices
- how to find the equation of a straight line given gradient and a point
- how to graph quadratic equations
- how to find the area and volume of a variety of irregular solids
- how to expand pairs of brackets
- how to factorise quadratic expressions and use this to solve quadratic equations
- how to use the quadratic formula
- how to calculate and understand compound units
- how to interpret real life graphs; the gradients and y-intercepts
Further content is also covered. For full details see the Year 8 Curriculum Map.
Assessment:
Autumn term -Test
Spring term - Test
Summer term - end of year exam
Year 9 Maths
Course content includes:
- how to use Prime Factor Decomposition to find HCF/LCM
- how to fluently use all four operations with fractions/decimals/percentages
- how to manipulate irrational numbers and multiply and simplify surds
- how to fluently manipulate algebraic expressions
- how to solve complex algebraic equations using a variety of methods
- how to substitute into and rearrange formula including roots, indices and factorisation
- how to express linear, quadratic arithmetic and geometric sequences in terms of n
- how to fluently apply ratio and proportion in a variety of contexts including capture/recapture
- how to link trigonometry to bearings and loci
- how to use exact trig values in trigonometry
- how to find the area of non-right angled triangles
- how to use surds in trigonometry and Pythagoras theorem
- how to factorise quadratic expressions and use this to solve quadratic equations
- how to use the quadratic formula
- how to complete the square for quadratics
- how to solve and investigate liner inequalities including the triangle inequality
- how to fluently and concisely explain their reasoning in 2D and 3D geometrical problems
Further content is also covered. For full details see the Year 9 Curriculum Map.
Assessment:
Autumn term - Test 1
Spring term - Test 2 and Test 3
Summer term - Exam and Test 4
GCSE Maths
Examination Board: EDEXCEL
All students follow a course leading to the EDEXCEL GCSE (Key Stage 4) examination which combines the use of traditional skills with practical applications in real-life situations.
Introduction to the subject at GCSE
The subject is taught in groups rather than in forms and you will be placed in a group in which you will receive teaching most appropriate to your needs.
There are two tiers of entry for Maths GCSE. You will be entered at the Higher Tier and you will sit three written examinations at the end of Year 11; one of which will be a non-calculator paper.
The most able mathematicians also study a Free Standing Mathematics Qualification (OCR exam board) in Additional Mathematics. This is examined by one 2-hour paper at the end of Year 11. It expands on much of the GCSE content while introducing concepts from A-level.
Year 10
Course content:
- Polygons, angles and parallel lines
- Averages
- Rearranging
- Arcs, sectors and segments
- Straight line graphs
- Rules of indices
- Similar shapes
- Real-life graphs
- Simultaneous equations
- Volume and surface area
- Standard form
- Pythagorus and trigonometry
- Probability
- Quadratics
- Constructions and Loci
- Curved graphs
- Data handling
- Circle theorems
Year 11
Course content:
- Further trigonometry
- Surds
- Vectors
- Quadratic simultaneous equations
- Direct and inverse proportion
- Quadratic inequalities
- Accuracy and bounds
- Algebraic fractions and proof
- Congruence gradient and area
- Circle geometry
- Graphs of trigonometry functions
- Graph transformations