Friars-Academy-2022-74-2

Faculty Leader: Miss H. Saunders

At Friars we believe every child has the right to an outstanding education, enabling them to become numerate citizens, tackling problems and finance in the home and workplace with confidence and to the best of their ability.

Maths is an essential part of everyday life. We aim to help our students become fluent in basic number skills, be able to tackle problems with confidence and be able to reason mathematically.

Students are taught in class groups in Key Stage 3 and are grouped according to ability in Key Stage 4. Lessons may be delivered to whole groups where new concepts are covered or in small groups/individually in order to give additional support when necessary.

We understand that students have different learning styles and have adapted the curriculum to enable pupils to get the best from lessons whether they prefer to learn: visually, logically, aurally, verbally or physically.

Maths at Friars

At Friars, the aim of our teaching and learning, is that students will become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, be able to reason mathematically and solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of problems and persevering in seeking solutions. The aim for Friars Academy is to provide an exciting, interesting and challenging curriculum which is accessible by all our learners.

The Curriculum

KS3 Maths

  • Students follow the new Maths curriculum from September 2016.
  • They study Number, Geometry and Measures, and Statistics topics (some study Algebra).
  • Real-life and functional Maths is used and applied throughout Maths lessons, and across other areas of the curriculum and as part of the Friars school day.

KS4 Maths

Students follow the new specification OCR Maths Entry Level course from September 2017. The assessment is made up of two written tests and one practical task.

  • Number, Shape and Data topics.
  • Written and mental arithmetic skills.
  • Mathematical reasoning.
  • Strategies to solve problems
  • Applying mathematical skills in a variety of contexts
  • Mathematics outside the classroom.

Some students study AQA Unit Awards in Maths, which are small, accredited units of work, providing learners with the Maths and numeracy skills and abilities they need to take an active and responsible role in their communities, workplace, educational settings and in their everyday life.

In Year 10, the students run an Enterprise company, where they work together to do finances/banking, shopping, baking cakes for sale and working at the Pit Stop Café – serving customers, working out the bills, taking money and giving change.

At Friars, all students are motivated through provision of opportunities for a positive experience of applying maths in real-life contexts; shopping at the supermarket and visiting the Friars Pit Stop Café each term.

All students participate in regular Active Maths lessons, which provide practical teaching methods to help students to retain concepts in Maths, raise self-esteem and confidence, raise achievement and attainment, and promote active and healthy lifestyles.

We work on learning times tables as part of our Maths lessons, as having speedy recall of times tables enables our students to apply them to most other Maths topic areas and supports their learning. We use the interactive online program TTRockstars to encourage an enjoyable way to learn times tables.

All students at Friars Academy have a statement of Special Educational Needs. Our maths teaching incorporates strategies for overcoming common barriers and the use of a cross curricular approach to embed learning. Small group or 1:1 intervention takes place for students needing extra support with basic numeracy to enable them to access learning in the classroom.

We aim to support cross-curricular skills:

  • To encourage language development.
  • To aid the development of literacy; overcoming the reading barrier to enable all learners.
  • To work systematically and solve problems.
  • To maintain motivation and engage students with multiple learning styles by using music, art and science to make maths fun and meaningful with cross-curricular projects – working together to engage learners.
  • To develop ICT skills.
  • To work collaboratively and cooperatively with others, in pairs and groups.