The Mathematics Department at St John Lloyd is comprised of two full-time members of staff and three part-time members of staff. Mrs Jessica Roberts is Head of the Maths Department and leads numeracy development across the school. Mr Gavin Rowlands teaches in the department along with Mrs Kath Jones and Mrs Rhian Griffiths who teach lessons to KS3 pupils. Mrs C Cooper delivers our numeracy intervention programme providing extra numeracy support to pupils in small groups at KS3 and KS4.
Mathematics is a core subject and is taught to all pupils in years 7 to 11. Grouping pupils on ability takes place as soon as possible in Year 7 and before the end of the first half term pupils are placed in the group most suited to their needs. Monitoring of progress is regular and movement between sets occurs regularly and throughout all year groups. All pupils have access to a maths website MathsWatch VLE. They are allocated an username and password. The website can be used as a revision tool and pupils can access any topics of their choice. It is aimed at supporting pupils in both KS3 and KS4 and we encourage pupils to use the resource to reinforce their knowledge on any maths topics to support their understanding. This website allows pupils to complete home-learning tasks which may be set by the class teacher.
Years 7 – 11
Pupils work on topics that appear on the GCSE course. At present year 11 pupils are entered for GCSE Mathematics at either Higher Tier, Intermediate Tier or Foundation Tier. Some of the less able pupils will also sit the Entry Level examination. The exam board we use is WJEC. Pupils have access to all their past papers both on the school website and the relevant examination board website. Classes are also set up on Hwb or Google Classroom for all pupils to access suitable resources or home-learning set by their classroom teacher. Pupils will be entered for 2 maths GCSE examinations entitled GCSE-Maths and GCSE-Numeracy. These qualifications are equivalent to 2 GCSEs.
The tier that a pupil will be entered for will be decided after discussion with individual teachers and pupils. It is possible to change between tiers to ensure that pupils gain the best grade possible.
MAT
Our Maths MAT programme provides opportunities for pupils to take part in the UK Maths Junior and Intermediate challenges. Alongside this, pupils are also encouraged to take part in the Aberystwyth University February half term challenge. Visits to universities to discover more about maths education are provided by the Further Mathematics Support Programme, whist in school, Mrs Jessica Roberts delivers the Additional Mathematics level 2 diploma to MAT pupils in Year 11. This qualification helps support and prepare our pupils who go on to study A-level Mathematics or Further Mathematics.
Because there is a mixture of ‘non-calculator’ and ‘calculator allowed’ papers in both the GCSE examinations and the KS3 reasoning papers, pupils are expected to be correctly equipped for all maths lessons with a scientific calculator and geometry set. At Key stage 4 pupils are also encouraged to make full use of the MathsWatch website, GCSE Pod and Corbett Maths website to support their independent study. Equipment and calculators can be purchased from the maths department.
Pupils are encouraged to work to their full potential in maths with support and guidance from their teacher. A list of useful links are provided here which supports all pupils with their independent study of the subject.
Below is a link to Additional Maths revision list from Mrs K Jones
