Key Stage 3:
At Townley we provide a curriculum based on the idea of solving problems in real life scenarios so as to ensure students recognise their need for the next stages in their lives. Our 3-year Key Stage 3 curriculum is designed with the practical use of mathematics in mind.
Students will learn how to apply the basic mathematics in real world scenarios and situations they may encounter in their day to day life. In Year 7 students are taught in form groups and cover topics such as Health, Economics and Code breaking. By Year 8 students are streamed based on their ability, providing differentiated levels of learning tailored to their needs. Students in Year 8 cover topics such as Risk, Climate Change and the use of Algebra. In Year 9 students will revisit concepts covered earlier and build on these to develop their knowledge further.
Year 7:
- Term 1: Negative Numbers, Triangles, Statistics, Economics
- Term 2: Factors, Multiples and Primes, Collecting Like Terms, Equations, Sequences
- Term 3: Maps, Health, Graphs, Number
Year 8:
- Term 1: Fractions, Risk, Algebra
- Term 2: Symmetry, Matchstick Investigation, Statistics
- Term 3: Shapes, Economics 2, Geometry
Year 9:
- Term 1: Number, Algebra
- Term 2: Interpreting and Representing Data, Fractions Decimals and Percentages
- Term 3: Angles and Trigonometry, Transformation and Construction
Key Stage 5 Maths:
Mathematics is widely seen as a well respected qualification, often described as a ‘gold standard’ A level. A level Mathematics can be paired with a wide variety of subjects due to their numerical nature but also stands alone as subject were the key skills of logic and process can be learnt. Due to the numerical nature of some courses at university, establishments will often ask for Mathematics A level as part of their conditional offer for entry. The school has a very successful A level course, with many students going forward to study mathematically based courses at both Oxbridge and Russell group universities.
Course Entry Criteria and Essential Skills
You must gain 7 or above to take Mathematics at A Level. (An entrance assessment is also required)
Your grade at GCSE is not necessarily a good indicator for aptitude at A2. The emphasis at A level is on algebra: its manipulation, its use in representing problems and its relationships with graphs. That is why we give you an entrance assessment to ensure you have the necessary skills to succeed.
Mathematics Course
All students follow a course split into two sections; the major section covers pure mathematics and represents two thirds of the grade, the minor section covers applied mathematics and represents the remaining third of the grade. The course is tested with three examination papers, two pure papers and one applied, all two hours in duration.
Pure Mathematics takes GCSE topics into more depth, for example indices, surds and quadratic equations. You will cover a huge quantity of calculus – differentiation and integration – and learn to become far more accurate with your calculations.
Applied mathematics covers Statistics and Mechanics. You will recognise many of the GCSE Statistics topics such as probability and histograms but meet many new areas such as correlation, regression, the normal distribution and discrete random variables. Mechanics takes GCSE vectors as its starting point and applies them to the real world of acceleration, velocities and forces.
MATHS LEARNING JOURNEY
