Kingsley’s Mathematics Department has been a consistent and strong team, bringing subject expertise and decades of teaching experience. As the curriculum evolves, our goal remains to safely navigate Senior School students through the vast array of topics, while challenging and intriguing minds and developing a passion for problem solving.
Students join the Senior School from various feeder schools and with differing mathematical backgrounds. Some arrive having already explored a broad range of topics, while others may benefit from additional support to consolidate key areas. In the first six weeks of Year 7, we focus on settling students in and understanding their individual needs. Small class sizes help teachers to assess starting points, build confidence and provide suitable challenges. Following the first half-term break, students move from being taught in form groups to sets. These are determined with a small test, as well as teacher assessments made since September. We want students to be in the best surroundings to help promote progress, so placements are reviewed throughout the Senior School.
In Years 7 and 8, the focus is very much on broadening and strengthening foundation mathematical skills. Lessons and homework tasks are designed to build recall, reasoning and problem-solving abilities across five key areas: number, algebra, geometry, statistics and ratio and proportion. Our aim is to develop a solid conceptual understanding and encourage mathematical thinking, rather than simply teaching procedures.
In Year 9, we start to focus on IGCSE content, allowing more time to explore the full curriculum in depth and better prepare students. During my time at Kingsley, we have taught three different syllabi and transitioned from letter grades to numbers, as well as from GCSE to IGCSE. Throughout these changes, we have continually adapted our lessons to ensure that each cohort is well prepared to perform at their best.
As the school timetable has changed over the years, we have used it to our advantage – building dedicated examination preparation sessions into double periods in Year 11. By the time students sit the IGCSE examination, they have completed numerous past papers, developed revision and examination strategies and built the confidence needed to perform at their best under pressure.
In mathematics lessons throughout Senior School, we highlight the non-example, challenge misconceptions and judge the scaffolding required to suit each of our classes. This is done in a variety of ways – through anecdotes, games, group work and more. For example, apart from it not being to scale, can you spot what is wrong with this triangle?
A big part of building confidence in mathematics is creating a safe environment where students can explore problems without fear of failure. Many of our classes move through the school with the same teacher, allowing strengths and areas for development to be fully understood. Good routines are established, maintained and embedded.
To push mathematical thinking further, we offer a variety of opportunities that extend practice beyond the classroom. National UK Mathematics Trust (UKMT) Challenges take place each year, as well as team competitions such as the online ‘Maths Feasts’ ran by the Advanced Mathematics Support Programme (AMSP). For students planning to study mathematics in Sixth Form, we offer additional qualifications, including the Level 3 Free Standing Maths Qualification (FSMQ) in Additional Mathematics and the Level 2 Further Maths course. Over the past few years, we have also taken groups of interested mathematicians to Warwick University to experience the campus and lectures.
Of course, all this preparation culminates with the anticipation of examinations and results. The latest achievements from our Year 11 students sitting the IGCSE in November 2024 are testament to their hard work over the years. A quarter of the results were graded 8 or 9, with nearly three-quarters of the year group attaining or exceeding their targets – giving an average value-added score of 0.8. With such a strong set of results, our Year 11 students can approach the summer examinations with confidence – and their teachers can be incredibly proud of the progress and resilience they have shown along the way.
Learn more about Mr Spillane, Head of Mathematics in our ‘Meet the Teacher’ article.
Article by Mr Spillane, Head of Mathematics
