Mathematics
Staff Contact Details
Mr R Goodman (Head of Faculty)
rgoodman@herschel.slough.sch.uk
Mrs S Ruddy (Assistant Head of Faculty)
sruddy@herschel.slough.sch.uk
Mrs T Malik (Assistant Head of Faculty)
tma@herschel.slough.sch.uk
Mrs Elizabeth Baugh
eba@herschel.slough.sch.uk
Mrs S Bourne
sbo@herschel.slough.sch.uk
Mr Ibrahim Farooq
ifa@herschel.slough.sch.uk
Mrs N Khan
nkh@herschel@slough.sch.uk
Mr R Moore
rmo@herschel.slough.sch.uk
Mrs M Penhale-Jones (on sabbatical)
mpenhalejones@herschel.slough.sch.uk
Mrs Neelam Raizada
nra@herschel.slough.sch.uk
Curriculum Overview
Mathematics is an essential subject enabling us to solve many important and intriguing problems. A high-quality Mathematics education can support students in further study in many disciplines, including Science, Technology, Engineering and Economics. However Mathematics is also a fascinating and varied subject in its own right and the Mathematics Department at Herschel hope to provide all our students with opportunities to appreciate the beauty and scope of the subject and to enjoy learning Mathematics as much as we enjoy teaching it.
In line with the National Curriculum, students at Herschel will learn to work fluently, to reason mathematically and to solve problems. The Mathematics Department makes use of a range of resources and teaching activities to support all students. Pair and group work allows students to discuss challenging problems with peers, to confront and correct misconceptions and to explain their thinking to their peers as well as to develop cross-curricular skills in teamwork and communication. Classes make use of ICT resources such as computers and iPads with Internet access as well as mathematical software such as Autograph and GeoGebra in order to explore concepts and conjectures. Students in most year groups are issued with a text book which they need to bring to every lesson. In addition the department subscribes to My Maths which students may like to use outside lessons for consolidation and revision of past topics.
At Key Stages 3 and 4, pupils have three hour long Mathematics lessons per week and two pieces of homework, which involve a variety of tasks including research and problem solving. Pupils are assessed roughly once per half term in order to track their progress.
Mathematics is an extremely popular A Level subject at Herschel and a significant number of students choose to study A Level Further Mathematics in addition to A Level Mathematics. At A Level students have five hour long lessons per week for Mathematics and a further five hours if they elect to study Further Mathematics. Students are regularly assessed through both homework tasks and more formal in-lesson tests.
For further details of KS3, GCSE and A Level Mathematics at Herschel, including course overviews and enrichment strategies, please select the appropriate level of study from the menu to the left.
Extracurricular Opportunities
Students in all year groups are encouraged to take part in national Mathematics competitions, including those organised by the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust (UKMT).
UKMT Individual Maths Challenges
The UKMT Individual Maths Challenges are interesting and challenging multiple choice papers which are taken by over 600,000 students from over 4,000 schools and colleges each year. In past years many Herschel students have performed impressively well and received gold, silver or bronze certificates. Some students have even qualified for follow-on competitions, designed to provide further challenge for the highest performing participants nationally.
UKMT Individual Challenges:
For further information on the UKMT Maths Challenges, click here.
Team Maths Challenges
Students in some year groups have the opportunity to compete in the Team Maths Challenges. In addition to requiring the same mathematical knowledge, skills and flexibility as the Individual Maths Challenges, competitors in the Team Maths Challenges must develop excellent team work and communication skills in order to succeed.
The UKMT Team Maths Challenge is aimed at pupils in Years 8 and 9 and the Senior Maths Challenge (jointly organised by the UKMT and the Further Maths Support Programme) is aimed at students in Years 11, 12 and 13.
For further information on the Team Maths Challenge, click here.
For further information on the Senior Team Maths Challenge, click here.
Useful Links
Visit My Maths to complete any online homework tasks set by your teacher or to access lessons, explanations and practice questions for consolidation and revision. See posters in Maths classrooms for the school log in details. Your teacher will give you log in details for your own individual account.
MathsWatch is a very useful resource that provides very clear video demonstrations of a vast range of mathematical topics. There are accompanying questions to help build your understanding and fluency across all aspects of the subject.
nrich is a good source of Maths puzzles and investigations if you are looking for an extra challenge.
There are monthly and weekly problems suggested for pupils at KS3 and KS4 and also for students at KS5.
GeoGebra is free multi-platform Mathematics software that you can download to use at home.
A Level Mathematics and Further Mathematics
Students in Years 12 and 13 studying Mathematics A Level have five one hour Mathematics lessons per week. Regular formal homework tasks are set. In addition to this, students may need to complete additional work as necessary to consolidate their understanding of concepts, skills and techniques studied in class. We would expect that most students will need to complete one hour of work outside of class for every hour of work in class. Many students find that they benefit from peer discussion both in class and in independent study time as this allows them both to get help with topics they have found more challenging and also to improve their reasoning and communication skills by explaining topics they have understood well.
Students in Years 12 and 13 studying Further Mathematics A Level have an additional five hour long Mathematics lessons per week and will be set corresponding homework tasks.
We follow the Edexcel A Level Mathematics (2008) syllabus for Mathematics and Further Mathematics.
Mathematics students in Year 12 study two Core Mathematics modules, C1 and C2. These consolidate key skills from GCSE as well as introducing students to key mathematical concepts such as series, calculus, logarithms and the binomial expansion. Students will also study S1, a Statistics module in which they will learn about representing and summarising data, probability, correlation and regression, discrete random variables and the normal distribution.
In addition, Further Mathematics students in Year 12 will study the FP1 Further Pure module in which they will meet complex numbers, a key concept in advanced Mathematics with many surprising applications in Physics and Engineering. They will also meet proof by induction, which allows us to use a domino toppling approach to prove an infinite number of cases. Students will also study two modules of Decision Mathematics, D1 and D2 in which they will learn about algorithms such as Dijkstra’s method for finding the shortest route between two positions in a network and the route inspection algorithm to enable postmen and postwomen to post all their letters as quickly as possible.
In Year 13, Mathematics students will study two further Core Mathematics modules, C3 and C4 and an additional module of Applied Mathematics. Students are given a choice of Applied Mathematics modules each year. This may be Mechanics (M1), Statistics (S2) or Decision (D1) depending on demand and teacher availability (different teachers specialise in different areas of Mathematics).
Students studying Further Mathematics in Year 13 will complete Applied modules M1, M2 and S2 and Further Pure module FP3 in addition to the Core modules C3 and C4.
Mathematics at KS3
Pupils in Year 7 are taught Mathematics in their tutor groups. In Years 8 and 9 pupils are assigned to sets according to their performance and progress. Pupils have three hour long Mathematics lessons per week and two pieces of homework.
Course Overviews
See documents below.
Enrichment Strategies
See documents below.
GCSE Mathematics
Pupils in Years 10 and 11 are assigned to sets according to their performance and progress. Pupils have seven Mathematics lessons of one-hour each per fortnight with the expectation that pupils regularly consolidate and extend their learning away from the classroom via a range of home learning tasks.
Pupils are studying towards the Edexcel 1Ma1 GCSE in Mathematics which is assessed at the end of Year 11 by three one and a half hour examinations. The new GCSE very much requires pupils to be problem solvers, they are needed to be able to tackle unfamiliar problems in a wide range of contexts, often having to make a choice about which of the wide range of mathematical skills they have learnt that they need to apply. For this reason, it is essential that pupils make a determined effort to understand the mathematics that they are learning as examiners are determined to set questions to catch out pupils who have attempted to just remember a method rather fully understand a topic.
The pupils who succeed at GCSE Mathematics:
- Invest extra time in understanding mathematics rather than just doing mathematics.
- Reflect and act upon any feedback they are given and try to make sure that they never make the same mistake twice.
- Relish the challenge of the unfamiliar and don't want to be told how to do something and much prefer to work things out for themselves.
- Enjoy being stuck and keep on thinking about a problem until they work out how to do it.
- Take pride in communicating their mathematics in a logically structured argument.
Course Overviews
See documents below.
