Welcome to the Maths Department
Mathematics is fundamental to life in the sense that its unique language helps us to calculate, estimate and problem-solve. It also informs many of the choices and decisions we make about real-life issues and challenges and the actions we subsequently take. Students at Stretford High will develop their problem solving strategies which can be used in Maths and applied to everyday and real world situations.
Meet the Maths Department
The department team consists of nine members of staff. These are:
| Name | Title |
|---|---|
| Mr G Sarwar | Head of Department |
| Mr M Higginson | Lead Practitioner |
| Mr S N Singh | Progress Lead for Y7 & 8 |
| Mr S D Singh | Progress Lead for Y9 & 10 |
| Mr R. Vasi | Teacher of Maths |
| Miss B Ramsden | Teacher of Maths/Head of Year 9 |
| Mr S Mahmud | Teacher of Maths |
| Mr J Driffill | Teacher of Maths |
| Mr J Park | Teacher of Maths |
| Miss M Sheikh | Teacher of Maths |
| Mrs Z Pimlott | Teaching Assistant |
| Ms H Hartley | Teaching Assistant |
Maths Overview
Stretford High School aims to encourage students to develop a great interest and passion for Maths. We also encourage our students to develop a mathematical behaviour and as such our curriculum encourages students to develop deeper understanding to make links across curriculum areas and foster a mastery approach.
Our Key Stage 3 and 4 curriculum aims to empower students to develop and apply problem solving skills focusing predominantly on the powerful and overarching mathematical components: proportional reasoning, geometrical reasoning, statistical analysis and graphical representations. Our students are provided with opportunities to behave mathematically. The emphasis is on empowering students to notice, make connections, explain, justify, conjecture, prove.
As well as delivering the Realistic Maths Education Programme in years 7 and 8, we adopt a Mastery approach at all levels, with one set of mathematical concepts and big ideas for all. We encourage students to deploy particular models to support their development (bar modelling, ratio tables, area model, graphing) as well as draw a pictorial representation to make sense of a given situation. At Stretford High School we ensure that challenge is provided through depth rather than acceleration of learning. Our Key stage 3 students are encouraged to reflect their learning journey in their learning journal.
As it is a crucial year for the year 11, they will be given a learning folder, whereby students will be able to use their metacognitive skills to develop their understanding of Maths. The folder will enable students to keep their work organised and help them to retrieve notes and resources easily for home learning and revision. The learning folders will support our students use GAP analysis from assessments with revisions and topics they need recapping.
As well as providing students with resources to help fill gaps, our lessons are differentiated to ensure your child accesses the work that is suited to their current level, but crucially has the opportunity to challenge themselves beyond that level consistently. We take time every lesson for students to complete a quick task that systematically draws on prior knowledge that we have previously taught pupils; to ensure it is not lost or forgotten and to identify and address any. We are using self and peer assessment to enable your child to more confidently assess their own strengths and areas for development to empower them to take control of their learning. We are marking work and adapting our teaching in response to your child’s efforts to plug the gaps we identify.
How can I support my child?
Quiz your child on the questions in ‘what knowledge do they need to be successful? At the end of each month’. Ensure they complete all homework tasks on time
Use GAP analysis documents to priorities topics to revise. Encourage your child to watch videos of the topics on Mathswatch. There are interactive questions that students can attempt themselves. Pupils can also download a worksheet from Mathswatch and complete questions.
You can purchase KS3 Maths revision work books from many online stores and bookshops. Students will be able to make notes, complete tasks and use these resources for revision. You can also encourage your child to look back in their journals and reflect upon their learning.
A useful websites called www.mathsgenie.co.uk is very valuable when it comes to revising for an end of unit test.
Hegarty maths on Youtube is a great way to go over topics that your child would have covered since the start of term. Here is the weblink: https://www.youtube.com/c/HEGARTYMATHS
Know where they are up to and have regular conversations with your child regarding their progress.
Ensure your child has the correct maths equipment such as a compass, protractor and a Casio scientific calculator. It is also important that you encourage your child to catch up on any missed work.
