From the moment that pupils enter the senior school, they will spend a lot of time studying mathematics - which we think makes them very lucky indeed. Our main responsibility in the Mathematics Department is to create a positive and happy learning environment, in which the pupils feel free to explore, flourish, question (and hopefully answer...), succeed and ultimately enjoy the time they spend studying this wonderful subject.
By the time that pupils complete their fifth form studies, we hope that they will have gained:
- The highest grade possible at GCSE for their ability
- An appreciation of how the subject is useful in everyday life
- An ability to solve a variety of problems by thinking clearly and logically
- A good foundation for further study into this and other related subjects
All year groups at King's are setted for mathematics, although pupils are taught in forms in the First Form for about four weeks to allow us to accurately assess their ability. This setting allows us to temper our curriculum to the pupils' needs and therefore should enable the pupils to feel comfortable in their studies.
We are also pleased in the Senior School to have the privilege of teaching the Top Set in the Junior School Upper Shell (that's Year 6). We take this class of about ten pupils and teach them some KS3 and occasionally KS4 mathematics - topics that have been covered in recent years by these Junior school pupils include trigonometry, factorising, tree diagrams and estimating the mean when given grouped data. We do this to (hopefully) inspire in them a real interest in the subject and create an enthusiasm for the years to come.