Welcome to the Mathematics Department

Mathematics is an important creative discipline that helps us to understand and change the world. We want all students at Archbishop Ilsley Catholic School to experience the beauty, power and enjoyment of mathematics and develop a sense of curiosity about the subject with a clear understanding.

The intent of the mathematics curriculum is to develop confident mathematicians at all levels, who can retain and confidently apply skills to more complex problems in the subject and across the wider curriculum. Our curriculum is designed with a ‘spiral’ approach which means key concepts are presented repeatedly throughout the curriculum, but with deepening layers or complexity, or in different applications.

We are confident this approach will help develop confident mathematicians who are able to work independently.  We want them to know that it is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology, and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. As our students progress, we intend for students to be able to understand the world around them and can reason and communicate mathematically.

Achieving high rates of progress of children in mathematics is the primary goal of our department. All teachers in the mathematics department appreciate how difficult pupils can find the subject, whether it be GCSE or Further Maths A Level. We want to create a culture where pupils understand that making mistakes is a key part of the learning process. It is the resilience pupils show when posed with these setbacks that will allow them to achieve in mathematics. At GCSE, pupils will follow the AQA specification 830.