West Craven High School
ASPIRE
Mathematics
Through the five years, students study maths at West Craven we aim to instil in students the confidence and capability to tackle complex problems, building their skill sets so they can apply their knowledge to any context.
Through our curriculum we will help students to realise that mathematics is:
- essential to everyday life
- critical to science, technology and engineering;
- necessary for financial literacy
- important in most forms of employment
As our students progress, we aim to ensure that they can reason mathematically, develop fluency in numeracy, apply their knowledge to increasingly complex problems and have the resilience to learn from their mistakes.
Through our pedagogy and the drive to ‘know more and remember more’ we will use the curriculum to
- improve student knowledge
- use mathematical language to deepen understanding
- enhance cultural capital
- reduce the knowledge deficit
- develop the use of metacognitive theory
- accelerate the progress of underachieving groups students
Through our assessment we will use the information to:
- know students as individuals
- adapt curriculum sequencing
- address knowledge deficits
- empower students to personalise their own learning
Year 7 overview
Students begin Year 7 by building strong foundations in algebra, exploring sequences, term‑to‑term rules and basic algebraic notation. They use function machines, substitution and collecting like terms, leading into simple equation‑solving. This early focus helps level differences from primary school and prepares students for more formal algebra later in the year.
The term then moves to core number skills, revisiting place value, ordering and comparing integers and decimals, and working on rounding and significant figures. Students strengthen their fluency with the four operations, including decimals and powers of 10, and learn to calculate averages and range to interpret data confidently.
In Spring, students develop their understanding of graphs and data by constructing and interpreting pictograms, bar charts, composite charts, scatter graphs and time‑series graphs. Coordinates in the first quadrant are revisited, supporting later graphing work. They then focus on fractions, decimals and percentages, improving their ability to compare, convert and work with values greater than one using diagrams and number lines.
Students also deepen their skills with directed number, calculating across zero using all four operations. They extend this to fractions and percentages of amounts, including percentage change and real‑life contexts. The term ends with perimeter and area, covering compound shapes and metric conversions.
In the final term, students strengthen their fraction fluency through adding and subtracting fractions, progressing from simple cases to mixed numbers, improper fractions and introductory algebraic fractions. These skills support substitution and equation‑solving in later topics.
Students then focus on geometry, learning to draw and measure angles accurately and apply angle rules for points, lines, triangles and quadrilaterals. This extends to angles in parallel lines and polygons, laying early foundations for proof. The year concludes with consolidation and an end‑of‑year assessment, supported by retrieval practice and spaced assessments to secure long‑term understanding before Year 8.
Year 8 overview
Students begin Year 8 by strengthening proportional reasoning, simplifying ratios, solving missing‑value problems and linking ratios to fractions. They then apply these skills to direct proportion, conversion graphs and interpreting scale drawings. This builds securely on Year 7 and prepares pupils for more advanced percentage and proportion work.
Algebraic manipulation is introduced early, with students forming and simplifying expressions, substituting with directed numbers, and expanding and factorising single brackets. Higher‑attaining students extend to double brackets and simple quadratic factorisation.
Spring Term focuses on coordinate geometry, with students working in all four quadrants, interpreting scatter graphs, describing correlations and drawing lines of best fit. They also learn to draw and interpret straight‑line graphs, introducing gradients and equations that will be crucial in Year 9.
Students then deepen their understanding of fractions, multiplying and dividing fractions (including mixed and algebraic fractions), alongside studying symmetry and reflection across horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines.
In the latter half of Spring, learners broaden their work on area, volume and density, tackling 2D, compound and 3D shapes and real‑life mass–volume problems. They also strengthen their ability to solve equations and inequalities, including unknowns on both sides and representing inequalities on number lines.
Summer Term opens with percentages, covering percentage change, multipliers and original values, linking strongly to previous ratio work. This leads into the laws of indices and working in standard form.
Students then revisit geometry, applying angle rules in parallel lines and working with polygons, including interior and exterior angle calculations and simple proofs. They also develop probability skills using sample spaces, two‑way tables and frequency trees.
The year concludes with circles, including circumference, area and compound shapes, along with revisiting graphs and charts before consolidating algebra through linear and non‑linear sequences. Finally, students apply multiple skills through speed, distance and time problems, preparing them for the demands of Year 9.
Year 9 overview
Year 9 begins by revisiting key number properties, including factors, multiples, prime factorisation and using Venn diagrams for HCF and LCM. Students extend their work with integers and rational numbers, with surds introduced for higher‑attaining learners. Percentage skills are strengthened through work on percentage change, original values, repeated change and simple and compound interest. The term finishes with area and volume, covering circles, prisms, cylinders and composite solids, alongside density problems that link maths to real‑world contexts.
In the second half of the term, students move into more advanced equations and inequalities, solving problems with brackets and unknowns on both sides. They apply algebra to formulae, practising both substitution and rearranging. Fractional skills are developed further through all four operations in real‑life contexts. Students also work with speed, distance and time, interpreting and drawing distance‑time graphs and using standard form for very large and small numbers.
Spring Term focuses on financial literacy and real‑life maths, including budgeting, saving, borrowing and investing. Students then extend their understanding of straight‑line graphs, consolidating gradients, intercepts and rearranging equations into y = mx + c, before applying these to real‑world graphs and representing inequalities on coordinate grids.
Later in Spring, students deepen their knowledge of ratio and proportion, working with direct and inverse proportion and representing relationships graphically. They also solve algebraic ratio problems, bringing multiple strands together.
Summer Term opens with constructions and congruence, developing accuracy with angles, bisectors, shapes and scale drawings. Students then study congruence and similarity, linking enlargement to ratio and applying this to right‑angled triangles in preparation for trigonometry.
They also extend their algebraic manipulation, expanding and factorising more complex expressions, using identities and, for higher‑tier learners, solving quadratic equations. This builds confidence and fluency ahead of beginning GCSE algebra in Year 10.
Year 10 overview
Year 10 marks the formal start of GCSE Maths, with students deepening Key Stage 3 knowledge while learning new content for both Foundation and Higher tiers. Retrieval practice, spaced assessments and mock exams support long‑term understanding throughout the year.
Students begin with a strong block on algebraic manipulation, consolidating substitution, collecting like terms, simplifying expressions and applying index laws. They build fluency in expanding and factorising brackets and solving linear equations, including those with fractions and unknowns on both sides. Work on inequalities and rearranging formulae develops confidence with essential GCSE algebra. Students are introduced to quadratic expressions and equations through expanding double brackets, factorising and solving by factorisation.
Alongside this, learners strengthen their skills with percentages, ratio and scale, revisiting percentage change and interest problems. Ratio methods are deepened through sharing, linking to fractions and solving algebraic ratio problems. Fractional skills, including operations with mixed numbers, are also refreshed to maintain secure number fluency.
Spring Term begins with non‑calculator methods, supporting number sense and multi‑step reasoning. Students then move into straight‑line graphs, plotting lines, identifying gradients and intercepts and forming equations, including graphs linked to real‑life contexts and proportional relationships.
A major focus this term is probability, progressing from simple outcome lists and sample spaces to two‑way tables, frequency trees and tree diagrams covering both independent and dependent events. Students also work on rounding and estimation, including decimal places, significant figures and error intervals, developing accuracy for exam‑style problems.
The term concludes with perimeter, area and volume, including circle area and circumference, and calculating the volume and surface area of prisms and compound 3D shapes using nets and applied contexts.
Summer Term begins with data handling, interpreting and constructing bar charts, pie charts, time‑series graphs and scatter graphs. Students analyse distributions using averages and range, and work with both raw and grouped frequency tables. Extensions include interpolation and comparing distributions. They also meet non‑linear graphs, including quadratics and cubics, and learn to estimate solutions graphically.
Later in the term, students revisit key angle rules for points, lines, triangles, quadrilaterals and polygons, applying them in more challenging proof‑based contexts such as parallel line reasoning. They then study vectors, including notation, translation, addition, subtraction and scalar multiplication — important foundations for transformations in Year 11.
The year ends with Pythagoras’ theorem and trigonometry, using right‑angled triangles to find missing lengths and angles with sine, cosine and tangent. Finally, students learn simultaneous equations, beginning with graphical methods and progressing to substitution and elimination. These capstone topics prepare students thoroughly for Year 10 mocks and the increased demands of Year 11 GCSE work.
Learning Journeys
Year 10 Foundation Maths Learning Journey
Year 10 Higher Maths Learning Journey
Year 11 Maths Learning Journey
To find out more about our Maths curriculum, please contact Mr M Balal, Assistant Principal (Maths) by emailing mbalal@westcraven.co.uk or phoning the main office to arrange a call back.