Maths at Bradford Academy
Maths teaches students to think critically and logically about information. It encourages reasoning, analytical thinking and develops problem-solving skills which are essential for any career and everyday life. Here at Bradford Academy we offer a curriculum that inspires our learners to become confident, resilient, lifelong mathematicians, who recognise effort as the path to mastery. Our rationale is that, everybody can achieve in maths, whereby teaching at all key stages is founded on the need to teach for understanding, rather than teaching mathematics procedurally.
Developing confident, resilient mathematicians with skills for life begins in Year 7 and is nurtured and developed in the 4 years that follow. Within their mathematical learning journey students are:
- Encouraged to think, describe, reason, visualise, spot patterns, generalise and experiment like mathematicians.
- Taught fluency, reasoning and problem-solving skills to develop their resilience and independent thinking.
- Given real world topics based on: financial problems, timetables, time, estimation, use of calculators, units of measurement, ratio and proportion that prepare them for the modern workplace.
Following our 5-year scheme of learning students will become independent, reflective thinkers, whose skills not only liberate them in maths but also support them across the curriculum.
Teaching for Mastery
At Bradford Academy we use a mastery approach to maths teaching.
Our mastery approach:
- Puts number first: Our curriculum has number at its heart, because we believe confidence with numbers is the first step to competency in the curriculum as a whole.
- Puts depth before breadth: We reinforce knowledge again and again.
- Focuses on fluency, reasoning and problem solving: It gives students the skills they need to become competent mathematicians.
Concrete Pictorial Abstract
At the heart of our mastery approach is the Concrete Pictorial Abstract (CPA) approach. Research shows that when students are introduced to a new concept, working with concrete physical resources and pictorial representations lead to a better understanding of abstract concepts. Here at Bradford Academy we use CPA throughout our schemes of learning.
