Department Staff
Mrs C A Haines BSc PGCE (Head of Department)
Mrs S Kay BSc
Mr R Kitchen BSc
Mrs C Kingsley BSc PGCE (Part time)
Mr A Green BEd (Head of PE Department, part time mathematics teacher)
Currently, Mrs Haines, Mrs Kay and Mr Kitchen teach in all years including
the sixth form. Mr Green teaches mathematics only to the GCSE groups i.e.
years 10 and 11 and Mrs Kingsley teaches the first three years at the senior
school
i.e. years 7, 8 and 9.
Up to GCSE level
All pupils study mathematics for their first five years in the senior school.
The course that we follow prepares students for the AQA GCSE examination using
specification A. This means that the content of the school’s syllabus
matches the specification issued by the examination board.
During mathematics lessons, pupils use a range of approaches to help them in
their learning and understanding of mathematics. Usually one lesson every two
to three weeks, depending on the year group, takes place in the ICT suite and
from here you are allowed to make use of the software that we have and also
information and websites over the internet. We do have quite strict filters
in place, so you will not be able to stray to areas where you should not go!
In the main school, we have two dedicated mathematics teaching rooms, one of
which has a built in data projector so that we can use ICT where relevant.
At all stages in mathematics, pupils are introduced to topics in a variety
of manners including giving thought to investigative approaches and to proof,
both of which are vital for the later stages of the GCSE course. We are fortunate
to be able to teach in three sets for years 7, 8 and 9 and four sets for years
10 and 11. No pupil is in a group which is too large for them to ask
for, and receive help when they need it.
Beyond GCSE
For pupils in the sixth form we have two main courses.
The first is the AS/A2 course. We follow the MEI syllabus which is administered
by the OCR examination board. This currently is arranged so that students
take modules in pure mathematics, statistics and mechanics in the lower sixth
with the first paper normally taken in January. In the Upper sixth, three
more modules are taken, including the compulsory two pure modules. Again,
the first paper is normally taken in the January sitting. There are changes
to the arrangements and content of each paper currently being planned, so
this will mean that our plans will be different with effect from September
2004. There will still be six modules to take, three in the first year and
three in the second, but the actual content of the papers will be different.
As soon as these details are confirmed, this will be updated.
There is the possibility of either AS further mathematics or A2 further mathematics
for suitably qualified and enthusiastic students!
The other main sixth form course is Foundations of Advanced Mathematics. This
course is really suitable for students who wish to take some mathematics to
support them in their other subjects, but for whom the choice of AS mathematics
is probably not the correct one. It is ideal for students who have covered
the intermediate level at GCSE as it assumes only that knowledge but extends
into extra topics beyond GCSE. It is very useful as a background for several
other subjects, including General Studies, but is also interesting in its own
right. The students who have followed the course so far have enjoyed the challenge
without the pressures of having to take a full AS course. The examination is
a multi-choice test taken at the end of the year and leads to a stand alone
certificate issued by OCR but it may not be counted towards an AS qualification.
Whose car is it anyway?
Year 7 pupils carried out a survey of the cars
in the school car park. They designed their own data collection sheets and
decided on their own hypotheses to test. This led to some interesting (and
unusual!!) results.
The main findings were:-
The most popular colour of car is RED.
This was way ahead of BLUE in second place.
The most popular make of car was CITROEN with 20%.
The next most popular makes were FORD and VAUXHALL each with 12%.
The age of each car was estimated from its registration plate and most cars
were found to be worth under £4000 when checked against published data.
All of the cars were under £12000 in value except for one which was more
than £18000. Was this a visitor to the school?!
On looking round the car park this term, several new cars have appeared. This survey will be repeated next year so we can then see if there are any changes to report.
Could you work out what this message says?
UVVYS AUNYW IFFYA Y
It is an example of a Caesar Shift cipher.
Two of our pupils, Robert Smith and Phil Kingsley, took part
in the Southampton University cipher challenge. Over a period of 12 weeks
they had to decipher 8 messages, most of which were much harder than this
and all of which ran to several sentences in length including one that was
partly in German.
They persevered and eventually managed to correctly decipher 7 of the 8 tasks.
The last one was fiendishly difficult! Their final score at the end of the
challenge meant that they were placed no. 128 in the country out of a total
of almost 1000 entries.
Well done!
(The message actually says Abbey Gate College. Each letter is replaced by
a Caesar Shift of 7. This involves writing out the alphabet and then rewriting
it underneath with every letter moved 7 places along. The letters are
then written out in groups of 5 to further confuse the issue).
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