Maths & Statistics

Maths

Mathematics is the backbone of almost everything in life. Everything from simple numeracy to complex analysis is present at almost every second of every day, in all sorts of technologies, fields and industries. For young people to develop a solid understanding of the variety and depth of mathematics as a subject, enables them to succeed in whatever they choose in life. But on a deeper level, a good understanding of maths develops excellent reasoning and problem solving skills; deduction and creative thinking skills are all a direct result of a well taught, well rounded curriculum.

The maths curriculum takes students from basic numerical concepts and skills, and aims to develop these into more specific and difficult skills, often investigating the ‘why’ first.

All students will study maths throughout their time at OBA, covering all aspects of the curriculum. The curriculum is broad, yet offers depth into certain areas. We aim to stretch and challenge our most able students yet remain supportive for students who may struggle with various concepts. We aim for all students to access and understand key concepts within numeracy, algebra, proportion, geometry, data and probability

A significant key skill within maths is reading and comprehension. For many students; problem solving or answering multi-part, worded questions is difficult and off-putting. We present students with key terminology as part of starter activities and regularly discuss meanings of key terms and phrases in maths, often relating these to historical points. Of course there are some wonderful books for students to delve into historical or problem solving everyday issues in maths.

  1. Recommended Reading list
  • The Number Devil – Hans Magnus Enzensberger
  • Why do buses come in threes? – Rob Eastaway
  • The Joy of X – Steven Strogatz
  • How long is a piece of string – Rob Eastaway

To understand maths is to understand how to reason, how to ‘prove’ and how to problem solve, all incredibly important life skills for any situation, not just the world of work. We have historically offered trips to students to a variety of mathematically significant centres such as Bletchley Park to learn about Sir Alan Turing. We often host term-long competitions such as TT-Rockstars, for each year group. We also enter small cohorts of students into the junior maths challenge each year, which progresses into the maths olympiad. We regularly encourage students to engage with various clubs and enrichment activities such as chess clubs.

Statistics

Statistics are everywhere, from predicting the weather, deciding on how much traffic there will be on a motorway to monitoring workflow in the office. It is a huge part of everyday life, careers, and further study.

Statistics enables students to acquire transferable skills to support in progressing beyond GCSE in a range of subjects such as Geography, Psychology, Biology and Engineering. Statistics develops an understanding of data in the real world and how it can be used (or misused).

GCSE statistics compliments your GCSE maths course with lots of the topics covered across both. Offering lots of transferable skills which are known to be vital in further education and the world of work.

GCSE Statistics is for all learners, its tiered entry at either Foundation or Higher supports all students to progress and be challenged. We aim to stretch and challenge our most able students yet remain supportive for students who may struggle with various concepts

A significant key skill within statistics is reading and comprehension. For many students; problem solving or answering multi-part, worded questions is difficult and off-putting. We present students with key terminology as part of starter activities and regularly discuss meanings of key terms and phrases. Written answers when analysing data is a huge element of the statistics course which students are prepared for with regular practice utilising; sentence starters, scaffolded paragraphs and model answers.

Recommended Reading list

The Art of Statistics: Learning from Data-  David Spielgelhalter

The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect (Penguin Science) – Judea Pearl

Statistics without Tears: An Introduction for Non-Mathematicians- Derek Rowntree

  1. How does statistics ensure a rich cultural capital?

The GCSE statistics course compliments the cultural capital elements of the core mathematics curriculum whilst providing students with knowledge, communication skills and a greater understanding of concepts to allow success in a variety of educational and work settings. Utilising data and information from newspapers, web articles and reports broadens students’ cultural backgrounds. Statistics is a vocationally significant qualification, vital within numerous careers.

Curriculum Maps

Here you can browse the curriculum maps for each Key Stage. Use the tabs to select the key stage you wish to view, and use the left & right arrows to browse through the slides.