Maths

Maths At The Levels School

The ethos for Maths teaching at The Levels School, is centred on:

• Personalised teaching. The teaching is adapted to enable every student to access it at their level and experience challenge, success, and progression.
• Being creative and adaptive, in finding ways to make the learning accessible to each student.
• Reducing maths anxiety.
• Playing with numbers and building maths confidence.
• Looking for patterns and making connections between different areas of Maths and cross curricular topics.
• Encouraging an enquiring mind and using multisensory learning to be able to function mathematically.
• Linking to real life applications of the maths.

The Maths curriculum largely follows the National Curriculum and as such is broad, balanced, and ambitious.  We recognise that some of our students have a specific maths difficulty.  Many of our students have had a negative experience of Maths and fallen behind at previous non-specialist schools. Many of them arrive with significant maths anxiety and gaps in their learning. Building maths confidence and enabling students to be feel safe and able to achieve addressing gaps in their Maths knowledge is foundational to all we do in Maths at The Levels School. This is achieved by:

• Creating a safe environment in the classroom. The students are taught in small groups within their year group.
• Making the learning fun and interactive. Maths games, such as bingo and treasure hunts are used in the lessons as much as possible.
• Celebrating success. Positive feedback is given for every achievement, however large or small. Mistakes are seen as learning opportunities.

Prep

Our Maths is taught through White Rose and other mathematical schemes which are accessed when appropriate for the learning. We use a multi-sensory approach when teaching concepts and will revisit and recap to consolidate knowledge and understanding. Mixed age teaching takes place and the maths curriculum is adapted for individual needs. Our classrooms are set up to enable the students to access manipulatives, use them to support their learning and encourage independence. Teachers go through maths work with the students and any misconceptions are dealt with in the session.  

Through the curriculum the pupils are taught: 

• Number & place value. 
• Addition & subtraction. 
• Multiplication & division. 
• Fractions, decimals and percentages. 
• Measurement. 
• Properties of shapes 
• Position and direction 

Key Stage Three

This is a broad overview of the topics covered across KS3. Lesson content is adapted to meet the learning needs within each class. 

GCSE

At The Levels School, maths is a core subject at KS4, meaning it is compulsory for all students. We offer Edexcel International GCSE (9 –1) Mathematics (A), which consists of two exam papers at the end of three years of study. Find out more details about the iGCSE below.

External Links

Holiday Activities

If you're looking to support your child's maths studies at home, try the following activities:

Cook or bake at home, and encourage your child to take responsibility for measuring ingredients. 

Play card and board games, and encourage your child to add or subtract with the dice. Yahtzee, Monopoly, Battleships and Shut The Box are great board games for supporting maths. Card games like Sevens can improve sequencing skills. 

Play Bingo. This is great fun for all the family. 

When doing DIY at home, encourage your child to take responsibility for measuring. 

When shopping, encourage your child to get involved to work out the best deals and estimate the bill. 

Practice times tables, as this can speed up mental calculations.