Head of Faculty |
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| Mrs K Marshall | |
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Telephone (0115) 9635667 extension (3008) |
Faculty overview
Students access the following subject areas through the mathematics and computing faculty:
- Mathematics
- Computer science
Our Mathematics faculty gives students essential skills that they will carry with them and use for the rest of their lives. Their lessons allow them to improve and develop their problem solving skills while cementing basic numeracy skill and developing the maths techniques they have already learned at primary school.
For individuals who excel in the subject, our gifted and talented students are given the opportunity to compete against other academies and schools in a National Maths Challenge.
Together with the mathematics course studied at Key Stages 3 and 4, students can access three maths courses in Key Stage 5 at Hucknall Sixth Form Centre.
Students have four lessons of mathematics plus one maths homework each week. Students in key stage 3 follow a scheme of work which allows them to improve and develop their problem solving skills while cementing basic numeracy skill and as well as covering new content.
In order to make good progress it is important for each child to be challenged by an appropriate pace and depth of coverage. Thus, in year 7, students are ‘setted’ into ability groups. Students are regularly assessed and any necessary adjustments are made between the groups so that each child has the best learning environment made available to them.
We offer GCSE mathematics (AQA), AQA A Level mathematics and AS further mathematics. We also offer Level 3 OCR core mathematics.
Enrichment
Gifted and talented students are given the opportunity to compete against other academies and schools in a National Maths Challenge.
We are an open and approachable faculty and students often use their free time to seek help or extra challenge.
Facilities
There are eight well-equipped maths rooms, each with an inter-active whiteboard. We also have a set of iPads which are used within the lessons. These facilities give us access to maths resources not only within the academy, but also to the enrichments available on the internet such as
www.drfrostmaths.com
Parental support
To support your son/daughter with their studies, you could try some of the following:
• Ask your child how they feel they are doing
• Check the front of their book to see how they are progressing
• Ask your child when their tests are
• Regularly test times tables
• Encourage following up topics studied in lessons on websites such as www.mymaths.co.uk, or www.mathswatchvle.com
Subject specific equipment
- Pen
- Pencil
- Ruler
- Rubber
- Protractor
- Pair of compasses
- Scientific calculator
Mathematics
Overview
Mathematics gives students essential skills that they will carry with them and use for the rest of their lives. Students will improve and develop their problem solving skills while cementing basic numeracy skill and developing key maths techniques that will enable them to go further with the subject or apply to many other courses.
Key Stage 3
All students at key stage 3 develop maths concepts, skills and techniques that will prepare them for their GCSEs. The new curriculum focuses on a greater understanding of concepts and their place within or connection to other areas of maths, and aims to improve confidence when approaching more difficult, unstructured problems. Students comprehension and work is regularly assessed and targets for improvement set against progress made.
For the most able students who are succeeding and completing work quickly, staff provide more challenging extension work in the shape of unstructured or applied problems. Additionally, there are opportunities for more gifted individuals to get involved in enrichment activities designed to stretch and test knowledge.
Key Stage 4
The GCSE course is split into up into units featuring a range of topics and students are placed into groups based on ability determined by their end of year tests. Each unit studied concludes with a test to monitor students’ progress.
Students will also sit a mock exam at the end of year 10, and again in December of year 11. We provide revision sessions in the lead up to the GCSE exams at the end of key stage 4.
Key Stage 5
At key stage 5, there are three course options for students wishing to pursue a mathematics option at the Hucknall Sixth Form Centre. These are:
Mathematics
Both AS and A Level Mathematics cover of range of topics that can be broken into three categories – pure, statistics and mechanics.
Core Maths
This course is designed to maintain and develop real-life maths skills. Students will develop knowledge and techniques that can be applied on a day-to-day basis in work, study or life including:
• financial mathematics • foreign exchange, tax, and debt • statistical analysis • recap of some GCSE topics
Further Maths
This course will appeal to students who would like to study maths at university or your chosen higher education course is likely to have a demanding mathematical content, then this course will enhance your knowledge.
For further details of our key stage 5 courses, visit:
www.hsfc-ac.org.uk/mathematics
www.hsfc-ac.org.uk/mathematics_core, or
www.hsfc-ac.org.uk/mathematics_further
Computer Science
Overview
Computer science provides a framework within which students can consider complex problems and apply computational techniques to solve real world problems. The subject teaches key skills that enable individuals to analyse, critically evaluate and make decisions.
Key Stage 4
Students will learn the necessary skills to solve complex problems by applying relevant aspects of computational thinking. They will understand how various data are represented inside a computer system together with understanding how hardware and software are applied in a range of computer controlled situations.
Other topics covered throughout the GCSE course are:
• data and computer systems • hardware and software applications • networks and security • data transmission • algorithms • computational thinking • creating software
Key Stage 5
At A-Level and AS, students will learn about two core topic areas, Computer Systems and Algorithms and Programming:
Computer systems
Students will gain a good understanding of the theory of computer systems including the characteristics of computer processors, approaches to developing software, exchanging data between computers and algorithms. This unit also covers more contemporary computer science issues such as the legal, moral, cultural and ethical issues associated with computer systems.
Algorithms and programming
This practical topic equips individuals with skills necessary to design, test, implement and evaluate computer programs. Computational methods are used to solve complex computational problems by decomposing the problem into its component parts and applying programming techniques to develop a solution. This topic also covers standard algorithms that are used to search and sort a data structure, which will be evaluated mathematically to test the relative efficiency of each algorithm.
For further details of the A-level course, visit www.hsfc-ac.org.uk/computer_scienceEcono