Maths at The Cornerstone Academy

In Years 7/8/9 the focus is on building confidence and promoting fluency and mastery of basic mathematical skills to ensure students are properly prepared for the demands of the 1-9 GCSE syllabus. The curriculum is broken down into units that build on previous knowledge.  Topics covered can be grouped into the following common areas:

• Number
• Algebra
• Ratio and Proportion
• Geometry and Measures
• Statistics

Students will be continually assessed in class throughout the year using unit tests to monitor progress and inform of strengths and weaknesses. They will also have 2 formal assessments during the year, in Term 3 and in the summer term. These assessments are analysed and a summary of the students strengths and weaknesses in each topic area are created in the form of a Question Level Analysis form (QLA). All of this information allows us to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each child/teaching group/year.

In Year 10 students will follow a similar assessment structure consisting of unit tests and two formal exams with QLAs in order to fully prepare them for the rigors of their terminal examinations at the end of Year 11. Our KS4 curriculum is split into both Foundation and Higher, our top sets will complete Higher work targeted at levels 6-9. Unit focused topics and tracking will continue through until the curriculum is finished in Year 11 (typically around early spring) where students will then begin exam preparation in the form of topic reviews and exam question practice.

The schemes of work for KS3 and KS4 (curriculum overview) can be found in the file tree.