Assignment 1

During assignment 1 students will be introduced to the core skills of Mathematics. Core skills aims to make students fully secondary school ready by giving them a full toolkit of ‘the basics’ that we feel every student should have.

Core skills topics include: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, percentages, bar charts, pictograms, shape names, area, perimeter, telling the time and using money.

To pass core skills, students will need to get 80% in the exam at the end of the assignment. Teachers will do practice tests with students leading up to the exam and homework will be set to allow them to practice at home.

Students who make rapid progress in assignment one and complete the test before the end of the assignment period will start assignment 2 early (see below).

Assignment 2

Assignment 2 will focus on the number and algebra content of Mathematics. In number students will look at the application of numerical skills to real life problems such as shopping lists and percentages savings in sales. Students will also consider the different numerical methods there are of solving problems and complete a speaking and listening group discussion on the best methods to use to solve problems.

In algebra, students will begin by looking at how letters can be used to represent unknown values. This initial investigation will lead to students developing understanding of substitution, simplifying expressions and solving basic equations.

Students who make rapid progress in the assignment will progress further with Number and algebra topics within the unit.

Assignment 3

During Assignment 3, students will investigate three further areas of Mathematics: Ratio, Proportion and Rates of change, Statistics and Probability & Geometry and Measure. These three areas of Mathematics will allow students to begin exploring how to display and interpret data in different graphs, as well as using different averages to better understand complex information.

Students who make rapid progress in the assignment will progress further with Ratio, Proportion and Rates of change, Statistics and Probability & Geometry and Measure topics within the unit.

At the end of assignment 3 students will complete an end of year exam which will check their understanding of the content covered throughout the school year.