Mathematics
The Lingfield Mathematics Department is staffed by an enthusiastic and experienced team of teachers all of whom are able to teach to A Level standard. The department's aim is to foster confidence, a sense of achievement and a love of Mathematics. Both the logical and creative aspects of Maths are encouraged and explored whilst the students are helped to develop efficient ways of tackling a variety of problems and communicating their answers.
We aim to ensure that every student achieves their full mathematical potential. We stretch all students, regardless of their mathematical ability, by helping them to appreciate that it is a subject that can be mastered, manipulated to support future careers and ultimately loved because of its complex beauty.
Our students have a strong track record of success in Mathematics with approximately 70% of Year 11 pupils achieving grades 7–9.
Courses offered
IGCSE Mathematics
What will I learn?
The style of questions on the IGCSE paper requires students to go beyond the recall of facts and the application of learned processes. Students will also need to be able to interpret, analyse, and problem solve within the five key areas of Maths:
- Number
- Algebra
- Graphs
- Shape and Space
- Handling Data
A Level Mathematics
Interest, enthusiasm and determination are all essential for success in A Level Maths and students are strongly encouraged to become more independent learners. A grade 8+ at IGCSE Mathematics is expected as a basis from which to begin the course.
Aims of the Course
- During the two years we aim to build confidence and enthusiasm for Mathematics, developing processes and techniques that build on the IGCSE and allow students to start connecting the different areas within the subject.
- We aim to provide a strong Mathematical foundation upon which to build future studies and careers, as well as a love of this wonderful subject.
The A Level Mathematics course is made up of 3 modules (2 Pure and 1 Applied) for which students will each sit a single 2-hour paper, where the use of scientific or graphical calculators are allowed.
The Pure modules have a 100% core content which is broadly the same as the legacy C1-C4 course. These modules are designed to expand upon the pure algebraic and geometric topics studied at IGCSE. The field of sequences and series is explored further and new topics such as logarithms, Radians and Trig Identities are introduced and developed extensively.
The Applied module is made up of a combination of Statistics and Mechanics. Statistics will involve students expanding upon the Handling Data concepts covered at IGCSE where they will be introduced to the Normal distribution, Hypothesis testing and the concepts of Variance and Standard deviation. Whilst in Mechanics, students will study the motion of projectiles and the effect of various forces acting upon them in a variety of scenarios.
Maths clinics run once a week at lunchtime. We also run an exam seminar group where students are invited to practise exam maths questions with a maths teacher in the classroom.
A Level Mathematics and Further Mathematics
For those students with a particular passion for Mathematics, we offer a combined Mathematics and Further Mathematics course.
The course aims to quickly progress students through the early A Level Mathematics pure content which cover a lot of topics that are included in Additional Maths (studied by Set 1 in Year 11 and offered as a lunchtime club to Set 2 students). This allows extra time to explore the more challenging content of the later modules and for students to extend their studies to include work on STEP (Cambridge University Entrance exam) and MAT Mathematics (Oxford University Entrance exam).
Enrichment
We stretch our interested and able students across all years with the Mathletes Club, appropriate extension activities in class, participation in UK Maths challenge and UK Team Maths Challenge competing against other schools. Students also attend lectures throughout the year covering topics such as mathematics of sleep, and the mathematics of music.
Our most able mathematicians take the Additional Maths Level 3 qualification in Year 11 which affords UCAS points and a head start in A Level Maths and Further Maths.
Year 13 students attend MathsFest in London, run by renowned mathematician, Matt Parker. They see the application of mathematics in the real world, and some of the quirky areas of mathematics.
Mr Michael Maranzano
Head of Mathematics