This case study looks at The Blandford School and their maths journey beyond post-16. The task of introducing a new course like Core Maths can appear daunting. The Blandford School approach to Core Maths creates opportunities for cross-departmental collaboration that can help the teaching of Mathematics and support math within those subjects.
About The Blandford School
The Blandford School is an 11-18 local authority school in rural North Dorset, with around 150 students in the sixth form. Milena Lee is the KS5 coordinator.
Working with other departments
Core Maths often creates opportunities for cross-departmental collaboration that can help the teaching of Mathematics in those subjects and enhance maths lessons through application to other contexts.
We’ve established a close liaison between our maths faculty and our geography, psychology, and biology faculties. We aim to meet regularly to try to align sequences of teaching and use topical and exam resources from these subjects in our Core Maths lessons. These subjects, as well as PE, Health and Social Care, Sociology, and Business and Economics, explain the value of studying Core Maths alongside their subject to support the maths content and to encourage students to take the opportunity to study it at open evenings and by displaying the AMSP’s Core Maths posters.
Milena Lee
The Blandford School
Age range: 11 – 18
Subjects:
A level Mathematics
Core Maths
Core Maths as an evolving qualification
The teaching and structure of Core Maths in colleges and sixth forms are regularly developing as departments determine how the course best fits into their curriculum.
Initially the qualification was taken over two years with five teaching hours a fortnight and was offered in the extension option block alongside the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) and Sports Leader. With the current Year 12 cohort however, we’re trialling teaching Core Maths in one year with nine teaching hours a fortnight and with exams sat in the summer of Year 12. This is mainly to enable students to fully focus on their 3 A levels in their final year of school without having to spend time on a fourth option. Next year, we’re hoping to extend this one-year offer to Year 13 students that haven’t chosen Core Maths initially.
Milena Lee
Find out more about Core Maths and the support we offer here.
More advice
The following resources and pages offer further advice about increasing participation in level 3 maths and teaching Core Maths:
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