Our Curriculum

Maths at Philip Southcote School offers pupils a relevant, broad and purposeful curriculum that will show the relevance of Maths in ‘Learning for Life’ and puts our pupils’ needs at the heart of the curriculum. We are passionate about making learning fun, and exciting.  Our vision is that all pupils will gain the maths life skills to help them make sense of the world and become more independent to navigate the world around them. 

We help every pupil reach their full potential through a carefully planned step by step progression of objectives combined with teaching methods that explain clearly and deepen understanding (rather than just procedures). We are strong advocates of ‘hands on’ practical equipment, kinaesthetic or visual methods and embrace any technology from calculators to apps that can help our pupils apply their knowledge in real life. 

We help every individual pupil reach their full potential in the subject and recognise the value of qualifications that enable our pupils to progress towards becoming a sustainable workforce.  Through careful monitoring of data against the Southcote Solar Steps and summative assessments pupils progress is tracked and monitored and any pupils identified as needing extra support can access additional small group sessions. 

As well as individual work, we encourage our pupils to work in pairs, small groups and engage in actively in whole class discussions.  Pupils develop the social and collaborative skills that enable them to express choices, make decisions and reason their opinions and develop social skills embedded in our school values (trust, respect, responsibility, kindness, courage and excellence).

Throughout the school the pupils are carefully timetabled to enable us to stream them into ability groups so they can work in a manner and pace most conducive to their needs. Many will develop the skills and knowledge to enable them to access Entry Level qualifications or Entry Certificate L1, L2 and L3 the latter enabling them to transition to Foundation GCSE qualifications whether in main school or when they go onto Sixth Form or College.  For our lower attainers who may not achieve E1 qualifications Maths is taught to help understand number, counting and may be practised through Preparation for Adulthood classes and the KS4 option Wheel of Independence that helps them to focus on basic everyday applications of maths in a more practical way.  

In our Sixth Form pupils from main school will continue their maths learning journey this may be continuing to study for a qualification or progressing onto the Wheel of Independence in which maths everyday skills are explicitly taught through as much hands-on real-life experience as possible. The qualification pathway is agreed with students and parents within the autumn term and reviewed at the end of each year.  Sixth Form pupils learn and apply mathematical skills both within school and the wider community, in theory and in practise. Some key themes are managing money and economic wellbeing, cooking for themselves and others, (including helping to run our onsite café), home and plant care, reading and using transport timetables, and paying in shops. 

In our Hubs at Epsom, Chertsey and Kings students’ needs both academically, socially and emotionally are considered and students will either attend maths in the main school with support of centre staff (often receiving supplementary support in hub time) or receive Maths sessions in the hub, planned and delivered by our staff alongside the Southcote curriculum.  Through regular review and discussion with students and staff these different models are reviewed and evaluated by staff to ensure the best fit for students any given time.

It is our aim that all pupils learn to appreciate maths usefulness in the real world and leave school confident and able to use Maths to be independent, confident and resilient young adults.