1. Spiritual, Moral, Social & Cultural Development & British Values
The mathematics curriculum promotes the British values of tolerance and resilience on a daily basis through problem solving and understanding of complex concepts, encouraging students to persevere and try different methods to arrive at a correct solution. Students are encouraged to build on and learn from their mistakes in mathematics lessons. Through various projects, mini investigations and activities built into lessons, SMSC values are being delivered in high quality lessons. The pedagogical approach in Maths Mastery lessons in year 7 lends itself remarkably well to the development of SMSC. Mathematics is a universal language with a myriad of cultural inputs throughout the ages. We encourage the teaching of various approaches to mathematics including the Chinese lattice method for multiplication. The ability to use exchange rates for foreign travel are also important life skills students will learn. We also explore the mathematics applied in different cultures such as Rangoli patterns, symmetry, tessellations, Islamic geometric patterns, the use of religious symbols for symmetry and also forming Fibonacci patterns. The moral development of pupils is an important thread running through the entire mathematics curriculum. Problem solving skills and teamwork are fundamental to mathematics, through creative thinking, discussion, explaining and presenting ideas. Students are always encouraged to develop their mathematical reasoning skills, through communicating with others and explaining concepts to each other. Self and peer reviewing is very important and enables pupils to have an accurate grasp of where they are and how they need to improve. Working together in pairs /groups and supporting others is a key aspect of mathematics lessons at Brightstowe.