Maths

Led by: G Atkinson

The Mathematics Department at Norton College is made up of enthusiastic mathematicians, eager to spread both their passion for and understanding of the discipline of mathematics. As a team we are one of the largest departments in the school, with 4 full time teaching staff and 2 part-time staff. 

The Maths department aims to equip all students with transferable numeracy skills; skills that will be used both within and beyond school. The department believes strongly in fostering an ethos and appreciation for a lifelong use of Maths as well as for meeting the demands of the curriculum. We invite all of our students to embrace the same level of resilience and understand that, although it is satisfying to solve a problem, the journey and mistakes made along the way are just as (if not more!) important.

Engaging, interactive and rigorous lessons encourage our students to discuss concepts, experiment with different methods, and compare solutions. We employ a variety of teaching techniques in our lessons to achieve the above such as jigsaws, loop card, and treasure hunts, while ensuring that in every lesson students have the quiet time necessary to answer questions independently as well.

The department has a range of extracurricular activities on offer. Every year a large number of students across all years are given the opportunity to take part in the UKMT Maths Challenges and we also take part in the Team Challenge events. As well as being fun these Maths Challenges undoubtedly have a hugely positive impact on students’ achievements at both GCSE and A Level. There is also a Chess club, where all abilities are welcome, and students enjoy learning a new game and, at times, beating their teachers.

We encourage students to have a Casio fx-83GTX calculator in every lesson from Years 7-11. Students will also be expected to arrive to all lessons with a full set of equipment: pen, pencil, ruler, protractor, a pair of compasses and a scientific calculator.