Altrincham Grammar School for Boys

A Grammar School with Academy Status

Mathematics

 

 

Maths AQA GCSE Mathematics Student ActiveBook - Click Here

Welcome to the maths department web page for AGSB! Here you will be able to find more information about the courses the Maths Department offers, departmental exam results for previous years and other useful information

The Courses

Below you will find a brief description of each course and an outline of some topics studied.

KS3 (Year 7, 8 and 9)

In Year 7 the pupils are taught in their form classes. In Year 8 the 6 form classes are divided into 8 sets in total to allow us to provide the right level of support for each pupil. The top sets in years 8 and 9 are envisaged to go through the Key Stage 3 syllabus at a faster rate with the aim of starting the GCSE syllabus early in Year 9.

KS4 (Year 10 and 11)

The school was invited by AQA to take part in a new GCSE Link Paired Pilot scheme, and we were honoured to be one of the first schools to take part in this pilot. The content of the syllabus has increased by 20% and there are two GCSE's being awarded in maths. One GCSE is titled as Methods in Mathematics and the second is Applications in Mathematics. The exams are modular with formal external exams at the end of years 10 and 11. There is no coursework in this syllabus.

The top two sets will normally have finished the GCSE syllabus by the end of year 10. In year 11 they will begin studying the GCSE Statistics syllabus with AQA and the OCR Free Standing Mathematics Qualification. The Free Standing Mathematics Qualification covers may of the fundamental topics of the A-Level syllabus and is designed to enrich the pupils' knowledge and to give a better access to the A-Level Mathematics and Further Mathematics courses. In addition for pupils who do not intend to go on to do A-Level mathematics this course will give them a post GCSE Mathematics Qualification that will count for university points.

Maths A-Level (Year 12 and 13)

In September 2000 we began the Edexcel modular course. This incorporates six modules for A-Level. The first three modules, Core 1, Core 2, and Mechanics 1 constitute an AS level qualification to be taken at the end of year 12. This will then be added to with three modules Core 3, Core 4, and Statistics 1 to give a full A-Level in Year 13.

Core or Pure Mathematics is an extension of the GCSE course although it involves some new topics altogether. Its basis is to provide you with a basic technique for use in applications. It broadly covers Analysis (calculus), Algebra, Co-ordinate geometry, Trigonometry, Functions, Approximate methods of solution, Kinematics, Probability and descriptive Statistics, Logarithms, Indices, non numerical Trigonometry, Differential Equations and Vectors.

Further Maths A-Level (Year 13)

We presently run this option as a double A-level. In Year 12 students take Mathematics and Further Mathematics A/S-Level with the expectation of a grade A in one year. In Year 13 students go on to take both Mathematics A-Level and Further Mathematics A-Level in just one year. This is of course a very tall order but is proving very successful. A normal option at A-Level takes up 10 periods on a fortnightly timetable, for this Further Mathematics option a few extra periods are added to accommodate the increased number of molecules.

Further Mathematics is to some extent an extension of A-Level Mathematics with additional topics e.g. complex numbers, proof, polar co-ordinates, differential equations, vector geometry and matrices. Further Mathematics requires 6 modules in total which are generally three Pure modules, a decision Maths module, further Mechanics and Statistics modules.

 

 

Maths Busking - read more

 

Extra Curricular Activities

Chess

 

The tradition of playing chess at the AGSB goes back to 1912. We play in the Manchester and District Chess league at under-18 and under-14 levels. This year the number of participating schools has done down to five teams. We play them both home and away.

UK Senior Maths Challenge (UKSMT)

Our boys take part in the UKMT Maths challenge at senior, intermediate and junior levels. Those who do well go on to the next rounds of the challenge.

 

Mathematics Department Successes.

 

Our successes in the Maths Challenges during 2010.

 

February 2011 Intermediate Challenge (year 10 & 11)

 

We gained 19 Gold, 5 Silver, 1 Bronze Certificates.

 

Gold:S. Ravenscroft, D. Wang, L. Day, O. Humphries, J. Hogg, C. Dowdle, J. Chan, J. Humphries, M. Hallows, A. Smith, H. Chaudhry, S. Sridhar, P. Hackett,

G. Sproston, O. Lunt, A. Clucas, R. Pradham, E. Allanson, C. Benson, S. Navas.

 

Silver:T. Thomas, J. Branch, J. Qian, E. Moore, T. Norris.

 

Bronze:O. Ismail.

 

April 2010 Junior Maths Challenge (30 entries from year 7 & 8)

 

We gained 12 Gold, 7 Silver, 2 Bronze Certificates from year 8

5 Gold, 3 Silver Certificates from year 7

 

Gold:G. Fortune, A. Swinton, M. Grimshaw, B. Tratalos, C. Li, R. Allatt, X. Kearney, G. Todd, J. Hole, M. Kwasigroch, C. Berthou, E. Haslett, M. Tufft, O. Loveland,

M. Takahaski, R. Wade, J. Harrison, S. Jordon.

Silver:L. Danihel, T. Sanders, A. Chaderton, P. Fernando, D. Geetala, A. Shashidhara, J. Persico, L. Liu, P. Benson, V. Huzurbazar.

Bronze:M. Ash, A. Rao.

 

November 2010 Senior Maths Challenge (28 entries from year 11 & 12)

 

We gained 10 Gold, 14 Silver, 3 Bronze Certificates.

 

George Fortune (year 9) gained Best in School.

L. Day gained Merit.

D. Wang gained Distinction.

 

Gold:Y. Yao, R. Williams, S. Church, D. Wang, A. Smith, O. Humphries, T. Meskhi, S. Towli, P. Hackett, G. Fortune.

Silver:M. Hawes, D. Stansby, A. Laycock, L. day, J. Chan, Z. Chowdhury, J. Humphries, M. Skidmore, C. Dowdle, H. Kazmi, H. Chaudhry,

O. Lunt, G. Sproston, O. Ismail.

Bronze:A. Carmen, C. Jones, S. Acharya.

 

Maths Enrichment Club for enthusiastic Mathematicians

Mr Heywood runs a Maths Club every Friday at 12.30 in M5 for boys who enjoy a challenge and are enthusiastic about their Maths. It is open for boys in years 7 to 9; do come along and join in if you are keen to try something new.

 

Mathematics
Head of Department	Mr J Taylor	jtaylor@agsb.co.uk
Head of Statistics	Mr N Ahmadzadeh	nahmadzadeh@agsb.co.uk
Head of Year 9	Mrs H Short	hshort@agsb.co.uk
Teacher	Miss K Potter	kpotter@agsb.co.uk
Activities Week Co-ordinator	Mrs G Murray	gmurray@agsb.co.uk
Teacher	Mr F Heywood	fheywood@agsb.co.uk
STEM Coordinator	Mr M Heslop	mheslop@agsb.co.uk
Timetabler	Mr M Herrington	mherrington@agsb.co.uk
Head of Year 7	Mr R Cummins	rcummins@agsb.co.uk