The Bicester School



Maths Newsletter – January 20162016 has seen a passionate start made by the students and teachers within the Maths department here at TBS. Focus has turned a lot to the upcoming exams this year with Year 11 and the Sixth Form leading the way. We saw our first set of GCSE results come in for the year with 2 of our Year 12’s achieving their C from the November exams. Both worked extremely hard to ensure this target was achieved to enable them to continue to pursue their current options successfully. Congratulations go out to Charlie Pieton and Jess Takhar.Our next cohort of Year 11’s and 12’s have recently sat the EdExcel iGCSE paper this January in order to have another opportunity to achieve their targets. Mr Marston’s Year 11’s have been working off timetable prior to these exams in order to gain as much exam practice as possible in preparation. Mrs Laverick’s Year 12’s have been working towards this exam since September and we wish them all good luck with the upcoming results in March. The remainder of our Year 11 students are now coming to the end of the Maths GCSE course and will therefore be starting revision with their teachers imminently. All Year 11’s will now be bringing Maths GCSE past papers home on a weekly basis to work through and gain an understanding of how to approach this set of GCSE exams. Teachers will be working through model answers in class and analysing results allowing students and teachers the opportunity to then identify areas and topics which they need to improve in. All students have a MathWatch and MyMaths login and these should now be used on a regular basis at home to support their Maths in school. MathsWatch:Website: Centre ID: bicester Username: your old e-mail address e.g. knash11@bicester-cc.oxon.sch.uk Password: bccmaths MyMaths:Website: mymaths.co.uk Username: bicester Password: parallel The majority of Year 11 students are attending additional support sessions for their Maths run during tutor times, lunchtimes and after school. A large number of students have been offered regular sessions during tutor time with either a Sixth Form Maths student, Mr Hollindale, Mr Vince or Mrs Nash. Lunch time support sessions are run with Mrs Nash on Wednesdays in Ma06 and after school with Mrs Holding on Thursdays between 3:05-4:05 pm. Whether or not students have been recommended for these sessions, teachers are very happy for anyone to drop in to the lunchtime and after school groups for support with any aspect of the GCSE course. Please encourage students to attend especially if they have been recommended to by a member of staff.Our Year 12 and Year 13’s have all just sat their Maths and Further Maths mock exams sitting a range of different EdExcel papers including C1, C3, M1 and S2. Results will be delivered to the whole Sixth Form shortly, but we are keen that students, especially those in Year 12 take this as a good opportunity to sample what the final exams will look like in June and therefore realise how much independent work needs to take place in order for them to achieve their full potential in this challenging subject.Following on from the success of the Senior Maths Challenge at the end of 2015, we are now excitedly awaiting our most enthusiastic Year 9, 10 and 11 students to be taking part in the Intermediate Maths Challenge on the 4th February. We wish them all luck and look forward to seeing some fantastic results as we have already done this year. TBS will also be entering the Team Maths Challenge on 15th March with a small team from Year 8 and Year 9 competing against other schools in the county at the Mathematics Institute in Oxford University. The best of luck goes out to these students also.With the celebration of Pi Day taking place on 14th March the whole department is looking forward to celebration our first ‘Maths Week’. Work is already underway in order to provide a range of mathematical opportunities for all year groups to experience how Maths can help them in the real world. Together with other departments around TBS, the Maths team will be putting on a range of activities throughout the week to boost the profile and enjoyment of Maths amongst the students.Numeracy is as always one of the top priorities for the school and we are pleased to report the ongoing ‘Problem of the Week’ is still greatly popular amongst both students and teachers. A range of winners keep on coming from individuals and small groups of friends to entire tutor groups. Thank you to everyone who is entering and we hope you find your weekly does of problem solving stimulating and an exciting challenge.Why not have another go yourself: Answer: 44During the last half term we have made a series of appointments in the department. Firstly with the return of Nicola Le Brun as a new member of SLT, but also a full time Maths teacher with ourselves starting in April. Then we also welcome Laura Filgate and Victoria Stone as NQT’s to the department from September 2016. It does unfortunately mean we are saying goodbye to Mr Vince who has made the decision to work closer to home after the arrival of his 2nd daughter before Christmas. He will be sadly missed by all colleagues and students who he has taught over the last 3 years. We look forward though to welcoming the new members to our team and will endeavour to help Maths grow continually in the future at TBS. ................
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