Course Guide for Core Maths

1. Welcome

Welcome to the Mathematics Department at Godalming College. We hope that you will enjoy your time with us. We are all experienced, dedicated and passionate about our subject. We aim to help you get the best possible grade that you can in Core Maths and if you follow all the instructions that your teacher gives you then this will happen!  If you are ever struggling to understand something, seek out extra help by attending a regular drop in session. There is also a wealth of resources on GO.

You will find that you will need to spend at least the same amount of time on Core Maths outside lessons as in lessons.  This is something that probably wasn't expected of you at school.

We hope that you will develop new study skills during the course and we are aware that these do not necessarily come naturally. We therefore offer a range of support and you will be told about this in class.  Our most successful students take full advantage of the support available.

We very much hope that you enjoy the course and that your enthusiasm will increase as the course develops.

This booklet gives you essential information about your course.

2. Mathematics Staff

Mark Woodward - Head of Department	Tim Hills - Deputy Head of Department	Tom Messenger - L2 and Core Maths Course Leader
Nina Bjelica	Martin Glazier	Neil Parsons
Laura Richards	Steve Roberts	Paul Scott
Stef Smith	Dean Wyles

3. Assessment Policy

Your commitment 

Each week you should aim to spend 4.5-5 hours on Maths outside the classroom.  This may sound like a lot but get into the habit straight away and you will get used to it.  I cannot overemphasise how important this is in order for you to be successful.

Weekly homework

You will be set homework each week.  It can take a variety of different forms - you may be set questions to answer or it might be a small project or investigation.  All are equally important!

Homework does not necessarily need to be completed at home!  You can use free periods during the day to complete these tasks outside of lessons.  To keep a good work/life balance, you might like to treat College as an 08:45 to 16:15 day and use your free periods in the library completing tasks.  This will minimise the work you need to complete at home and might make you more productive! If the homework only takes you 2 hours then you should aim to spend a further 3 hours consolidating previous topics or reading ahead.  Start the homework early and then if you struggle with any questions you will have time to attend a drop in session. 

The Importance of Feedback

Learning will not happen instantly and takes time; attending lessons only forms a part of this learning.  You also need to be working outside of class, to revise new topics and consolidate classwork.  In the process, you will make mistakes.  The more mistakes you make the more progress you will make. Feedback is essential for your learning and will consist of written (teacher marking), peer (where you feedback on someone else’s work in the class) and self (where you assess yourself).

Benchmark Assessments

Throughout each of the two years, there will be 4 benchmark assessments in November, January, March and April.  These will all consist of exam style questions, and will be preceded by a preliminary material sheet with data that will be used in the questions.

• WRITTEN FEEDBACK: Each benchmark assessment will be marked by your teacher and will be returned to you with a cover sheet that relates directly to your individual strengths and areas for development.  
• VERBAL FEEDBACK: 1-2-1’s will also occur in November and March after the benchmarks have been marked.  These benchmark assessments will then feed directly into the student review (‘report’) which get sent home to your parents. 
• REFLECTION AND TARGET SETTING: After each assessment, students will be expected to reflect on the written feedback from their teacher and set themselves targets for improvement in the period in question.   

Benchmarks are extremely important and should be treated like an actual exam.  They are an ideal opportunity for you to measure how you are progressing and to get valuable feedback from your teacher.  You will make mistakes in the benchmarks and so the follow up work is to test whether you have learned from those mistakes to become better at the subject and exam technique. The benchmarks in the first year will provide evidence for the first year Annual review grade upon which the predicted grade will be determined.

The Final Assessment

Core Maths courses is assessed through written exams. 

Other Considerations

• LATE POLICY: In line with the ‘College Assessment Policy’, the department are under no obligation to provide feedback to a student who does not meet the internal deadlines for homeworks.  Students who fail to prepare adequately for the lesson as requested, maybe excluded for part of the lesson and asked to work independently at the back of the classroom.  A continued failure to meet homework requirements will result in a reference to the pastoral team and a phone call home to parents.
• RETURNED WORK: If homework is submitted it will be assessed and returned within 10 working days.

4. Support

We are always happy to give extra support outside lesson times.

The module pages on Godalming Online contain a wealth of support material. See next page.

We also run drop in sessions every day (see timetable on GO and on noticeboards) and staff advertise their office hours on their office doors.  These are times that you can expect to find staff in their office.

If you feel you need extra support just ask and we promise to put something in place for you!  Remember, we want you to do well just as much as you do!

5. Godalming Online (GO)

Familiarise yourself with the Mathematics pages on GO. These are well organised and easy to navigate.

There are links to many useful websites. In particular, the Jack Brown website is excellent. It contains video clips on most topics and these will be particularly useful for consolidating topics which you have found difficult or catching up on any missed work.

You will also find past papers and their solutions for revision time.  Our most successful students start working on past paper questions right from the start of the course.

The work you have been set before the beginning of term is on this page (in case you lose your paper copy), together with some help sheets, in case you need them.

6. Equipment

Please equip yourself with the following and bring them to all lessons :-

An A4 ringbinder, A4 lined paper, pens, pencils, ruler, calculator.

The calculator that we recommend is detailed in a separate section of GO.  

Well organised students have another ring binder at home and leave old notes in this, gradually building it up as the course progresses. This is good practice. 

7. Lessons

Lessons are either 45 minutes or 90 minutes in length.

Please arrive promptly.

Make sure your mobile phone is switched off or on silent during lessons.

Please treat your classrooms as places of work. Do not bring food or drink (other than water) to lessons and tidy up as you leave.