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Students continue to develop their mathematical skills, concepts and understanding of the four broad areas of the subject – Number, Algebra, Shape and Handling Data. Assessment is made at two tiers called Foundation and Higher. No decision is made about the Tier of Entry for a student until the end of Year 10.  The qualification is made up of three, equally weighted, exams, two with a calculator and one without. Each exam is 1hour and 30 minutes.

Walsall Academy students sit the OCR exam board for GCSE and Edexcel for post 16.

Enrichment Opportunities

The mathematics department are keen to encourage enrichment opportunities across all key stages. Sixth Formers visit Bletchley Park and learn how the famous Enigma code was cracked. The University of Wolverhampton links up with the Advanced Maths Support Programme to run problem solving enrichment sessions for Year 12 and Year 13. The department selects students to participate in the annual UK Mathematics Challenge.

Why Mathematics at A level?

More and more subjects come to depend upon mathematical tools and there is a national shortage of people with these skills. Mathematics will equip you with the necessary skills to cope with numerous jobs and higher education courses. This is particularly true with scientific, technical, financial or management careers. Mathematics is an important subject in the study of Engineering, Computing and Physics.

A good A level in mathematics will ensure you are taken seriously by universities or in job interviews. The mathematics course allows you to build on GCSE work and also involves new ideas and powerful techniques for solving problems. The mathematics units aim to develop your ability to solve problems and to communicate clearly with mathematical language, as well as increasing your knowledge and enjoyment of this important subject.

In recent years Walsall Academy students have progressed to study mathematics at the best of British universities including Oxford, Birmingham, Durham and Warwick.