Mathematics is an extremely popular subject at the College with many pupils continuing to study the subject in the Sixth Form. The ethos of the Mathematics Department is to foster the belief that every pupil can do well in Maths, that mistakes are valuable and that mathematical learning can be fun. Through this course, you will gain an understanding of mathematical processes and techniques and learn how to use them practically. At a higher level, Mathematics is all about applying your knowledge to real life situations, so an interest in solving problems and puzzles is very useful. You need to be logical so that you can follow a mathematical argument, and creative so that you can look for different ways of applying your skills. There are three components to the course and these will be studied over the two years: Core Mathematics, Statistics and Mechanics. The first year of the course will develop your abilities to reason logically and use Mathematics to communicate ideas effectively. Core Mathematics will develop your GCSE skills in algebra, trigonometry, and co-ordinate geometry and introduces some calculus techniques. It also provides the basis for the two applied modules. The second year of the Mathematics course builds on the work that you studied in the first year. It takes each of the techniques and skills you have acquired and develops them so that you are able to solve more complex problems. The study of mathematics at A Level is very demanding and requires pupils to be dedicated to the course. A great deal of emphasis is placed on independent learning outside the classroom in order to support the work that is being taught during regular lessons. After all, mathematics is everywhere you look and is key to understanding how the world works.