I hope you had a lovely Easter break with your families. 

Did you know that April is Mathematics and statistics awareness month?  

The aim of this is to increase understanding and appreciation of Mathematics and statistics. I do wonder how many of our students really understand the importance of Mathematics and how useful it is in so many different areas of life. 

Both subjects play a vital role in so many of the world's problems and are also key to so many job roles that our young people will plan to go on to do in the future. Job roles could include engineering, medicine, biotechnology, retail or can focus on internet safety, climate change, sustainability and so much more. 

The skills gained from Mathematics and the use of statistics can include problem solving, critical thinking and it can also train the brain to analyse data effectively. 

This April, we should not only celebrate mathematics and statistics but also speak to our young people about the importance of this as a subject and how useful it will be to them in the future even if they currently have the view of ‘When will I use The Pythagoras theorem when I’m older?’ 

Here are some statistics I thought you would find interesting, please be aware that these are approximate and will depend on when you are reading this. 

• 144 days until your child starts Year 9 and they start to think about their KS4 options. 

• 874 days until your child starts Year 11, their final year of Secondary school 

• 1190 days until your child finishes Year 11 

Last year, students with the following attendance percentages achieved these grades in their GCSEs: 

• A child’s attendance was above 90% their average grade will be +2 above target 

• A child’s attendance was between 80%-90% their average grade will be –1.5 below target 

I asked the Head of the Maths department, Mr Willson, to share his views on why he believes Maths is very important for our students: 

“Studying Maths is so much more than just doing some sums and getting the correct answers. Confidence in using Maths to analyse and interpret data and understand finances is crucial for everyone and the whole digital world we now live in is driven by maths and data. Currently the majority of new emerging careers in the fields of computer science, cyber security and coding are heavily reliant on mathematical skills. Maths not only gives you the skills to be able to solve numerical and abstract problems but develops your analytical, problem-solving and logic skills to be able to make informed decisions, understand how things work or predict how they will change over time. The career opportunities when studying Maths are endless – accounting, medicine, engineering, cyber security, finance, forensic pathology, aviation, games development, website creation, coding, design & construction to name but a few. To finish with an interesting fact about how valuable a maths qualification can be, research from the Russell Group universities has shown that “on average those with maths A-Level earn 11% more over their lifetime than those without”.  

Thankyou for your continued support and please do contact us with any questions or concerns; HOY8@hessleacademy.com 

Miss Pinkney 

Head of Year 8 

Miss Briggs

Assistant Head of Year 8