Matthew Lillie Wheatley School is accredited by the Ontario Ministry of Education to offer an official Advanced Grade 9 Math Credit Program to students in Grade 8. Students in the Advanced Grade 9 Math program at Wheatley are able to earn their Grade 9 Math credit a year early so that they can skip a grade in Math and do Grade 10 Math in their first year of high school. Graduates of Wheatley’s Advanced Grade 9 Math Program have been very successful when they do Grade 10 Math in high school, usually achieving marks in the high 90's. The Advanced Grade 9 Math program at Wheatley is special for several key reasons: The course runs 5 days a week, all school-year long, from September to June. Students at Wheatley essentially get twice as many Math classes as students doing their Grade 9 Math credit in a regular high school, where they only have Math for one term (about 4 months per year). Other private schools also have year-long Math programs, but they only have Math classes every other day, whereas Wheatley has Math every day in its timetable. Secondly, students at Wheatley use different textbooks than in public schools. They use the “Mathematics for the International Student” textbooks by Haese Mathematics Publications. These textbooks are geared towards international students and are much more rigorous than the regular “Principles of Mathematics 9” textbooks used in most Ontario high schools. Thirdly, students in Wheatley’s Advanced Math Program are not permitted to use calculators for most quizzes and tests. This forces them to become proficient at mental calculations and paper-and-pencil calculations. Fourthly, the class size in Wheatley’s Advanced Grade 9 Math Program is small compared to the regular public school math classes, which usually have about 30 students in each class. Students at Wheatley have more individualized help and are able to participate more than in a regular public school math class. Fifthly, the expectations at Wheatley are much higher than at other schools. The Grade 9 Math curriculum at Wheatley is both broader and deeper than the Grade 9 Math curriculum at other schools. Students learn a wide variety of advanced topics such as binomial expansion, factoring, quadratics, linear systems, radicals, and advanced coordinate geometry. Students are also expected to not only use formulas, but to also rigorously prove them. If you have a young child and are interested in your child eventually doing the Wheatley Advanced Grade 9 Math Program when they are in Grade 8, the most important thing is that they master the basics (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division). Students should be able to complete basic calculations quickly and accurately. Then, students can focus on fractions, decimals and word problems. The most important thing though is first mastering the basics and building a strong foundation.
Wheatley School Montessori and International Baccalaureate school