Maths
Intent
Maths is a skill we use on a daily basis and is an essential part of everyday life. Therefore, mathematics forms an important part of our ambitious curriculum where we endeavour to ensure that children develop an enjoyment and enthusiasm for maths that will stay with them throughout their lives and empower them in future life. We believe that unlocking mathematical fluency is an essential life skill for all learners and is a pre-requisite to being able to reason and solve problems mathematically. Our aim is to develop a positive culture of deep understanding, confidence and competence in maths that produces strong, secure learning. As a school, we recognise that the key to unravelling the potential in our children is through the development of basic mathematical skills and the understanding of mathematical concepts. We therefore place great emphasis on the use of concrete resources and pictorial representations at all ages, to enable children to fully understand the concepts and principals, when presented with abstract calculations and questions. Our maths curriculum is progressive; at KS2 it is designed to develop competencies to equip pupils for KS3 where they will build on KS2, make connections and solve increasingly sophisticated problems.
Implementation
Our Maths curriculum provides breadth and balance, is relevant and engaging and it meets the needs and abilities of all our children to ensure that all pupils are able to excel. As a school, we believe in the importance of following the concrete-pictorial-approach as a means to developing a solid understanding of mathematical concepts which can be applied in a variety of contexts through reasoning and problem solving challenges.
From Reception to Year 6, we adhere to our calculation policy which outlines the progression of strategies and methods to be taught. We have created our long-term plans in line with White Rose small steps. In EY the children are taught through the NCETM Mastering Number program. The four strands are threaded through this: ‘subitising’, ‘cardinality, ordinality and counting’, ‘composition’ and ‘comparison’. In Years 1-6, children follow the scheme of ‘White Rose’ which supports children in learning the fundamentals behind the meanings of numbers and exploring other key mathematical areas. White Rose use ‘small steps’ to break down the teaching sequence into small achievable steps. Where children require additional support, a greater emphasis on ‘fluency’ is placed to support children further to ensure that they have secured the small step before moving on. For children who understand a concept quicker, challenges are used to deepen and challenge learners further within the curriculum area.
Within daily teaching you would expect to see the following sequence in all lessons from Years 1-6:
Flashback 4
Mathematical knowledge the children require before they begin learning new knowledge.
High quality teaching with skilled questioning (I do). Pupils would be encouraged to have a go at this stage (we do).
Pupils answering questions related to the teaching they have received (you do).
Additional teaching which enables pupils to progress within the lesson.
Opportunities to problem and reason at all levels (if the children are fluent in that small step)
Daily assessment is incorporated throughout the lesson through live and verbal feedback. White Rose end of unit assessments and termly assessments are used as a diagnostic tool to ensure that teachers are adapting learning to meet the needs of all children and ensure that any necessary interventions are targeted specifically to meet the needs of children.
All pupils in KS2 also have ‘Mighty Maths’ sessions where the pupils are streamed across the stage of learning that child requires to develop their basic skills. These sessions provide regular coverage of the essential skills needed to ensure good pupil progress in maths across KS2. Pupils come together for 20 minutes three times a week. One check takes 2 weeks to complete:
Session 1-Test Section A
Session 2-Teach Section B
Session 3-Test Section B
Session 4-Consolidate Section B
Session 5-Teach Section C
Session-Test Section C
The same knowledge and skills are ‘tested’ every week, in the same order at the same level of difficulty making gradual progress inevitable as they become embedded over time. Questions are marked together and further teaching is integrated into the consolidation and teaching lessons.
Timestable RockStars
When it comes to times tables, speed AND accuracy are important – the more facts your child remembers, the easier it is for them to do harder calculations. Times Table Rock Stars is a fun and challenging programme designed to help pupils master the times tables. To be a Times Table Rock Star you need to answer any multiplication fact up to 12×12 in less than 3 seconds! Our children from Year 1 – Year 6 have their own individual account and can access TTRS at home and school. A baseline is taken at the beginning of every half term and weekly sessions are planned in for children to access this at school using their Chromebooks.
SumDog
Teachers use SumDog to reinforce skills and concepts in maths. Pupils can play independently with tailored questions assigned as areas to improve form their diagnostic tests. Teachers can also assign specific questions linked to the lessons being taught.
LBQ
Each question set is closely linked to the White Rose Scheme of learning. The children in KS2 use Learning By Questions (LBQ) to support with their Maths learning when working independently. Each child has their own chromebook and works through four phases; understanding, fluency, reasoning and problem solving. The information a teacher is presented with during the lesson can be analysed and immediate feedback given to the pupils.
Impact
The impact of our mathematics curriculum is that children understand the relevance and importance of what they are learning in relation to real world concepts. Children know that maths is a vital life skill that they will rely on in many areas of their daily life. Children have a positive view of maths due to learning in an environment where maths is promoted as being an exciting and enjoyable subject in which they can investigate and ask questions; they know that it is reasonable to make mistakes because this can strengthen their learning through the journey to finding an answer. Children are confident to ‘have a go’ and choose the equipment they need to help them to learn along with the strategies they think are best suited to each problem. Our children have a good understanding of their strengths and targets for development in maths and what they need to do to improve.
Our maths books evidence work of a high standard of which children clearly take pride; the components of the teaching sequences demonstrate good coverage of fluency, reasoning and problem solving. Our flashbacks and feedback support children to strive to be the best mathematicians they can be, ensuring a high proportion of children are on track or above.
Here is the Long Term Progression Document for EYFS:
mastering-number-overview-reception
Reception-Mastering Number Scheme
Here is the Long Term progression Document for Years 1-6
National-Curriculum-Progression-Primary
Below you will find maths overviews for each year group:
Each Term will be added when the new materials have been released
Autumn Term
Spring Term
Here is the Calculation Policy for Addition and Subtraction
Addition and subtraction calculation policy
Here is the Calculation Policy for Multiplication and Division