Maths
Intent
Our Mathematics curriculum has been specifically tailored to meet the unique context of our school. It is designed to be broad and balanced, providing all pupils with the opportunity to master their learning develop their skills and deepen their knowledge whilst making sense and giving purpose as to why we learn Mathematics. At Our Lady’s, these skills are embedded within Maths lessons and developed consistently over time. We are committed to ensuring that children are able to recognise the importance of Mathematics in the wider world and that they are also able to use their mathematical skills and knowledge confidently in their lives in a range of different contexts. We want all children to enjoy Mathematics and to experience success in the subject with the ability to reason mathematically and solve every day problems. We are committed to developing children’s curiosity about the subject, as well as an appreciation of the beauty and power of Mathematics.
At Our Lady’s we believe that all pupils can achieve in mathematics. We believe in a ‘Mastery’ approach where Mathematics is a journey and long-term goal achieved through exploration, clarification, practise and application over time. At each stage of learning, children should be able to demonstrate a deep, conceptual understanding of a mathematical topic and be able to build on this over time. We believe that children should be able to select which mathematical approach is most effective in different scenarios as their understanding of a mathematical topic becomes deeper.
The 2014 National Curriculum for Mathematics aims to ensure that all children:
- Become fluent in the fundamentals of Mathematics
• Are able to reason mathematically
• Can solve problems by applying their Mathematics
Implementation
The content and principles underpinning the 2014 Mathematics curriculum at Our Lady’s are:
- Teachers reinforce an expectation that all children are capable of achieving high standards in Mathematics.
- The large majority of children progress through the curriculum content at the same pace.
- Differentiation is achieved by emphasising deep knowledge and through individual support and intervention.
- Teaching is underpinned by methodical curriculum design and supported by carefully crafted lessons and resources to foster deep conceptual and procedural
knowledge. - Practice and consolidation play a central role. Carefully designed variation within this builds fluency and understanding of underlying mathematical concepts.
- Teachers use precise questioning in class to test fluency in conceptual understanding as well as fluency of facts and procedures. They assess children
regularly to identify those requiring intervention so that all children keep up.
In the EYFS the staff provide a comprehensive and varied programme of mathematics activities for children aged 3-5. Children are introduced to the key mathematical ideas through using different resources including White Rose and Numicon. The children are exposed to a wide range of practical ideas to develop deep understanding of numbers and number relationships, shape, space and measures through activities which are supported by creative suggestions for extending the learning across a variety of environments where children can explore the key concepts.
To ensure whole school consistency and progression, Key stage One and Two, use The White Rose Maths Hub scheme.
New mathematical concepts are introduced using a ‘Concrete, Pictorial and Abstract’ approach; enabling all children to experience hands-on learning when discovering new mathematical topics, and allows them to have clear models and images to aid their understanding. Arithmetic and basic math skills are practised daily to ensure key mathematical concepts are embedded and children can recall this information to see the links between topics in Mathematics. Objects and pictures are used to demonstrate and visualise abstract ideas, alongside numbers and symbols. Throughout Our Lady’s , you will see these three models being used:
Concrete- children have the opportunity to use concrete objects and manipulatives to help them understand and explain what they are doing.
Pictorial- children then build on this concrete approach by using these pictorial representations, which can then be used to reason and solve problems.
Abstract- with the foundations firmly laid by using concrete and pictorial methods, the children can move onto an abstract approach using numbers and key concepts with confidence.
The mathematical topics are taught in blocks, to enable the achievement of ‘mastery’ over time. Each lesson phase provides the means to achieve greater depth, with more able children being offered rich and sophisticated problems, as well as exploratory, investigative tasks, within the lesson as appropriate.
Teaching throughout Key Stage One and Two builds on the on the solid foundations of the previous key stage. Children are introduced to a formal calculation method in Year Two, and these are developed and built on each year in line with age related expectations and the schools Calculation Policy. Mathematical concepts are taught on a weekly basis from the White Rose scheme. In Key Stage One and Two initial problem-solving activity prompts discussion, reasoning and allows pupils to use mathematical vocabulary. Independent work is demonstrated in children’s books. Mathematical topics are taught to enable the achievement of ‘mastery’ over time. Each lesson phase provides the means to achieve greater depth, with more able children being offered rich and sophisticated problems, as well as exploratory, investigative tasks within lessons, as appropriate.
The frequent opportunities to reason and problem solve in real life contexts develops pupils’ conceptual understanding and prepares them for the statutory end of key stage assessments.
Teachers use a wealth of resources such as, My Maths, Timetables Rock stars, Hit the Button and Numbots . To provide suitable teaching material appropriate to the needs of the class. We also have the 99 club which provides an opportunity for children to improve their mental recall of the four mathematical operations.
Puma Assessments take place for all pupils at three points, each academic year. This allows teachers to plan appropriately when they come to teach each block during the academic year. The assessment of children’s progress and attainment is discussed with senior leaders during pupil progress meetings. Formative assessment takes place on a daily basis and teachers adjust planning accordingly to meet the needs of their class.
Attainment and outcomes in mathematics have a prominent focus within school. The teaching of mathematics is monitored frequently through lesson observations, learning walks, book scrutiny and pupil interviews.
Impact
At Our Lady’s a high-quality mathematical education aims to develop a range of reasoning and problem-solving skills that are transferable to other curriculum areas, particularly Science, Geography and Computing. We seek to have a supportive ethos and our approaches support the children in becoming competent and confident mathematicians. 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 OK to be ‘wrong’ and that this can strengthen their learning because the journey to finding an answer is most important. 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.
The structure of the mathematics curriculum at our school ensures that all children are taught the strands expected from the 2014 National Curriculum. We aim to challenge each and every pupil to help them to achieve success in Mathematics by developing a growth mindset, resilience and a love for the subject. We support our children to strive to be the best mathematicians they can be, ensuring a high proportion of children are on track or above. Our school standards are high, we moderate our books both internally and externally.