Maths

Subject Leader Tim Suswain

Our Intent, Implementation and Impact Statement for Mathematics

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 broad and balanced 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 mindsets, confidence and competence in Maths that produces strong, secure learning. As a school, we recognise that the key to unlocking the potential in our children is through the development of basic mathematical skills and the understanding of mathematical concepts. We therefore place 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.

Implementation:

Our Maths curriculum provides breadth and balance, is relevant and engaging and is differentiated to match the needs and abilities of all our children to ensure that all pupils are able to maximise their potential. 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.

Children receive a minimum of 5 hours of Maths lessons per week. One of these sessions will be based around the children applying their knowledge and understanding using the online platform ‘Mathletics’.

We have created our long and medium-term plans in line with White Rose small steps, but have altered the order to suit and benefit the needs of our children so that connections between units of learning are easier to recognise. From Reception to Year 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. Since May 2022 our Maths curriculum is also supported through the implementation of resources and power point presentation from the NCETM Curriculum Prioritisation documents. White Rose the NCETM Curriculum Prioritisation documents use ‘small steps’ to break down the teaching sequence into small achievable steps. Where children require additional support, ‘scaffolds’ are used to support children further to ensure that they have secured the small step before moving on. These ‘scaffolds’ may be in the form of returning to concrete resources or pictorial representations, pre-teaching in a session before the Maths lesson or further practice following the Maths session. For children who understand a concept quicker, challenges are used to deepen and challenge learners further within the curriculum area.

Our long term plans are carefully used to ensure that children are not being stretched outside their year group but rather deepened within it. Through the use of spaced learning, they will have many opportunities to apply prior knowledge and revisit key Mathematical areas regularly. Daily formative assessment is incorporated throughout the lesson through live and verbal feedback. Where children require additional support. 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.

The children from reception to year 6 additionally have 4 Maths meetings per week. These are 15 minute sessions based on quick recall of number facts, revisiting prior learning and developing the children’s skills in explaining their mathematical knowledge.

Times tables play an important part in our maths learning, with children developing their fluency in rapid recall of tables up to 12 x 12 by the end of year 4. We subscribe to ‘Times Table Rockstars’ to support the children’s learning and they are also able to earn times table wristbands when they become fluent with each times table. While the rapid recall of times tables are being developed, children are also learning how to apply and manipulate their understanding of this to reason and solve problems.

Impact:

By the end of Year 6, transitioning to high school, we aspire that our children will have developed a bank of efficient and accurate skills that can be used to calculate effectively. These will have been underpinned by the C-P-A process so children understand rather than just do, which ultimately will allow children to identify when answers do not make mathematical sense. Children will be able to apply these calculation skills and understanding of other areas to become confident and resilient problem-solvers with the ability to reason and articulate their ideas mathematically.