Maths

At Findern, we use the following numeral formation. To ensure consistency between home and school, please encourage your child/ren to write numerals as shown below. Thank you for your support!

Mathematics Intent:

Mathematics 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 curriculum. We want children to develop an enjoyment and enthusiasm to support 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 unlocking 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 and will equip learners with the ability to make connections and solve increasingly sophisticated problems.

In line with White Rose, we want our children to understand mathematics and make connections between different representations. This might be through the use of number lines/tracks, Base Ten, Ten's Frames and Part-Whole Models. We also want our children to become critical thinkers with an ability to discuss the mathematics they are doing, and so support them to take their ideas further. We encourage children to take risks and to think outside the box. As well as being fluent mathematicians, we want our children to love and learn more about mathematics.

Implementation:

Our progressive curriculum allows children to learn mathematics effectively and in small, sequenced steps. In Mathematics, some things have to be learned before others, e.g. place value needs to be understood before working with addition and subtraction.

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 excel. As a school, we believe in the importance of following the concrete-pictorial-abstract 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 maths tuition each week with additional sessions devoted to number proficiency and times tables. 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 medium-term plans in line with White Rose small steps, but have the flexibility to alter the order to suit and benefit the needs of our children at any given time. The ‘White Rose’ scheme of learning supports children in learning the fundamentals behind the meaning of number and exploring other key mathematical areas. Our maths curriculum is also supported through the implementation of resources from ‘Primary Stars Education’ in KS1 and ‘Classroom Secrets’ in KS2. These use ‘small steps’ to break down the teaching sequence into small achievable steps.

Daily assessment is incorporated throughout the lesson through live and verbal feedback. Where children require additional support, learning is re-visited in small groups which may be in the form of returning back to concrete or pictorial representations in order to support their understanding. For children who understand a concept quicker, challenges are used to deepen and challenge learners further within the curriculum area. Challenge is evident in children’s books through ‘next-step’ marking which is clearly identifiable in red pen and responded to in green pen.

Progression documents such as our calculation policy are carefully used to ensure that children’s learning is being deepened within each group before being stretched outside of the year groups aims.

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. 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. While the rapid recall of times tables is being developed, children are also learning how to apply and manipulate their understanding of this to reason and solve problems. Children from Y1 – Y6 have the opportunity to consolidate and apply their times tables knowledge using our online tool ‘Times Tables Rockstars’.

Impact:

By the end of Year 6, transitioning to secondary school, we aspire that a Findern Primary School mathematician will have developed a bank of efficient and accurate skills that can be used to calculate effectively. These will have been underpinned by the Concrete-Pictorial-Abstract approach 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.