Maths Curriculum
Intent
We recognise the value that a high-quality mathematics curriculum can offer to our pupils and the impact that it can have on their future lives. We work hard to ensure that all pupils are competent and independent mathematicians. We want our pupils to build a deep conceptual understanding of concepts that will enable them to apply their learning in different situations. We are ambitious for all pupils and support each and every pupil to reach their potential and meet age-related expectations, with this in mind we provide a curriculum that caters for the needs of all individuals. Any children not achieving age-related expectations will be closely monitored by the class teacher and Maths lead and relevant interventions will be put into place.
Implementation
We help all children develop the skills and processes necessary to use Maths as part of their everyday lives. We deliver engaging lessons that are accessible to all pupils in our school family. We follow the Power Maths scheme. This scheme is approved by the Department of Education. We teach skills through context, providing purpose and meaning as this makes mathematical experiences enjoyable, practical, relevant and realistic. We work hard to address the negative mind set which many pupils have towards maths as we make it fun.
We incorporate sustained levels of challenge through varied and high-quality activities with a focus on fluency, reasoning and problem-solving. Fluency activities are practiced daily at the start of the day. They focus on supporting the children with their ability to remember the skills which they have already learnt:
Monday – Addition
Tuesday – Subtraction
Wednesday – Multiplication
Thursday – Division
Friday - Fractions
Reception and Key Stage One use the time to embed number understanding and formation until specific skills are introduced.
Pupils are required to explore maths in depth, using mathematical vocabulary to reason and explain their workings.
Through mathematical talk, children will develop the ability to articulate, discuss and explain their thinking. We will provide the children with the necessary resources to allow all children to access the curriculum and encourage them to use this where appropriate to explain their logic and reasoning.
A wide range of hands-on mathematical resources are used and pupils are taught to show their workings in a concrete fashion, before establishing ways of pictorially and formally representing their understanding. Our mastery curriculum ensures that the children are taught to explain their choice of methods and develop their mathematical reasoning skills. We foster resilience and accept that mistakes are often a necessary step in learning. Our classes have an ethos where it is ok to make mistakes and we can learn from them. We actively encourage pupils to independently reach for the resources which they need to help them to complete a task - be this a number track or a 100 square.
Impact
Maths is a journey and long-term goal, achieved through exploration, clarification, practice and application over time. At each stage of learning, children should be able to demonstrate a deep, conceptual understanding of the topic and be able to build on this over time. As a result of our teaching, we expect our pupils to be able to apply their mathematical knowledge to other subjects.
We believe that all pupils can achieve in mathematics and it is our role to give them the skills needed to do this. We help all of our children to develop the skills necessary to use Maths as part of their everyday lives. We want our children to enjoy Maths and be confident with it.