Mathematics at Field End Junior School
Intent
Our aim at Field End Junior School is to encourage all children to be confident and independent mathematicians. We want all our children to become lifelong mathematicians who are able to apply secure strategies with the maths they encounter, specifically within daily maths lessons and also across our broad connected school curriculum. We foster the positive mastery approach - ‘can do’ attitudes and promote the fact that, ‘We can all do Maths, and we can all be Mathematicians!’
To ensure that our pupils develop a secure knowledge that they can build on, our maths curriculum is organised into a progression model that outlines the skills, knowledge and vocabulary to be taught in a progressive and sequentially coherent way. We adopt teaching and structure associated with the recommended Mastery approach.
We adopt the The White Rose Scheme of work as a planning tool and make adaptations bespoke to the children’s needs on a day to day basis. Our mathematical curriculum covers all of the skills and understanding set out in the National Curriculum (2014). The National Curriculum states that maths is ‘essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment.’ With this in mind, our intent is to ensure that connections are made with other subjects to strengthen and reinforce learning and understanding.
We are committed to developing all children’s curiosity, as well as the beauty and power of maths. We believe that every child can be successful and master an understanding and love of maths at our school.
The Mastery approach
The ethos of the Mastery approach is an inherent belief that ALL children can achieve in mathematics, and it is our intent that children have a secure and deep understanding of mathematical concepts through small manageable steps, using mistakes and misconceptions as an essential part of this learning.
Our maths teaching is underpinned by the belief that all children need a deep understanding of the mathematics they are learning. This is what we mean by Mastery. There is one set of Mathematical concepts for all. We ensure through planning and tasks that all pupils have access to these concepts and the rich connections between them.
Mastery is, therefore, the aim for all children, hence we have an ambitious maths curriculum for all. Mastery is a continuum. We believe mastery is only going to be achieved when more time is spent on key concepts that are revisited and reviewed regularly. This allows for the development of depth and sufficient practice to embed learning.
Underpinned by
High expectations - it is our intent that all children are expected to be successful and progress, no matter their starting point.
Modelling - Teachers teach the skills needed to succeed in mathematics providing examples of good practice and having high expectations.
Confident orators immersed in a vocabulary rich environment - We intend to create a vocabulary rich environment, where talk for maths is a key learning tool for all children. Pre-teaching key vocabulary is a driver for pupil understanding and develops self-esteem so children are able to explain mathematically.
Identify patterns and relationships - All children have opportunities to identify patterns or connections in their maths; they can use this to predict and reason and to also develop their own patterns or links in maths and other subjects. This approach aids fluency and the ability to apply processes to problem solving and reasoning.
Reasoning and problem solving - We intend for all children to solve problems by applying their reading and mathematics to a variety of routine and nonroutine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.
It is our intent that our children secure a long term, deep and adaptable understanding of maths which they can apply in different contexts, to become confident lifelong mathematicians.
Implementation
Every class from Y3 to Y6 follows the White Rose scheme of learning which is based on the National Curriculum. Lessons may be personalised to address the individual needs and requirements for a class but coverage and progression is maintained.
In order to further develop the children’s fluency, reasoning and problem-solving, we use Deepening Understanding which correlates to the White Rose lessons and further develops children’s understanding of a concept and the links between maths topics. We also use a range of planning resources including those provided by the NCETM and Let’s Think to enrich our children’s maths diet.
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High-level long-term map for maths - This outlines in year groups when mathematical knowledge, in units of work, will be taught and revisited. This is the basis for our well sequenced and progressive curriculum. •
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Our Progression documents - This provides an overview of the development of concepts across the primary years. NCETM and DFE progression documents are being used alongside White Rose. These allow teachers to have an overview of the progression of concepts over time enabling reference to concepts children have learnt previously and how the learning is linked and continues subsequently.
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Calculation policies - These outline in more detail which concepts and procedures / strategies will be introduced and then developed.
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Weekly planning - Based on White Rose Maths which is tailored to the needs of our children. The progression of ‘small steps’ structure each unit of work being taught. We use many concrete resources throughout the school to ensure children are exposed to multiple representations of a concept. This is part of our CPA (Concrete, Pictorial and Abstract) approach. Whilst we teach maths in progressive distinct domains (units of work) we recognise that maths is an interconnected subject. Therefore, we encourage children to make connections across mathematical ideas to develop fluency, mathematical reasoning and competence in solving increasingly sophisticated problems. We regard talk in maths as important and introduce mathematical vocabulary in an age appropriate way. We encourage children to verbalise their thinking; our teachers ensure that pupils build secure foundations by using discussion to probe and remedy their misconceptions, developing confident mathematical orators.
Time for Maths
All classes are timetables to have a minimum of 1 hour lesson each day. Additional time is given to maths games in year 3, time tables in year 4 and arithmetic in years 5 and 6.
If children are not reaching the expectations expected we intervene quickly by giving extra support. We give catch up support by 1:1 adult support, small group interventions, as well as pre-teaching and post teaching as necessary. The content of these sessions is determined by on-going gap analyses and our in-depth knowledge of each child. These sessions are additional to our daily maths sessions.
Impact
Through discussion and feedback, our children talk enthusiastically about their maths lessons and speak about how they love learning about maths. They can articulate the context in which maths is being taught and relate this to real life purposes. Children show confidence and believe they can learn about a new maths area and apply the knowledge and skills they already have.
The impact of ‘mastery’ and the emphasis on accurate use of mathematical language is evident during class/pupil discussions.
Children’s fluency in number is evident in our proven track record of high success in arithmetic.
We are proud to have laid and built upon the foundations of maths and hope that as our children take their next steps on their educational journey, they will continue to build and grow in both academic excellence and a bright numerate future.