Maths
Intent
At The Hythe, we aim to ensure that all children have the best grounding in mathematics. We aim to provide a relevant, challenging and enjoyable mathematics curriculum for all children. Children develop the use of mathematical language through speaking and listening, including reasoning and explanations. Our lessons will enable all children to understand the value of mathematics in everyday situations.
We intend on delivering lessons through the National Curriculum, which:
- Give all pupils, including SEND and disadvantaged pupils, a chance to become efficient and confident mathematicians who have a wide range of written and mental strategies to solve calculations and problems.
- Make rich connections across mathematical ideas to develop fluency, mathematical reasoning and competence in solving increasingly sophisticated problems.
- Give all pupils, including SEND and disadvantaged pupils, the opportunity to believe in themselves as mathematicians and develop the power of resilience and perseverance when faced with mathematical challenges.
- Provide opportunities for children to become confident problem solvers who can break problems down into smaller steps.
- Recognise that mathematics underpins much of our daily lives. Therefore it is of paramount importance for children to aspire and become successful in the following stages of their learning.
- Provide equal opportunities for children to apply their mathematical knowledge to other subjects (cross-curricular links).
- Teach different methods that will improve children’s understanding of mathematical concepts coherently; these methods will be continually revised, embedded, and built upon each year.
- Enable children to be ready for their next stage of learning and have a secure understanding of key concepts.
- Equip children with the foundations of mathematics that are essential to everyday life.
Implementation
- In the Foundation Stage, we will provide our young mathematicians with many exciting opportunities. Through the planned, purposeful play of continuous provision, there is a mix of adult-led and child-initiated activities to develop and improve their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems; and to describe shapes, spaces and measures.
- Throughout The Hythe, we teach a broad and challenging curriculum using a range of national schemes to support teachers' planning. We provide opportunities for children to develop confidence and fluency with whole numbers, counting and place value. The children are equipped with the skills to recognise shapes/their properties and measures to describe and compare quantities such as length, mass, capacity/volume, time and money. The use of practical equipment will support the children to gain a deeper conceptual understanding before being challenged through tasks and questions to explain their reasoning and solve a range of problems.
- Teachers develop fluency through practising key skills, repeating, reinforcing, revising and deepening previously taught content. Teachers maximise opportunities to use other resources to support their mathematics teaching and integrate reasoning and problem solving into their lessons. Pre-teaching may be used to introduce a new topic to lower ability or less confident children so that they feel more equipped to participate during that week’s teaching. New mathematical vocabulary is introduced during these sessions so that children can use this during the week.
- The delivery/design of our curriculum is planned to ensure a seamless transition between year groups/key stages. The subject is also supported by cross-curricular learning in other subjects such as science, geography and history.
- Teachers are regularly provided with effective support, either through formal training or informal advice.
- Times Table Rockstars is used effectively to develop fluency in times tables.
- Live marking is promoted in all year groups, enabling staff to check pupils’ understanding at the point of learning. This also allows staff to identify and address misconceptions, providing clear, direct and immediate feedback. The result of this is that all children can make good progress and can embed and use their knowledge fluently. It also allows children to be ‘moved on' and challenged within the lesson.
- Pupils are assessed termly using the PUMA Assessments and the objectives and statements on Insight. Data analysis from these is then used to address gaps and move children’s learning forwards.
Impact
The impact of our mathematics curriculum is that children understand the importance and relevance of their learning in relation to real-world concepts and contexts. They know that maths is a vital life skill that they will rely on in many areas of their daily life. Children have a positive view of maths as they learn in an environment where maths is promoted as being an exciting and enjoyable subject in which they can investigate and ask questions; they understand 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 show confidence to ‘have a go’ and can choose the equipment they need to help them to learn along with the strategies they think are best suited to a problem. Evidence in our maths book is of a high standard and there are examples of a range of activities, which demonstrate good coverage of fluency, reasoning and problem-solving. Children clearly take pride in their learning. Our overall provision supports and encourages children to strive to be the best mathematician they can be.
A variety of methods are used to find out what the children know and understand. Lesson activities are differentiated to suit the different abilities and learning styles. Mathematics lessons allow for collaborative learning and thus encourage children to talk in pairs, in small groups or through a class discussion to share learning. Children who grasp concepts rapidly will be challenged through a range of problems, whilst those not sufficiently fluent will be provided with opportunities to consolidate their understanding through additional practice and first response intervention. Children’s understanding of taught concepts will be assessed formatively and using end of block assessment tasks that provide opportunities for children to demonstrate their understanding fully. Evidence of the children’s learning journey through each Mathematics topic will be recorded in Maths books and working walls.
As each unit of work is covered, we consider the related intended learning, recognise children who are working at or beyond the expected level for each Key Stage, and identify the children who need and who will therefore receive support. Children in the Foundation Stage will be assessed against the Early Years Learning Goal. Children in Year 2 will be assessed against the End of Year 2 Teacher Assessment Framework.
Mathematics monitoring includes work scrutinies, lesson observations, learning walks, pupil voice interviews/questionnaires to ascertain correct curriculum coverage, the quality of teaching and learning, and the children’s attitudes to and retention of maths learning. Internal moderations are carried out at least three times a year. External moderations are carried out once a year with learning partnership schools. This analysis is used to identify areas of development and any children who are not making expected progress. This information is then used to inform further curriculum developments, and provision is adapted accordingly.
Due to focused planning, pupils develop detailed knowledge and skills across the curriculum, and, as a result, a greater number of pupils are achieving well. They can apply their mathematical knowledge, concepts, and procedures appropriate for their age and produce good quality work.
