St John the Evangelist CE Primary School

Maths

"Mathematics reveals its secret only to those who approach it with love, for its own beauty.” Archimedes

Intent: At St John’s we recognise the importance of Mathematics throughout each child’s every day and future life. The intent of our Mathematics curriculum is to provide children with a foundation for understanding number, reasoning, thinking logically and problem solving with resilience so that they are fully prepared for the future. We aim that all children, regardless of their starting point, will maximise their academic achievement. We aim to empower our children with a can-do attitude and believe that all children can be successful at Maths. This approach means that we are not putting a ceiling on children’s learning and that all children have the opportunity to achieve. It allows for an inclusive approach for all, whilst children who rapidly grasp topics will be given opportunities to extend their thinking and explore topics in greater depth.

Implementation: In our school we teach mathematics following the mastery approach. We have adopted the NCTEM Curriculum Prioritisation Framework to support the planning and teaching of mathematics. These resources provide a coherent and sequenced maths curriculum, covering the requirements of the National Curriculum. The subject leader has used these resources to develop long-term plans that ensure coverage and progression. Units of work teach distinct areas of mathematics but teach children to make rich connections across strands of mathematics to develop fluency, reasoning and competence with increasingly sophisticated problems. Mathematical resources and images are used throughout all key stages to cement conceptual understanding.

What is teaching for Mastery?

Mastering maths means pupils acquiring a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of the subject. The phrase ‘teaching for mastery’ describes the elements of classroom practice and school organisation that combine to give pupils the best chances of mastering maths. Achieving mastery means acquiring a solid enough understanding of the maths that’s been taught to enable pupils to move on to more advanced material. The teaching of mathematical mastery centres of five BIG ideas:

Coherence
Lessons are broken down into small connected steps that gradually unfold the concept, providing access for all children and leading to a generalisation of the concept and the ability to apply the concept to a range of contexts.

Representation and Structure
Representations used in lessons expose the mathematical idea being taught, the aim being that children can do the maths without recourse to the representation.

Mathematical Thinking
If taught ideas are to be understood deeply, they must not merely be passively received but must be worked on by the child; thought about, reasoned with and discussed with others.

Fluency
Quick and efficient recall of facts and procedures and the flexibility to move between different contexts and representations of mathematics.

Variation
Variation is twofold. It is firstly about how the teacher represents the concept being taught, often in more than one way, and to develop deep understanding. It is also about the sequencing of the activities and exercises used within a lesson and follow up practice, paying attention to what is kept the same and what changes, to connect the mathematics and draw attention to mathematical relationships and structure.

The Maths Lesson:

During maths lessons content is carefully introduced using a gradual release model. The ‘I Do’ provides an opportunity for teachers to model the thinking process, representations and mathematical vocabulary required to facilitate the new learning. Throughout the ‘We Do’ teachers use whole class and targeted questioning to enable pupils to articulate their evolving understanding through a class dialogue where children challenge, support or build on each other’s ideas. The pupils then have an opportunity to practise the new learning with a partner or a small group during ‘You Do it Together’ this provides an opportunity for teachers to make dynamic assessments and identify any arising misconceptions. The pupils then complete an independent activity ‘You Do it Alone’ this includes opportunities for fluency, reasoning and problem solving. The gradual release cycle may be repeated several times throughout a sequencing of learning as pupils move through concrete pictorial and abstract representations to build a deep and secure understanding of mathematical concepts.

The Maths Meeting:

To secure firm foundations in EYFS and Key Stage 1 we follow Mastering Number in a daily maths meeting, separate to the main maths lesson. This supports the children to develop strong number sense with the aim that children leave Key Stage 1 with fluency in calculation and a confidence and flexibility with number. In Key Stage 2 a daily maths meeting has defined elements which include: counting, a revisit of prior learning and opportunities to practise mental and written calculations involving the four operations, fractions, decimals and percentages.

EYFS:

At St John’s we value the importance of developing early number sense. The approach taken to teaching maths in our nursery and reception classrooms mirrors that of the wider school. The pupils have a daily maths lesson and a daily maths meeting. The maths lessons include a short input where pupils are introduced to representations, key vocabulary and given opportunities for mathematical reasoning through support and challenge. After the whole class lesson children part take in an adult directed task to further challenge or consolidate their learning. During the maths meeting children develop fluency of key number facts to build firm foundations of additive structures in preparation for KS1. Outside of taught maths sessions the EYFS classrooms provide a maths rich environment for children to explore mathematic through enhanced and continuous provision.

Impact:

Assessment is ongoing in lessons with teachers using assessment for learning in lessons and between lessons to adjust the maths learning journey. A variety of assessments are used to support teachers in identifying what pupils know and can do with independence. Assessment grids outline key objectives which pupils are required to demonstrate in order to be secure in each year group’s curriculum. After each unit of work pupils complete an end of unit assessment. In addition to this, pupils complete an arithmetic and reasoning paper during the Autumn, spring and Summer Assessment weeks to inform teacher assessments. Teachers make termly judgements as to the extent to which children are on track to meet the expected standard or greater depth (entering, developing, secure or embedding within their year group curriculum). Each term teacher complete in-year and cross year/phase moderation supported by the maths subject leader. The NCTEM Ready to Progress materials are used to support assessment and to ensure that children are secure in the fundamental objectives within each year group. These support a range of interventions as well as pre-teach opportunities.

Curriculum Plans:

Click on the links below to download the long term plans for mathematics:

Nursery Maths Long Term Plan

Reception Maths Long Term Plan

Year 1 Maths Long Term Plan

Year 2 Maths Long Term Plan

Year 3 Maths Long Term Plan

Year 4 Maths Long Term Plan

Year 5 Maths Long Term Plan

Year 6 Maths Long Term Plan

Click on the links below for the progression documents:

Number and Place Value