MATHEMATICS 

Mathematics is essential to everyday life. We believe a high quality mathematics education provides a foundation for understanding the world around us, allowing us to make links to other curriculum areas as much as possible. We encourage our pupils to become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics; reasoning mathematically and solving problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of situations.  Essentially, we want our pupils to develop a sense of enjoyment and curiosity for the subject.

The school follows the national framework for Mathematics with statutory assessments taking place at the end of Key Stage 1 and 2. We supplement this with White Rose Maths planning, plus additional resources as necessary - Nrich / Deepening Understanding/ Target your Maths, for example. We use a mastery approach to teaching maths in conjunction with our local maths hub (NNW). The use of concrete apparatus is actively encouraged throughout the school.

Key Drivers and how they link with Maths:

Parent Partnership: Involve parents in promotional days (Number Day, STEM days, TTRockstars competitions) so they can support their child from home. Send out passwords/login details for NumBots and TTRockstars for parents to support from home. Involve parents in Class topics through Dojo/Tapestry.

Emotional Resilience: Building resilience with Maths skills: perseverance with struggles. Provide several opportunities for problem solving sessions within weekly and daily maths lessons. Make links with other STEM subjects for further opportunities for problem solving and resilience building (robotics/ Lego League etc). Include independent and group investigations with open-ended answers to develop this skill.

Reflective learners: Include evaluation at the end of each Maths session so children record what has gone well and what needs improving at the end of each session. Use assessment for learning (AFL) techniques to encourage reflection on learning. Children to be part of the decision making process when teaching follow-up lessons - sit with adult support if needed following previous sessions.

Speaking and language: Focus on the key vocabulary for the subject and have it displayed. Make adult use of correct maths vocabulary a priority when teaching all age groups (estimate, vertices, reflection, parallel in EYFS etc).

PSHE: Knowing yourself and working with others - problem solving activities allow lots of opportunity for collaborative learning and social interactions. NRich maths website is particularly good for developing this approach. Look at the impact of maths in everyday life skills.

Pedagogy: Staff to model the skills and use this to support learning. Learning apparatus is essential for developing fundamental understanding of maths processes - Numicon, place value counters, equivalent fraction walls, hundred squares, number lines etc.

Global: Links where relevant, particularly with the history of maths and key people throughout time that have contributed to today’s maths knowledge and processes (The Egyptians/Greeks, Pythagoras, Turing, Einstein, Newton, Katherine Johnson, as well as modern ‘mathematicians’ influential to children today - Bill Gates, Steve Jobs etc)

Skills and creativity: Much opportunity for development in this subject. Monitor and support skill development. Use the Ready to Progress documents to ensure all key skills are covered for catch-up and beyond. STEM activities to use skills in context & cross-curricular (Lego League, Robotics, K-Nex etc).

Click on the link below to go to the online learning book for Maths in EYFS