Mathematics
Intent
At Heather Garth Primary Academy, we aim to provide a Mathematics curriculum where all children make progress. The children are encouraged to think for themselves and acquire lifelong skills, which will prepare them for life in a modern society.
We follow the The National Curriculum (2014) for mathematics which aims to ensure that all pupils:
- become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately
- reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language
- can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions
The National Curriculum (2014) for mathematics describes in detail what pupils must learn in each year group. This combined with the school’s Calculation Policy, Non Negotiables and the DFE Ready to Progress criteria ensures continuity and progression and high expectations for the attainment in mathematics.
At Heather Garth Primary Academy, we believe that Mathematics is integral to all aspects of life and we endeavour to ensure that children develop a positive and enthusiastic attitude towards the subject that will stay with them. It is vital that a positive attitude towards maths is encouraged amongst all of our pupils in order to foster confidence and achievement as it is a skill that is essential in our society.
Implementation
We offer a Mastery curriculum for all children. Mastery means a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of a subject. Key elements of this include:
- fluency (rapid and accurate recall and application of facts and concepts)
- a growing confidence to reason
- the ability to apply knowledge to solve problems
Mastery of maths, which is built gradually as a pupil goes through school, is a tool for life, and is underpinned by a fundamental and unbending belief held by our staff that all children are capable of achieving. We are committed to ensuring that pupils achieve mastery in the key concepts of mathematics and will overcome barriers to learning through scaffolding and interventions to ensure progress for all. We also ensure that ability does not put a ceiling on learning and that all pupils are allowed to access challenging concepts to deepen their learning and understanding. All children are offered tasks that provide the opportunity to reason and problem solve. The deeper structure of questions or activities our pupils encounter in their maths lessons, allows for greater depth and the opportunity pupils to explore and investigate ways to solve a variety of problems.
Planning covers all National Curriculum statutory and non-statuary objectives, along with the DFE Ready to Progress objectives. This ensures the full coverage of all objectives across the academic year. Teachers at Heather Garth Primary Academy use the White Rose Maths scheme of learning. We follow the programme's small steps as a base for our weekly maths planning, Learning is enhanced by the use of other resources to develop the children’s mathematical thinking. Some of these inculde: I See Reasoning, Classroom Sercrets, resources provided by the South Yorkshire Hub (NCETM) and NRICH. Teachers adapt and personalise daily lesson plans to ensure the learning needs of their class and individuals are met.
Applying the skills taught and developing deeper thinking for all children is at the core of mathematics at Heather Garth Primary Academy. The use of ‘Daily Practice’ sessions and Maths Meetings in class provide the children with the opportunity to consolidate and reinforce their learning so that knowledge is not lost over time and can be used when reasoning and problem solving in a variety of contexts.
Objects, pictures, words, numbers and symbols are everywhere. The mastery approach adopted by Heather Garth incorporates: concrete, pictorial and abstract. All of these help children explore and demonstrate mathematical ideas, enrich their learning experience and deepen understanding. Together, these elements help cement knowledge so pupils truly understand what they’ve learnt.
Concrete – children have the opportunity to use concrete objects and manipulatives to help them understand and explain what they are doing.
Pictorial – children then build on this concrete approach by using pictorial representations, which can then be used to reason and solve problems.
Abstract – With the foundations firmly laid, children can move to an abstract approach using numbers and key concepts with confidence.
Non-negotiables have been devised for each year group which are the key elements ‘number facts’ of maths that are crucial for children’s mathematical learning and progression. These ensure that the children are ready for the next stage of their mathematical journey. Pre and post teach learning is integral to the learning cycle and children are given timely support especially in the non-negotiable areas. The school has incorporates the June 2020 Ready to Progress Criteria that identifies the most important areas that pupils need as they progress from year 1 to year 6. These important concepts are referred to as ready-to-progress criteria (RTP). The ready-to-progress criteria (RTP) have been selected in order to develop pupils’ mastery of the primary maths curriculum and, if all criteria are taught and met, pupils will be able to more easily access many other areas of mathematics.
In Early Years, teachers also follow the White Rose Maths scheme of learnng. Children are provided with creative and engaging ways to explore and investigate their learning in a stimulating indoor and outdoor environment. Children are immersed into the curriculum; encouraging children to problem solve, experiment, be active and creative while engaging in different themed learning experiences. Children take part in a daily maths meeting which introduces new mathematical concepts and vocabulary and gives children the opportunity to explain and embed the maths they are learning about.
Impact
As a result of our Maths teaching at Heather Garth you will see:
- Children who understand the relevance and importance of what they are learning in relation to real world concepts. Children know that maths is a vital life skill that they will rely on in many areas of their daily life.
- Engaged children who are all challenged.
- Confident children who can all talk about Maths and their learning and the links between Mathematical topics.
- Lessons that use a variety of resources to support learning.
- Children have a positive view of maths due to learning in an environment where maths is promoted as being an exciting and enjoyable subject in which they can investigate and ask questions; they know that it is OK to be ‘wrong’ and that this can strengthen their learning because the journey to finding an answer is most important.
- Our maths books evidence work of a high standard of which children clearly take pride; the range of activities demonstrate good coverage of fluency, reasoning and problem solving.
- Our feedback and interventions support children to strive to be the best mathematicians they can be, ensuring a high proportion of children are on track.
- Learning that is tracked and monitored to ensure all children make good progress.