Wilbraham Primary SchoolMaths
Maths Statement of Intent:
We aspire, and we believe that all children, regardless of their starting point, should have the opportunity to learn and succeed in mathematics. Through an inclusive approach built on high aspiration, we nurture confident, fluent and inquisitive learners who develop strong number sense and a deep understanding of maths. Our culture promotes resilience, positivity and security, enabling children to learn from mistakes, explore ideas through speaking, listening and communicating, and work collaboratively so that maths makes sense to all. Within a strong community of schools where all adults have deep subject knowledge, we develop ambitious, lifelong learners who are confident, prepared for the next stage of their maths journey and able to achieve the very best they can be.
At Wilbraham Primary School, we follow a high quality and ambitious curriculum that engineers success using a Teaching for Mastery approach. This enables all children to master the mathematics curriculum through careful curriculum sequencing and small-step progression so that children have the knowledge they need to achieve and thrive in later life. Time is available within the curriculum for revisiting content and dealing with gaps in knowledge and skills.
Our aim is to develop a positive mindset of mathematics and ensure depth of conceptual understanding through progressive mathematical fluency, problem-solving and reasoning skills for all children. This helps our children to know more, remember more and be able to do more. Our mathematics curriculum ensures children build knowledge and skills sequentially and cumulatively using the small step progression unit sequence from Oak National Academy Curriculum Plans for KS1 and KS2. Children learn to build networks of connections in mathematics by constructing understanding of mathematical ideas and awareness of the relationships between concrete experiences, language, pictures, and mathematical symbols (Haylock and Thangata 2007).
Children are taught in flexible groups within mixed attainment classes and are supported to reason deeply about the maths they explore. Scaffolding and modelling are used to ensure children extend and develop their ideas; they master the small steps of progression at roughly the same rate. Mistakes in maths are valued and celebrated. Unpicking misconceptions so that children evaluate their thinking, and make changes and adaptations to future work, is vital in scaffolding them towards greater independent learning. Collaborative learning and dialogic teaching strategies support the use of mathematical talk in an oracy rich classroom giving all children the opportunity to explore mathematical concepts, resolve mistakes and identify misconceptions with growing independence.
The National Curriculum for mathematics 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 nonroutine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.
At Wilbraham Primary School, these three elements are embedded within maths lessons and are developed over time. Maths is a rich and interconnected subject and our aim is to support children to move fluently between different concepts and different representations of mathematical ideas, through both procedural and conceptual variation.
Lessons are designed around the NCETM’s Five Big Ideas in teaching for Mastery. Teachers ensure a coherent progression through the curriculum. Representations are used to expose mathematical structure and children use precise mathematical language to describe their thinking. Tasks are carefully planned to ensure concepts are vaired to draw attention to critical features. Fluency, the efficient and accurate recall of key number facts, is built through recognising relationships and making connections.
In Key Stages One and Two, children are taught in mixed attainment classes and follow the Oak National Academy Curriculum Plans for KS1 and KS2 in sequence.
Lesson Structure
Connect: To build new knowledge on to prior knowledge. We use the Starter Quiz on Oak Academy and all children are involved in retrieving information from the long term memory.
Explore: To provide an entry point for all learners to access the new learning. We select an image from the Oak Academy slide deck for the children to explore and discuss.
Explain: To explain new learning in small steps using the slide deck. Children work collaboratively using their oracy skills as they continue to explore the new learning.
Check: To assess pupils' understanding by targeting common misconceptions and mistakes.
Practice: To check, apply and consolidate their learning, helping to commit new knowledge and skills to memory. We use the tasks from Oak Academy to provide children the opportunity to independently practice the new learning.
Feedback: To provide pupils with information about their performance in a task or activity, with the goal of helping them to improve their learning.
Debrief: To find out if the children learnt what we intended them to. Children discuss what they have learnt in the lesson.
Mastering Number
We use the ‘Mastering Number for Reception and KS1’ and 'Mastering Number at Year 3' materials in school to secure firm foundations in additive facts and develop good number sense for all children across school. In Reception and KS1, children participate in Mastering Number lessons, which are taught outside of the main maths lesson for 10 to 15 minutes, on four days each week. In these short sessions, children are encouraged to notice, explore and explain patterns and connections they see when exploring mathematical concepts. In Year 3, children participate in a daily Mastering Number lesson, securing these essential foundations in number.
We continue to use Mastering Number in Years 4 and 5. Mastering Number at this stage focusses on securing multiplicative facts and ensuring times tables are learnt, remembered and quick to recall. A short 15 to 20 minute session, outside of the main maths lesson, is taught daily focussing on securing times tables and reasoning about multiplication and division. In Year 4, the focus is securing all times tables facts to 12 x 12. We use a times tables tracker to identify individual children's known facts and to set next steps. Children complete the Multiplication Tables Check in the summer term. In Year 5, children continue to review and practise key facts. They also begin to make connections and deepen understanding.
Assessment
We have a robust approach to tracking and assessment for mathematics, which ensures teachers identify and tackle any gaps in learning and address them as soon as possible using adaptive teaching strategies and flexible and timely ‘keep-up’ interventions, including pre-teach, to ensure all children are lesson ready. This helps pupils embed key concepts, use knowledge fluently and develops their understanding.
Formative Assessment
As we prioritise retrieval practice, all lessons start with a ‘Connect’, where children have the opportunity to bridge-back to previous concepts. During a lesson, teachers use a ‘check’ to ensure all children are ‘keeping-up’ in the lesson and to provide feedback during the lesson. At the end of the lesson/day, children complete the exit quiz questions as a formative post-assessment.
Summative Assessment
In Year 1, children's progress towards key foundational knowledge is carefully tracked through the year. In years 2 to 6, at the end of every term, children complete a summative assessment based on the content taught that term and from previous years. This is based on Maths Guidance: key stages 1 and 2 and focuses on the essential skills, knowledge and understanding that children need from the previous year groups, so that all children are ready to progress onto the new learning. Teachers use a range of adaptive teaching strategies to ensure that all children secure strong foundations to access the curriculum.
Children are then assessed at the end of each academic year, on all key areas from the Maths Guidance: key stages 1 and 2 for their year group.
Tracking key facts
Having secure, fluent and fast knowledge of the multiplicative facts to 12 x 12 is important if children are to be successful in maths through key stage 2 and beyond. Much of the Year 5 and Year 6 maths curriculum is based on multiplication. From long multiplication and short division to fractions, percentages, ratio and area, most units require fluency in multiplication and to be sucessful, children need to be secure in their times tables.
We use a phonics approach when it comes to tracking the core multiplication facts. We ensure all children can recall multiplication facts fluently and quickly, freeing working memory to work on more complex problems. Teachers identify gaps and support children to fill the gaps by selecting one or two facts to work on each week.
Children are assessed with the MTC at the end of Year 4 and we assess multiplication facts beginning in Year 3, and continue into Year 4 and beyond, until individuals have secured all 36 key facts.
The rationale behind our mathematics curriculum is based upon guidance from:
The Education Endowment Foundation Improving Mathematics in Early Years and Key Stage 1 and Improving Mathematics in Key Stage 2 and 3
The Ofsted Research Review of Mathematics Research review series
The Department for Education non-statutory for the National Curriculum Mathematics guidance: key stages 1 and 2
The National Centre for the Teaching of mathematics (NCETM) Home | NCETM
Click here to find out about Maths in our Early Years
Click here to learn about a typical Maths Lesson
Click here to find out about Maths and SEND and our EAL provision
To see the Maths curriculum overview and the current long term plans for each year group click below.
