Maths

Intent

At Goldsworth Primary School, we aim to inspire learners with our high-quality mathematics education, providing a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.

Using the National Curriculum 2014 and Development Matters September 2021 (Early Years) for our planning, the teaching of mathematics aims to ensure all children:

• become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time.
• reason mathematically and develop 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 difficulty, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.

By adopting a Mastery approach, it is also intended that all children, regardless of their starting point, will maximise their academic achievement and leave Goldsworth Primary School with an appreciation and enthusiasm for Maths, resulting in a lifelong positive relationship with number.

We ensure that we deliver a high quality maths curriculum that is both challenging and enjoyable, so our children understand that maths is essential to everyday life, and they become confident mathematicians who are not afraid to take risks.

Implementation

At Goldsworth Primary School, numeracy is taught through a daily dedicated Numeracy lesson. Lessons in Year 2 and KS2 are an hour long. Teaching is based on long-term linear plans which approach units in greater depth and build carefully on one another. Children are taught in mixed ability groups throughout the school. Differentiation will be through questioning, scaffolding and support. Throughout the week, and in each lesson, there is a balance of fluency, reasoning and problem solving activities.

Power Maths is used across the school as a long-term planning tool to ensure progression and coverage of the requirements of the NC 2014. Teachers will adapt the suggested plans and resources for the groups they teach. Staff are encouraged to use other resources where advantageous, such as the White Rose Maths Hub, NCETM mastery resources and NRich materials.

Activities are provided with careful thought through variation, with increased challenge slowly being provided. To enable all children to work independently at times, it may be appropriate for a targeted group of children to have 10 minutes a day of pre-teaching of the maths learning for that day. It may also be appropriate for a group of children with similar misconceptions to have a ‘catch up’ session with the class teacher. In that way the misconception will have been addressed before the next day’s learning, so that all children can move onto the next step for learning together.

For those children who are working behind their peers, as well as receiving their own curriculum in class, Goldsworth Primary School is able to provide appropriate intervention programmes. Some children may be supported through the use of a TA or guided group and some children may have maths lessons in a smaller group out of class. Specific children from Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 access their numeracy lessons in the Learning Support Centre where their learning objectives are suited to their wide range of needs.

We believe that speaking and listening is imperative to pupils’ development. Therefore, we provide children with opportunities to discuss their ideas and responses regularly. Children are expected to answer in full sentences, using the correct vocabulary. To help children explain their thinking in different ways, stem sentences are modelled and provided.

At Foundation Stage and Year 1, Goldsworth Primary School Numeracy follows the EYFS Statutory Framework alongside Power Maths. The organisation is flexible but children have a daily maths input and opportunities to develop their maths understanding in their continuous provision as well as focused activities with the teacher or TA.

Assessment of children’s work in mathematics is ongoing. It identifies pupils’ strengths and difficulties and informs planning on an on-going basis. Formative assessment is carried out informally during lessons and recorded on learning evaluation sheets (LES). In the Foundation Stage, assessment is evidenced by: observations, photographs and adult led activities. As well as the teacher daily assessment, Years 2 and 6 are assessed by the National SATs tasks and NFER tests are taken termly in Years 3, 4 and 5. All teachers assess children at the end of each half term using the end of year expectations. This information is recorded on Insight three times a year to show progress made.

Manipulatives are an essential part of teaching children maths through the concrete-pictorial-abstract approach and all classrooms have access to the required high quality resources, including Numicon, shapes, bead strings and place value apparatus, but there is also a central store of some resources such as weighing scales, weights and containers for capacity.

We like parents to be involved in the children’s learning, and parent volunteers come in on a weekly basis and help us check the children’s number facts: number bonds in KS1 and times tables in KS2.

Impact

A mathematical concept or skill has been mastered when a child can show it in multiple ways, using the mathematical language to explain their ideas, and can independently apply the concept to new problems in unfamiliar situations.

As a result of our maths mastery teaching at Goldsworth, you will see:

• Children who have a love of maths.
• Engaged children who are all challenged.
• Confident children who can explain their reasoning, and who can talk about maths and their learning.
• Learning broken into small steps, to make sure that concepts are grasped.
• Lessons that use a variety of resources (concrete) to support learning.
• Different representations (pictorial) of mathematical concepts, which help children to learn formal methods (abstract).
• Learning that is tracked, monitored and differentiated to ensure all children make good progress.

Supporting your child at home

The most effective support that you as parents can give is to be enthusiastic and excited by maths.

There are many fun ways to help children with their number work:

• Rather than giving your child pages of ‘sums’ why not give him/her the challenge of finding as many ways as possible of making a number that you have named.
• Simple counting, e.g. the number of red cars seen, the number of trees passed on the way to school etc.
• Handling money, making specified amounts from a collection of small change, playing shopkeepers, selling toys and giving change.
• The language of measures: heavy, light, tall, short, wide, narrow etc.
• Cooking activities are good opportunities for weighing and timing.
• Telling the time using an ordinary (analogue) clock.
• Playing board games, and games using dice and cards

Useful websites

https://whiterosemaths.com/resources/early-years-resources/

https://whiterosemaths.com/resources/primary-resources/

https://play.ttrockstars.com/auth/school/student

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/

https://nrich.maths.org/primary

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/z6vg9j6

Maths Workshops

Look out for maths workshops which run throughout the year to inform you about how children learn maths. You can download the presentations used in these workshops from the Parent Workshops page.