Maths

INTENT:

At Sutton Benger CE Primary School, we recognise the importance of Maths in our daily lives. We support all children to develop a sense of curiosity and enjoyment of mathematics through meaningful practise and the development of the mathematical habits of mind, which allow children to use the skills they have learned and apply them to a range of mathematical concepts to make sense of the world around them. Children value mathematics and see the value of it in the real world. Maths is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment.

We aim to instil a love of Maths and we want our children to be curious and to ask questions to develop their understanding. Our Maths curriculum is deliberately knowledge and vocabulary-rich as we believe it is vital to acquire a cumulatively sufficient understanding of Mathematical concepts and experiences. We also recognise and value the need to develop practical problem solving and the use of manipulatives, enquiry skills and reasoning so our children are fully immersed in units of learning that allow them to learn, grow and flourish within the Maths curriculum.

In conjunction with the aims of the National Curriculum, our Maths curriculum offers opportunities for children to:

• 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.

IMPLEMENTATION:

Maths is taught every day. The children take on the state of being of ‘Being a Mathematician’ and are fully immersed in a curriculum for mastery. Interleaving of Maths objectives from all areas of the Maths curriculum is taught to provide exposure to a variety of real life examples of Maths and allowing children to make links to other areas of the curriculum (such as measuring accurately in DT, creating graphs or tables in Science, inputting data in ICT etc).  Maths working walls are utilised in every classroom to enable children to see steps to success and progression of key learning. To support high quality planning and assessment, teachers draw upon knowledge from the school’s Maths subject leader, as well as from experts within our multi-academy trust, DBAT.

To ensure a cumulatively sufficient curriculum, fluency, reasoning and problem solving are taught throughout every area of the Maths curriculum. Daily maths lessons are structured in a way to allow children to develop conceptual understanding and then the deliberate practice allows all children to embed this understanding. This supports the children to develop their ability to talk about and offer conjectures about the maths. We aim to grow confidence in our learners to enable them to justify their ideas using mathematical language.  Our Maths curriculum is vocabulary-rich.  Our Maths lessons include reasoning and partner talk, encouraging children to speak in full sentences which contain mathematical vocabulary. Children are given opportunities to develop and practice their vocabulary and oracy so that they become confident, articulate Mathematicians who are able to apply their findings to descriptions and explanations about the maths around them. Independent practice is separate to the Maths lesson. Spaced retrieval during review times ensures that key concepts are remembered long term to reduce the need for re-teaching when concepts are revisited. It also allows teachers to assess children’s understanding of the lesson objective and what intervention could be implemented to help children catch up.

The flexibility and fluidity to move between different contexts and representations of mathematics allows children to apply mathematical calculations and approaches in a variety of ways.

In EYFS, number fluency is continually developed. Children participate in short maths sessions, which might include songs and books. They are then given time to explore mathematical concepts, test ideas, develop their understanding and skills through play. Children are encouraged to use their mathematical understanding and skills to solve real-life problems and practitioners are trained to identify and extend to foster this.

IMPACT:

Children at Sutton Benger CE Primary School have a love for mathematics and flourish within our curriculum. They can reason mathematically and have a sense of appreciation for the place of mathematics in the wider world. They are able to make connections and think critically about their existing Maths learning so that they can apply this to new learning. Children can be independent and resilient with problems.

Our curriculum allows for excellent progress over time. Children are fluent mathematicians who can recall mathematical facts and move fluently between strategies and procedures to solve a problem in the most efficient way. Children use a range of representations accurately to explain their thinking as mathematicians. Children are able to use effective lifelong learning skills to ‘have a go’ and are able to challenge themselves with mathematical ideas.

Children develop the skills needed for the next stage in their education and beyond.