Maths
Maths Curriculum Statement
Wychwood Primary School
Intent
At Wychwood Primary School we recognise the importance of Mathematics throughout each child’s everyday and future life. The intent of our Mathematics curriculum is to provide children with a foundation for understanding number, reasoning, thinking logically and problem solving with resilience so that they are fully prepared for the future. We follow a Mastery Maths approach with the aim that all children, regardless of their starting point, will maximise their academic achievement. We aim to empower our children with a can-do attitude and believe that all children can be successful at Maths. This approach means that we are not putting a ceiling on children’s learning and that all children have the opportunity to achieve. It allows for an inclusive approach for all, whilst children who rapidly grasp topics will be given opportunities to extend their thinking and explore topics in greater depth.
Implementation
The Mastery approach to teaching Maths encourages a depth of understanding and gives children time to apply their knowledge of a topic in different ways. Our curriculum is built on the White Rose Scheme. This is a blocked scheme, which allows for depth and breadth of learning within each strand of mathematics. Teachers will take the coverage from each of the NCETM progressions and create personalised lessons in a coherent progression (supported by the White Rose suggested small steps), supplementing the White Rose Scheme with additional or alternative resources.
At the start of a maths lesson children will have a ‘skip counting/fluency session’. The children will practise counting in different ways. In each phase, this will progress in difficulty and challenge. As part of this session, children will also take part in a flashback where they recap on previous learning.
After this, the children will move on to the main part of the lesson. The learning objective will be introduced and then the children will learn about the objective using a range of strategies. High quality questioning is at the heart of the Mastery approach and this is woven through maths lessons from the beginning to the end. Children are encouraged to share their responses using the statements ‘I support that because’ or ‘I challenge that because’. Using this high quality questioning gives children the opportunity to reason mathematically by justifying, reasoning and explaining and to use mathematical language to support their answers.
Children will practise these skills using the CPA approach (standing for the progression in learning from using Concrete resources, to Pictorial representations and finally Abstract representation), another aspect to Teaching for Mastery. Children from Foundation Stage to Year 6 will use this three step approach when being exposed to new learning.
At particular points in the lesson, the teacher will include ‘a twist or challenge’. This is an opportunity for the teacher to see whether the children have understood the concept being taught at a deeper level. This may be presented as a support/challenge statement or through a ‘spot the mistake’ or working on a problem backwards. We want children to think widely and deeply about the maths they are learning. Presenting the maths they have learnt but from a different perspective enables the children to become better mathematical thinkers and have a deeper understanding of maths.
The children will then move on to an independent activity to practise the skills they have been using throughout the lesson..
At the end of the lesson, the children will be asked to reflect on their learning. We believe this is important because it means the children are being encouraged to think actively and assess their own learning. They may be asked to pinpoint easier or difficult parts of the lesson or to discuss methods or strategies that helped them. This allows the teacher to move the learning forward for the next lesson.
Staff assess Maths formally three times a year and the data is used to identify any children in need of additional support. Targeted intervention is then provided to those who need it. In KS2, teachers circulate the room whilst children are working on their independent task and daily feedback is given to children. The children mark their own work which supports the teacher’s assessment about the learning. In FSU and KS1, children work in small groups which allows the teachers to give immediate feedback. Every day, teachers identify children who need further support or challenge and these children are given this extra support in the afternoons as part of our ‘Maths Mop Up’ sessions.
The experience of Maths extends beyond the classroom through our use of the Times Tables Rockstars and Numbots programmes. These are online apps which can be played at home. Numbots is played by FSU and KS1 children and is used to practise key fluency facts from the KS1 curriculum such as number bonds or adding and subtracting within 20. Children are asked to play three times a week at home. During the year, when appropriate, Year 2 transition to Times Table Rockstars to embed learning the 2, 5 and 10 times tables. Times Tables Rockstars is used both at home and in school by KS2. In school, children complete their times tables worksheets daily with the aim that children try to beat their score over the course of a week. This is supplemented by children playing at home on the app and regular competitions are held to ensure children remain engaged with this.
EYFS
At Wychwood we understand the importance of early experiences of maths and so our FSU unit also follows a Mastery approach. Their lessons follow a similar format to the rest of the school but this is adapted to be delivered in an age appropriate way. Children have daily half an hour lessons. In line with the rest of the school, they use whiteboards to rehearse their learning, have the opportunity to reason by answering I support/I challenge questions and complete a mini task with their partner which has been modelled by the teacher. The children have the opportunity outside of the Maths lesson to work with the teacher once a week in a small group where they are challenged or the learning content from the carpet is consolidated. Alongside the direct teaching of Maths, opportunities for children to explore Maths are provided in provision. There are ‘Maths Areas’ both inside and outside where there are a range of mathematical resources for children to explore. There is also a Maths activity which is changed weekly and gives children the chance to embed learning from the previous week. Maths can be seen in numerous other areas of provision such as the construction, water and sand areas and staff will use these areas to develop children’s mathematical language throughout the year.
Impact
Children are confident mathematicians and enjoy learning maths. They are able to demonstrate a quick recall of fluency facts and times tables. Learning walks demonstrate that children use acquired vocabulary in lessons and they have the skills to use methods independently and show resilience when tackling problems. Books evidence a high standard of work and both books and planning show that each teaching sequence demonstrates a range of strategies from the CPA approach as well as opportunities for fluency, reasoning and problem solving.
Wychwood Maths Policy Addition KS
