Mathematics
Intent
At Chalk Ridge Primary School our intent in Mathematics is for pupils to experience a high-quality, inclusive maths education that provides a foundation for understanding the world around them and a genuine interest and curiosity about mathematics.
Our aim therefore, is that children develop a deep understanding and knowledge of number and to become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics. We want our pupils to develop their conceptual understanding and develop the ability to recall and apply knowledge accurately and rapidly. We also want pupils to develop resilience and to be able to reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, finding relationships and making generalisations when problem solving.
At Chalk Ridge, we teach our children how to make sense of the world around them by developing their ability to calculate, reason and solve problems. We want our children to recognise and understand relationships and patterns in numbers in the world around them. We expect Mathematics to be utilised as a tool beyond the daily Mathematics lessons and beyond the classroom.
We believe Maths to be important in preparing pupils for the future in terms of life skills and career opportunities. Pupils will see maths across the curriculum and will develop and apply their skills in different contexts.
Implementation
In order to meet the statutory requirements as specified in the National Curriculum; maths lessons are taught through a chosen scheme of learning (Hampshire Maths) and are carefully ordered to build upon prior learning in small, manageable steps.
Our curriculum is designed to support the development of reasoning and problem solving alongside fluency to ensure challenge and ambition for all pupils. Task variation ensures that children are challenged appropriately and that children are able to complete appropriate challenges which develop their learning and embed mathematical concepts. Pupils who grasp concepts rapidly are challenged through being offered rich problems and tasks that further deepen their understanding. Lessons will be adapted for children when needed (e.g. those with identified cognition and learning SEND).
Prior learning and pupils’ knowledge is assessed by teachers using entry tasks, which take place prior to a unit of work as well as end of unit (formative) assessments are used to address gaps find misconceptions and then inform teachers planning. End of unit formative assessment take the form of exit tasks which focus on children’s’ ability to demonstrate understanding through reasoning and problem solving. Ongoing feedback is given in lessons and pupils are encouraged to self and peer assess Maths work. There is coherent progression seen in planning within each unit to ensure learning is sequential and builds on previous knowledge, skills and vocabulary. Summative assessments are completed at least once per term using NFER test materials.
Activities in the EYFS develop knowledge and skills of key learning and allow children to problem solve and reason from an early age. All children in the Foundation Stage have daily opportunities to develop their mathematical understanding with access to practical and creative tasks to enrich the Maths curriculum for EYFS and beyond. 2 strands of Mathematics taught in the EYFs are Numbers and Shape, Space and Measure.
Mathematical vocabulary appropriate to the progression of knowledge and skills is referred to throughout lessons and is discussed at the start of the lesson to ensure understanding. Children are given daily opportunities to reason and problem solve. Mathematical discussion is essential to our learning and mathematical vocabulary is discussed and applied during teaching and displayed on working walls. Teachers develop fluency through practising key mathematical skills within a fluency or retrieval part of each lesson as well some early morning task work. Within lessons children have time to develop their learning and resilience in problem solving and reasoning.
Teachers will also find opportunities to apply Mathematics skills across the curriculum, for example, using graphs in Science, applying algorithms in Computing and counting or measuring distance in PE.
Children at Chalk Ridge are encouraged to physically represent mathematical concepts. Objects and pictures are used to demonstrate and visualise abstract ideas, alongside numbers and symbols.
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.
Times Tables Rockstars is used throughout Key Stage 2 to develop fluency in Times Tables and to support children in their preparation for the Multiplication Tables Check and the end of Year 4. Children in Key Stage 1 use Numbots to improve their fluency in number and develop their ability to subitise.
Implementation
At Chalk Ridge we expect that by the end of Y6 our children:
- become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics
- reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations.
- solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication.
In order for this to happen, the Mathematics leader, the Headteacher and the Senior Leadership Team take responsibility for the monitoring of the Mathematics curriculum and the standards achieved by the children. The Mathematics leader will monitor for appropriate pitch and progression at least once every half term.
This monitoring takes the form of:
1. lesson observations and feedback
2. learning walks and pupil voice conversations
3. planning scrutiny followed by support where necessary
4. book look carried out by the leadership team on a frequent basis
5. termly data analysis
6. moderation across phase teams to ensure each phase has the similar standards
7. transition opportunities for our KS2 pupils, as well as staff, to engage with secondary schools.
Data is collected termly and reported to SLT. All teachers contribute to a termly Pupil Progress Meeting where the data is analysed and targets are made by highlighting ‘stuck’ pupils and focusing on next steps. Year group teams will also participate in core team meetings led by phase team leaders to further support pupil progress in maths.