Maths

Subject Leader: Mrs Leavesley

“We will always have STEM with us. Some things will drop out of the public eye and go away, but there will always be science, engineering, and technology. And there will always, always be mathematics.” Katherine Johnson

The strands of the Maths National Curriculum

  • 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.

 

Our Vision for Maths…

At Eaves, we believe that mathematics provides a tool for lifelong learning. We value our mathematics curriculum to be engaging and promote fun and enjoyment for all. Mathematics provides a sense of curiosity and we believe in promoting positive attitudes to help embed knowledge and understanding of fluency, mathematical reasoning and competency in problem solving. We believe that everyone ‘can do’ maths with not only deepening knowledge and understanding of the National Curriculum but promoting the purpose of everyday maths within our daily lives. We support financial literacy and model connections within science, technology and engineering. We aim to provide a learning environment where all our children can achieve their highest potential and to foster a climate where all children can access mastery for all through taking risks, showing resilience and to reflect and reason.

 

Why is Maths important?

At Eaves, we believe it is important to develop mathematicians who will develop a positive lifelong love of numeracy. We feel that we will equip our children to be fluent within the fundamentals of mathematics through conceptual and procedural variations and apply their skills within everyday contexts. We want all our children to feel that they ‘can do’ maths and change the mind set for future generations. Through reasoning and problem solving, our children will be able to think logically, analyse   information, make connections, evaluate and explain their thinking clearly.

 

What Maths looks like…

At Eaves, our Maths Mastery approach to the curriculum is designed to develop children’s knowledge and understanding of mathematical concepts from the Early Years Foundation Stage through to the end of Y6. We follow the EYFS Framework and the National Curriculum and use the NCETM documents and White Rose Schemes of work as a guide to support teachers with their planning and assessment. Practitioners use the ‘small steps’ when planning to build on pupils’ prior knowledge. This fosters the development of new skills and practitioners can use their knowledge of their class to ensure a balance of fluency, reasoning and problem solving. In KS1 and KS2, sessions are structured consistently with each session starting with a flashback task based on previous learning, this is a metacognitive approach to reinforce and deepen mathematical concepts for children. A time for exploration follows this, where children are encouraged to work together in pairs or groups while they explore a mathematical concept through discussion and concrete resources. Children are encouraged during this time to begin to make links, notice patterns and make generalisations. Within the exploration phase, teachers introduce children to STEM sentences which aims to structure children’s thinking and talking, they are then able to use this shared language when reasoning. Following the exploration of skills, children complete independent questions posed to the children using a wide variation of tasks to ensure the skill is practiced and secured in number of ways, through a wide range of representations. Finally, children deepen learning by completing reasoning and/or problem-solving tasks. Our calculation policy is used within school to ensure a consistent approach to teaching the four operations over time.

What is Maths Mastery?

NCETM define this as; “Mastering maths means pupils acquiring a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of the subject. The phrase ‘teaching for mastery’ describes the elements of classroom practice and school organisation that combine to give pupils the best chances of mastering maths. Achieving mastery means acquiring a solid enough understanding of the maths that’s been taught to enable pupils to move on to more advanced material.”

NCETM Mastering Number Programme

Foundation stage 2 and Key Stage 1 are part of the NCETM Mastering Number Program. This is a new programme for early primary pupils which is aimed at strengthening the understanding of number, and fluency with number facts, among children in the first three years of school. They complete ten-minute daily sessions and are becoming very secure when using number sense. Children use a Rekenrek as a consistent resource and representation of number to secure their knowledge and understanding of this.

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