Why?
At Our Lady’s, we want our mathematicians to develop an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics. They will be curious mathematicians who think deeply about the world, approaching problems creatively and flexibly, including breaking problems down into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions. They will have an understanding of the concepts which underpin procedures, the ability to reason mathematically and to make rich connections between the different mathematical domains. They will ‘know’ numbers; develop a number sense and be able to recall and apply knowledge rapidly, accurately and efficiently. They will be able to move fluently between different representations of mathematical ideas and will be able to use manipulatives to model their mathematical thinking.
How?
We follow a Mastery approach to mathematics. Topics are blocked to allow time to delve deeper and enables our children to understand and retain more learning. The lesson objective will likely be the same objective for a number of lessons as children develop their learning in depth and with variation. The children will progress through each objective in a series of small steps. There will be opportunities to recap learning from the previous lesson and previous years before moving forward. Children will work on objectives at roughly the same pace, with the expectation that all children can do Maths. Swift intervention is given to children who are finding the topics difficult. Lessons include ‘challenge’ tasks, where children work together and support each other, as well as guided and independent work, where children demonstrate their individual learning. Teachers use their discretion and differentiate if required. For those SEND children, there is more intense intervention on offer in each class as well as before school boosters in Y6.
Children’s learning constantly demonstrates the aims of the Maths curriculum: Fluency, Reasoning and Problem Solving. This is visible each day in lessons, in tasks prepared by staff, and in the work produced in children’s books. There are opportunities each day for children to work on their fluency and basic skills. Skills are based around number bonds and addition and subtraction facts to 20 in KS1 and times tables in kS2.
What?
We currently follow the long-term overviews produced by White Rose Maths to ensure all curriculum objectives are covered. We weave in the DFE Guidance 2020 to ensure our children are ready to progress to the next steps. This also builds in daily revision through Flashback 4 and retrieval tasks of topics that may or may not have been covered in as much detail in the last few years due to COVID-19.
Teachers select suitable resources, tasks, investigations and worksheets using a range of resources. This enables us to tailor our lessons to the needs of our children. Differentiation is often by product through the use of manipulatives or scaffolds to support children and give advanced learners the opportunity in developing more explanation of their answers. Teachers proactively plan varied approaches to support when and if required and these resources are available to all children.