Mathematics

Intent

At All Saints we believe in creating independent mathematicians. We aim to spark a curiosity and excitement for maths learning, while instilling confidence and knowledge in children as they embark on their journey to mastering the maths curriculum. We aim to do this through a focused, coherent and spiral curriculum that continuously builds and consolidates knowledge to reach deep understanding.

All children are encouraged to believe in their ability to master maths and are empowered to succeed through curiosity, persistence and talk while collaboratively tackling new concepts. We believe that our spiral curriculum provides children with one of the essential tools for life, thus enabling them to function mathematically in the real world.

Implementation

By delivering high quality teaching in mathematics, we enable our children to become confident and successful in all areas of the subject. Lessons are planned and sequenced so that new knowledge and skills build on what has been taught before. Individual lessons are carefully structured with fluency, reasoning and problem-solving opportunities and tasks. We also use a range of planning resources including those provided by the NCETM and NRICH to enrich our children’s maths diet. We follow the National Curriculum, alongside other guidance, including our medium-term plans that have been informed by the scheme provided by White Rose which we have adapted to incorporate a spiral approach to our maths curriculum. Teachers also refer to the Calculation Policy when teaching formal methods, understanding that sometimes children find their own efficient methods along the way.

A comprehensive and detailed medium-term plan has been developed for each year-group from Reception to Y6 which is in line with the expectations set out in the Mathematics Programmes of Study. Objectives within the plans are broken down into small sequences of learning to ensure that each mathematical concept is linked thoroughly from one year to the next providing tight progression of knowledge and skills through opportunities for pupils to revisit prior learning, learn new content and consolidate this through plenty of practice. 

Opportunities are given for children to apply their learning of concepts to a range of sophisticated reasoning problems where learning becomes more relevant in real life contexts.  In order to embed learning and master the curriculum, children are challenged through breadth and depth of concepts. Number fluency is a core principle, ensuring that children have solid foundations which are built on year by year.  The main focus of our teaching of mathematics is to ensure that pupils are able to reason mathematically and become sound problem solvers as they develop confidence and mental fluency appropriate to their age group.

During lessons, each new concept is introduced through a meaningful context, which is then represented with the use of concrete objects (manipulatives), pictorial representations and then the more abstract written methods.

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Individual lessons are carefully structured with fluency, reasoning and problem-solving opportunities and tasks. Lessons are designed by teachers to ensure that all of our children can fully access the learning and challenge is provided through carefully thought-out teacher questioning, and Greater Depth challenge tasks throughout the lesson as well as part of the independent work. 

Impact

The impact of our mathematics curriculum is that children understand the relevance and importance of what they are learning in relation to real world concepts. Children know that maths is a vital life skill that they will rely on in many areas of their daily life. Our children are happy learners who talk enthusiastically about their learning and who eager to further their progress in maths. They have a positive view of maths and know that it is reasonable to make mistakes because this can strengthen their learning through the journey to finding an answer.

Our Children are confident to ‘have a go’ and choose the equipment they need to help them to learn along with the strategies they think are best suited to each problem. They have a good understanding of their strengths and targets for development in maths and what they need to do to improve. Our maths books evidence work of a high standard which demonstrate good coverage of fluency, reasoning and problem solving and that our children clearly take pride in their maths work.