Maths
Intent
Maths is a skill that is built upon and used throughout the entirety of life.
Therefore, here at Holy Rosary we seek to empower every child to fulfil their potential and prepare them for their future. We offer a broad and enriching maths curriculum and we intend to give each child the self-confidence and resilience to reach their full potential by ensuring that they have the tools to calculate fluently, reason logically, problem solve and think in abstract ways.
We aim to build a deep conceptual understanding of maths and its interrelated content so that children can apply their learning in different situations. We understand that the real world application of maths is vast beyond the classroom, reaching into everyone’s daily lives. As a result of this, we offer our pupils opportunities to apply their maths skills to real life scenarios.
Pupils are required to explore maths in depth, using mathematical vocabulary to reason and explain their workings. We encourage our pupils to use a wide range of resources to show their workings in a concrete, pictorial and abstract form, proving and demonstrating understanding. We aim to ensure that the home school partnership is strong and as transparent as possible to all. This enables the parents an in depth understanding of the curriculum we offer, therefore enabling rich involvement. We offer open classrooms 3x per year and a maths workshop for parents each year.
Our aim is for all children to leave Holy Rosary with a sound mathematical mind, securely able to utilise reasoning skills and a mastery approach when faced with any problem. Using mistakes as learning opportunities to future success, empowering them to build resilience simultaneously. We want children to be fluent with numbers and have a secure understanding of timestables to be able to use these skills, which underpin all of mathematics.
Implementation
We have created a culture where long term memory is at the forefront of what we do. One step in achieving this has been to develop a vocabulary rich environment, where talk for maths is a key learning tool for all pupils. Teaching key vocabulary is a driver for pupil understanding and develops the confidence of pupils to explain mathematically.
Our curriculum is frequently reviewed to ensure that is it current and effective and teachers are supported and aided in their teaching of mathematics through appropriate, high quality CPD ensuring confidence in the skills and knowledge that they are required to teach. We follow the White Rose Scheme from EYFS to Year 6.
Children begin maths lessons with a fluency task, encouraging them to think deeply and critically about the different methods and approaches they could use to solve questions. The next stage of the maths lesson is retrieval practice, short activities the teacher has considered and chosen and will then use to assess understanding. After fluency and retrieval KS2 will complete TTRockstars. In Years 1 – 6 1 hour and 30 minutes is given to maths 4x per week. An additional 40 minutes is given on the 5th day, for retrieval or fluency. In EYFS, the children are offered 3 hours maths time per week.
The main part of the lesson follows an explanation and demonstration from the teacher before children demonstrate their understanding. This is similar to an I do, We do, You do approach. Each lesson, a mixture of fluency, reasoning and problem-solving questions are available for children to work through, and teachers and children consider starting points, ensuring progression within each lesson.
Resources and equipment are audited regularly so that children have materials of high quality and accuracy to support learning. Our resources allow us to better use models and images to support learning in each area and enable the progression from concrete to pictorial to abstract. Children are familiar with these resources and can access them independently where needed. Curriculum maps are based on the White Rose yearly overviews which set the curriculum out in blocks enabling children to be secure with all different areas of maths through extended periods of time. All units begin with a Knowledge Organiser, which is shared and discussed with the children and used as a tool for scaffold and support (copies given for books and displayed on the Working Wall and also shared with parents). Alongside the White Rose materials, we use many other resources to ensure that our offer is rich and varied. These include: NCETM, NRich, Third Space Learning and I see Reasoning to ensure coverage of all six areas of problem solving – these are used across KS1 and KS2 allowing children to be exposed to a variety of different types of learning and to ensure coverage of fluency, problem solving and reasoning in different formats. Teachers also implement the schools agreed calculation policies for progression in written and mental calculations. Pre and post unit assessments are used at the beginning and end of each unit and these help teachers to gather an understanding of their pupil’s existing and developing knowledge and skills which then inform next provisions.
Timetabled interventions for maths are in place for children who are performing below the expected standard. Further support within lessons or class time for individuals or small groups where a need is identified. Children are given time to practice and perfect their calculation strategies including giving pupils the opportunity to make appropriate decisions when estimating, calculating and evaluating the effectiveness of their chosen methods. Feedback is given in a variety of ways to ensure pupils are well informed and making visible progress. Discussion is essential to learning and children are encouraged to discuss their thoughts, ideas and methods with a partner, group or the teacher. Children work both collaboratively and independently when solving problems which require them to persevere and develop resilience.
Impact
We measure impact every day through formative assessment that informs daily planning. Teachers and children mark work during the lesson and carry out adaptations where necessary. Summative, end of year maths assessments, evidence how children have independently applied the maths’ skills taught. Teachers input this assessment on Insight Tracking and monitor progress towards National Curriculum objectives as well as the progress of targeted intervention groups. Children know that maths is a vital life skill that they will rely on in many areas of their daily life. By the end of Year 6, transitioning to secondary school, we aspire that children will have developed a bank of efficient and accurate skills that can be used to calculate effectively. These will have been underpinned by the C-P-A process so children understand rather than just do, which ultimately will allow children to identify when answers do not make mathematical sense. Our children 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 of which children clearly take pride; the components of the teaching sequences demonstrate good coverage of fluency, reasoning and problem solving. Our feedback and interventions support children to strive to be the best mathematicians they can be. Moderation meetings are held and throughout the year, the Senior Leadership Team and Subject Co-Ordinator carry out learning walks, observations, book looks, planning sessions and pupil progress meetings so that we can monitor the quality of teaching throughout the school. The outcome of these reviews is reflected in actions set out in teachers’ appraisals and as whole school targets.
Addition And Subtraction Calculation Policy
