What is Maths?

 

According to the National Curriculum 2013:

 

Mathematics is a creative and highly inter-connected discipline that has been developed over centuries, providing the solution to some of history’s most intriguing problems. It is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. A high-quality mathematics education therefore provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.

 

As a school, we agree with this definition but like to share a simplified, child-friendly definition with our pupils.  We tell them that:

​

Mathematics, or maths, is the study of numbers and how they relate to each other and the real world.  In maths we learn to solve problems, explain our answers and to understand shapes. 

​

Maths at Crich Carr CofE - what is our vision?

Our vision for maths is to provide maths lessons that every single child in school can access, enjoy and make progress in.  By the time every single child leaves our school, our vision is for them all to have mastered the Key Stage 2 curriculum for maths and for them to have a love of maths.  We want children to feel confident in maths lessons to take a risk so they can make progress.  We also want maths lessons to be interactive so children get the chance to explore concepts in a concrete, pictorial and abstract way.  We wants every child to leave fluent in maths, with an ability to solve problems and reason mathematically.   

 

Maths Curriculum Intent

The national curriculum for mathematics aims to ensure that all pupils:

• 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.

• Solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.

Therefore, at Crich Carr CofE  Primary School, we aim to develop fluency, reasoning and problem solving through our curriculum.

​

How Maths is implemented at Crich Carr CofE  (including use of schemes)

 

At Crich Carr CofE, we have decided to base our planning on the mixed age planning provided through White Rose Maths.  This provides a framework for our activities and planning, but we adapt it to meet the needs of our children.  

​

We teach in mixed age classes and plan to cater for the needs of our classes.  We work hard to make sure children are fluent in maths.  Maths is often part of morning work routines and this gives children an opportunity to revisit aspects of maths they have learnt in order to become more efficient. 

 

We regularly encourage children to complete activities on Timetables Rockstars and use this as a tool to develop rapid recall of multiplication facts. At the start of a unit every child completes a pre-learning task.  This helps children and teachers to understand what pupils already know and what they need to learn.  As children move through our school, they become increasingly able to reflect on their learning needs and our older children often set themselves clear targets to achieve by the end of a unit of work. 

 

We understand that children need lots of opportunity to revisit prior learning so it is not forgotten.  We have designed 'Can you still?' activities which happen in every class very frequently.  These 'Can you still?' activities systematically revisit key learning points at carefully thought-out intervals.  

 

In lessons, we adopt a mastery approach and work on the assumption that all children can achieve the expected outcome in a lesson.  Support is provided to children who need it to help them meet the learning objective.  Every class have extension tasks (or next step challenges) to extend the learning of those children who are ready to move on.  

 

We have same day intervention to children who need it to try to ensure no children are left behind. At the end of a unit of work, children complete a post learning task.  Children (and staff) can then reflect on the progress they have made since the start of a unit. Each term, children complete a standardised assessment so class teachers (and senior leaders) can monitor levels of progress and attainment in all classes.   

​

Our Curriculum Overview for Maths

As mentioned above, we use the White Rose long term overviews as a framework for our curriculum.  That said, the amount of time we spend on particular units (or areas within a unit) is dictated by the needs of each class.  For example, a class might need to spend an extra week on place value to ensure they have grasped it fully, but this might result in less time being spent on addition and subtraction later in the year.