Mathematics

Intent

The John Wesley CEM Primary School (JWS) staff inspire our children through the Mathematics Curriculum. As a foundation for our Mathematics curriculum, we use White Rose which offers a framework to teach the Mathematical Programmed of study as laid out by the National Curriculum and the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage, alongside other high-quality resources, including National Centre of Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM), NRICH and Maths Mastery. White Rose has been influenced, inspired and informed by the work of leading Maths researchers and practitioners across the world and is based on the latest pedagogical research.

At JWS, we strive to have children develop a positive attitude and interest towards Mathematics. From the earliest years, we encourage children to ‘have a go,’ to have children notice numbers, patterns, shapes, and connections and to be able to discuss their findings with others. It is important to instill a love of learning from an early age and to teach children that we learn from making mistakes.

Inspire Knowledge and Skills:

Proficiency in mathematical concepts and skills is vital for engaging successfully with the real world. We want to open children’s eyes to this and help them to see the importance of how what they learn in the classroom applies to the real world, both every day for everyone and more broadly across disciplines and careers. We provide a maths curriculum that balances acquiring rapid fluency alongside opportunities to apply reasoning skills in various problem-solving contexts. Each classroom environment is set up to enable children to build independence in learning maths, from up-to-date working walls, carefully chosen scaffolds and accessible resources. Beyond teaching maths discretely, we give children the opportunity to apply and develop what they have learnt across wider learning within the Connected Curriculum, such as in science, design and technology lessons Maths competitions and a celebration Maths Week, to support our intention that children see mathematical skills as something that is essential for their daily life.

Inspire Creativity & Adventure:

We believe all children can achieve highly in Maths. For some children, this demands a great deal of perseverance and resilience, and we talk explicitly about this in lessons and link it to other areas of curriculum learning, such as PHSE. We encourage children to support one another to build a classroom climate of endeavour. In virtually every lesson, children have the opportunity to apply mathematical reasoning to solve problems, which deepens their understanding and supports making connections across the curriculum. We take every opportunity to promote creativity in Maths. This is particularly evident in the continuous provision on offer in our younger years, through role play, small world and other exploration-based activities. In older years, creativity is embedded, where children represent their understanding in a range of ways, such as using models to represent fractions or finding numbers, shapes and patterns in the real world.

Inspire Kindness:

Kindness is at the heart of everything we do at JWS, and we work hard to create a classroom climate where mistakes are respected as part of the learning process. Staff model making mistakes to ensure children are comfortable to take risks in their learning and can see the value in their own errors or misconceptions. Explicit modelling of how to respond to other ideas helps children to be able to support one another. Children are encouraged to work collaboratively and support one another in their learning journeys in order to be the best they can be.

Implementation

Children have a daily one-hour discrete Maths lesson, as well as 20-minute fluency sessions at least three times a week, in addition to applying skills learned in Maths across the wider curriculum.

White Rose:

At JWS, we follow the White Rose ‘Schemes of Learning’ which provides sequential ‘Blocks’ of learning for the whole year, where children meet each area of learning each year, providing a spiral curriculum.

Each ‘Block’ provides sequential ‘Small Steps’ towards meeting curriculum outcomes. Teachers use professional judgement to decide how long to spend on each small step or whether they are needed for their cohort.

Each ‘Small Step’ incorporates valuable support for teachers, including:

‘Notes and Guidance’ which outline where the Small Steps sit in relation to prior and future years’ learning, supporting pitch and expectation;
‘Mathematical Talk’ which provides prompt questions to support children to explain their thinking;
‘Varied Fluency’ which enables children to meet concepts in a variety of ways;
‘Reasoning & Problem Solving’ which offers opportunities to apply the small step’s learning in new contexts.

We use White Rose Maths as a framework for teaching because of its Concrete - Pictorial Abstract approach, which is fundamental to helping children build mental images in their heads, fully understand concepts and spot patterns easily.

Concrete representation: a pupil is first introduced to an idea or skill by acting it out with real objects. This is a ‘hands-on’ component using real objects and is a foundation for conceptual understanding.

Pictorial representation: a pupil has sufficiently understood the ‘hands-on’ experiences performed and can now relate them to representations, such as a diagram or picture of the problem.

Abstract representation: a pupil is now capable of representing problems by using mathematical notation, for example, 12 x 2 = 24. It is important that conceptual understanding, supported by the use of representation, is secure for all procedures. Reinforcement is achieved by going back and forth between these representations.

For this reason, teachers use manipulatives to explain ideas and model techniques, and they are available in every lesson for children to use too. They provide a supportive scaffold for any learner who needs this at any point to achieve success. When children have grasped a concept, they are given opportunities to deepen their understanding through reasoning, problem-solving and investigative challenges. This ensures that every child is working with their zone of proximal development. Children who are struggling at any point may receive additional support where necessary, whilst those regularly attaining above expectations will have the opportunity to take part in extra-curricular competitions and activities.

Alongside White Rose Maths, the children at JWS have 30-minute lesson on fluency. This is to build rapid recall of number facts and mental calculation. Children in EYFS, Year 1 and Year 2 have daily 20-minute sessions where they follow the NCETM Maths Mastery curriculum which is a highly visual, systematic and structured way. This programme ensures that children enter KS2 fluent in addition and subtraction facts within 20 which enables them to meet written methods for calculation taught in Y3 with confidence. From mid-Year 3, fluency practice refocuses around times tables facts, building on KS1 multiplicative understanding and counting in steps, towards fluent recall of all facts up to 12x12.

Impact

By the time children in Year 6 leave us, we want them to have the following experiences and understanding:

Children should have the chance to do this in every Maths lesson, but should also recognise that these skills apply across the curriculum and even more widely in the real world.

Inspire Knowledge and Skills:

Children will have the knowledge and skills to be able to:

Meet National Expectations for:

Calculate efficiently with integers, fractions and decimals
Measure accurately
Interpret statistics effectively
Recognise shapes and their properties
Reason mathematically
Solve problems related to all of the above
Explain and represent their thinking clearly
Understand and use maths to enhance their learning across the Connected Curriculum
Learn from mistakes and persevere when they meet challenges

Inspire Creativity & Adventure:

As part of the Maths Curriculum, children will:

Recognise that mathematics is a creative and highly interconnected discipline that has been developed over centuries
Understand that maths is essential to everyday life and use it to understand the world around them
Develop a sense of enjoyment and curiosity around maths

Inspire Kindness:

As part of the Maths Curriculum, children will:

Believe in their potential as mathematicians
Recognise the benefits of learning from mistakes or missteps
Collaborate with peers
Show respect for other's ideas and thinking

Mastery approach

At JWS, we aim the children become “Masters in Maths’ which means pupils acquiring a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of the subject.” - NCETM website

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.

Assessment:

Assessment is ongoing with low-stakes retrieval quizzes within lessons to reinforce current or recent learning (e.g. White Rose’s ‘Flashback 4’), as well as end-of-unit summaries (White Rose). Within lessons, children are encouraged to reflect on their learning with the class teacher and adults provide immediate feedback so children know their successes and next steps. Adults acknowledge written work in exercise books, addressing misconceptions and providing further challenges through the use of Post Teaching & Reflection Time sessions. Summative assessment is carried out 3 times a Year and reported to the SLT. Children are discussed through pupil progress meetings and interventions are put in place to support children who are not achieving expected standard.

Multiplication Tables Check

There is no doubt in our minds that times tables are one of the essential building blocks of a child’s understanding. Being able to rapidly repeat the tables facts and their related inverse increases a child’s confidence when dealing with harder problems as well as increase in the rate of which they can process the answer. Column methods, fractions, derived factors, division and many other branches of the curriculum require the use of times tables.

The government have introduced an assessment known as the ‘Multiplication Tables Check’ (MTC) to identify if year 4 pupils can fluently recall the multiplication facts up to and including 12 x 12. The test will take no longer than 5 minutes and will be comprised of 25 questions and 6 seconds to answer each question. It is completed on a screen as opposed to other paper assessment.

Learning times tables is a top priority in most schools, with added assistance from home learning, confidence and competence of multiplication facts. Tables should be practised every day for 10 - 15 minutes. They can be practised in a number of different ways to prevent boredom.

Times Table Rock Stars

We are very pleased to have introduced Times Tables Rock Stars into JWS. An online tool to create some excitement and enjoyment around learning times tables. All children from year 1 - 6 should now have their own login details made up of a username and a password. We are hoping that the children will have access at home to the website or app to increase their confidence when recalling facts.