Mathematics
“Maths inspires us to believe that every problem has a solution”
-Anonymous-
“The definition of a good mathematical problem is the mathematics it generates rather than the problem itself”
-Andrew Wile-
Intent
At The Highway Primary School, our intent is to build a Mathematics mastery curriculum that progressively develops learning and results in the acquisition of knowledge, skills, enquiry and confidence. Maths is, in essence, at the heart of everything we do in life. With this in mind, at The Highway we teach Maths to a mastery approach. This is to ensure all pupils can master the Maths Curriculum and gain the important mathematical skills that equip them for the wider world. The maths curriculum at The Highway has been created in order to inspire, motivate and challenge pupils. To develop within each pupil a curiosity about mathematics whilst being accessible to all. This will help them evidence and justify their workings in a concrete, pictorial or abstract manner, but also to cement their own choice of method- thereby enhancing their mathematical reasoning and problem solving skills. As independent thinkers, we want children to embrace challenges and tricky moments as opportunities for creativity.
Implementation
To ensure consistently high-quality teaching and coverage of Maths concepts, we structure our planning around the White Rose Scheme of Learning which progressively and coherently structures the delivery of the Maths National Curriculum. We do not use the scheme as an ‘off-the-shelf’ solution to teaching mathematics, instead preferring to personalise and individualise lessons to match the specific requirements of our cohorts. These ‘personalisations’ come in the form of careful concrete & pictorial resource choices which are meant to help develop the children’s fluency, reasoning & problem-solving which leads to a greater depth & breadth of understanding within maths. Key knowledge and skills are regularly revisited allowing repetition, in order to embed learning.
We also use resources from other areas outside of White Rose, such as Collins, Teacher Secrets, Third Space Learning NCETM & NRICH to enhance and broaden the thinking within our students.
We support children with the use of effective physical resources such as: Numicon, Base 10 & number tracks, we can help them grasp concepts so that they can create pictorial or even abstract representations of these mathematical problems. This approach is not linear, but, instead is an effective amalgamation of all 3 elements.
Through effective, concise and thought-provoking questioning we will encourage deeper thinking and the consideration of other viewpoints within maths lessons. Teachers at The Highway consistently model the skills, knowledge & oracy skills needed to reach objectives within individual lessons and entire strands of the curriculum. We have high expectations of all our children and show them good practice, methodology and strategies they can choose from to assist them in their own mathematical enquiries throughout their learning.
We will develop children’s mathematical vocabulary as a critical element to allow them to reason, justify and explain effectively. At The Highway, we want our mathematicians to become independent thinkers and problem-solvers. The children can only showcase their creativity in this manner if given opportunities to identify patterns or make connections within maths, which they can then use to predict, reason or even potentially create their own patterns or links within maths and other curriculum areas.
Impact
At the end of each year, children will have gained a deepening understanding of the strands across the maths national curriculum and feel confident to vocally reason and explain their beliefs and opinions with either concrete or pictorial representations to evidence them. Children will have a vast and deep understanding of maths which they can apply naturally and confidently in a variety of contexts in the world outside of school and into their future. Resilience, flexibility, tenacity and self-belief are all important traits we intend to develop within each unique mathematician.
Children will:
- articulate their Maths learning and use the correct mathematical vocabulary to do so.
- have a passion for maths.
- have a positive view of maths, an area where they can investigate, ask questions and know that it is ‘ok’ to make mistakes and that this can strengthen their learning journey.
- demonstrate a knowledge and balance between the fluency and rapid recall of number facts such as times tables and the reasoning and justification required to solve more complex problem-solving.
- make links between mathematical concepts and how these will be used in their lives now, in the next stage of their education and into their future in the wider world.
This will be evident through pupil voice, evidence of showcasing knowledge and skills and the monitoring of the ambition behind the curriculum. Our maths books and evidence will show a range of skills being utilised and activities that demonstrate good fluency, reasoning and problem solving.
In addition to informal observations during lessons and feedback, we carry out assessments at the end of each blocked unit and children are given specific feedback to enable gaps to be identified, misconceptions to be addressed and opportunities to develop and deepen their understanding. In conjunction with this, summative assessments are carried out termly using Pixl assessments that allow us to build a complete picture of the children's progress and identify the next steps in their learning.
All assessment data is used within Pupil Progress Meetings to ensure the best possible provision is being provided for every child to enable all children to achieve the best possible outcomes at every stage of their time at The Highway Primary School.
