At Stratford-upon-Avon Primary School our aim is that children achieve high standards in maths and enjoy doing so. Our intention is to deliver a curriculum which allows children to explore mathematics following a mastery approach, in order to embed a culture of deep understanding, confidence and competence in this subject, with the aim of shaping assured, happy and resilient mathematicians. We deliver lessons that are creative and engaging. We want children to make rich connections across mathematical ideas to develop fluency, mathematical reasoning and competence in solving increasingly sophisticated problems. We encourage children to talk openly about mathematics, exploring concepts and furthering their understanding. We plan for children to regularly revisit concepts in maths and intend for our children to be able to apply their mathematical knowledge to other subjects. Our intention is to give all pupils a chance to believe in themselves as mathematicians and develop the power of resilience when faced with mathematical challenges. It is our strong belief that all children can learn mathematics and that high-quality mathematics education provides a foundation for understanding the wider world and a tool for life.
Implementation
To ensure effective teaching, we take a mastery approach to the maths curriculum, expecting all children to reach or exceed national expectations. We follow the requirements of the national curriculum, using the White Rose Schemes of Learning to map out the progression of the teaching blocks for each year group. Each block is then broken down into coherent, carefully planned small steps to develop and deepen the children's understanding of the topic/concept, building on prior learning. These steps provide all children with experience of mathematical fluency, reasoning and problem solving and ensure that every child can progress with the skills and understanding they need to succeed. As teachers, we ensure that the majority of children have mastered a concept before moving on to new learning.
All lessons begin with a short ‘Do Now’ task to support retrieval practice and develop long-term memory, and to connect new learning with what is already known. In lessons, we question, model and explain each concept, moving children through concrete, pictorial and abstract representations, using carefully chosen resources, to enrich the learning experience and deepen understanding over a sequence of lessons. Reasoning and problem solving are integral to the activities all children are given to develop their mathematical thinking. We place an emphasis of learning through dialogue with a ‘learning partner’, encouraging rich mathematical discussions and exploring ideas and strategies through Talk Tasks. We use mistakes and misconceptions as an essential part of learning and enable children to acquire maths skills that can be recalled quickly and transferred and applied in different contexts. We provide a supportive and engaging learning environment, encouraging children to use this to support their learning. Regular target setting and reviewing ensures that interventions can be put in place to ensure all learners are progressing well. Children who require support in lessons are provided with the relevant scaffolding; children who have shown understanding at a deep level are challenged further and provided with opportunities to apply their skills in a greater depth activity. This is one requiring a deeper level of reasoning or the application of more than one mathematical skill in order to solve the problem. Plenaries are used to reflect on learning, address a misconception, self or peer review, gather evidence for assessments and plan for future learning by posing a question for the next lesson.
We also have separate short daily retrieval sessions, in addition to the maths lesson, to provide spaced practice. These are designed to develop good number sense for all children, ensuring they have fluency in calculation and a confidence and flexibility with number.
Positive attitudes and a love of maths is developed through maths days, maths weeks, maths clubs, maths competitions, interactive maths displays, and links with other subjects.
Impact
Children at Stratford-upon-Avon Primary School will be fluent, confident and resilient mathematicians and show a good understanding of the concepts taught, and a strong belief in their ability to achieve as mathematicians. Most children will reach end of year expectations. This will be evidenced both in their books, through the completion of different activities, and also through pupil interviews. Our learners will be able to show their understanding of the mathematical concept or skill being mastered and use mathematical language effectively to explain their ideas. Also, our children will be able to independently apply concepts to new problems in unfamiliar situations and make connections within and across maths lessons.
