Maths
The Maths Curriculum
Intent
Our Maths curriculum enables our children to develop the mathematical expertise they need in the world that they live in so that they can flourish and reach their potential. Our children are given every opportunity to build their knowledge (Cultural Capital) and skills (Threshold Concepts) in Maths to enable them to be successful citizens in our ever-changing world; they are encouraged to develop their abilities of arithmetic, reasoning and applying to help in the world of further education, work and in their future lives.
Our approach to Maths is ambitious and progressive for all learners and aims to develop children’s confidence in their own abilities and independence in their thinking, helping them become successful mathematicians, eager to learn more and build a love for the subject. We aim to offer rich and vibrant opportunities within the Maths curriculum which draw upon meaningful real-life experiences. In addition, through applying Maths in all areas of our curriculum, children will understand the wide application of their Maths skills alongside the focus on our curriculum drivers, and what an important role this subject has to play in their overall learning journey.
The maths curriculum is designed and taught with an understanding that the working memory is limited and that we can aid learning and the acquisition of the long term memory with regular repeated learning experiences over time.
Implementation
Our long term Maths plan covers the national curriculum objectives thoroughly, ensuring that each year group builds on the previous experience of their learners so there is clear progression. Progress is also ensured through the continuous use and up levelling of the threshold concepts and the reasoning skills as the children progress through their year and the key stage.
The Threshold Concepts in Maths are:
- Know and use numbers
- Add and subtract
- Multiply and divide
- Use Fractions
- Understand the properties of shapes
- Describe position and movement
- Use measures
- Use statistics
- Use algebra
In our Maths curriculum, knowledge is revisited and built upon regularly throughout the year as well as year on year to give children an opportunity to embed their learning in their longer term memory. Also, new learning is revisited frequently from lesson to lesson using strategies such as starters with reasoning activities or application in other mathematical areas.
There is a rich mixture of Maths topics in every term to provide the children with varied and stimulating Maths experiences. Arithmetic and the learning of multiplication tables are the foundation of Maths learning and so play an important part in our Maths curriculum with dedicated sessions; there is also a strong emphasis on the development of the children's reasoning and problem solving skills within every Maths area covered.
Every child is encouraged to reach their potential through careful differentiation. Supported children are given more opportunity to embed the procedural skills before applying them, whilst the greater depth children are encouraged to reason and apply at a more complex level requiring justification and explanation if their procedural knowledge is secure. Differentiated groups are fluid and the level at which a child works at is determined by topic cold tasks to ensure appropriate support and challenge.
Impact
All class teachers assess daily to determine next steps with every individual and the class as a whole. They will also set a ‘cold task’ to enable them to determine the pathway of the following learning for every child. Planning is expected to be adjusted in line with AFL and it is the children’s learning which informs the planning. A hot task is implemented at the end of a topic to assess the progress of each child. The use of teaching assistants with a planned group or individuals is encouraged to deal with previously identified misconceptions, to scaffold learning or to challenge children’s thinking; they are important to support all children’s learning.
Teachers assess children using ‘Harmony’ on a termly basis. Children are assessed for depth of learning as well as content progression; tests are also undertaken to support the teachers’ judgements. Moderation ensures quality assessment judgements are reached. The school tracker system on ‘Target Tracker’ is completed termly to enable teachers to analyse the progress of each individual. Data is scrutinised and children not making expected progress are identified and intervention put in place. The progress of different groups eg boys, girls, pupil premium EAL etc are monitored closely.