Plymtree Church of England Primary School

Intent

At Plymtree Primary School we recognise that Mathematics is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment.

We aim to provide a high-quality mathematics education with a mastery approach so that all children:

• Become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics;
• Reason mathematically;
• Can solve problems by applying their mathematics.

(National Curriculum 2014)

We understand that mathematics is an important part of a child’s development, right from an early age. We intend on delivering a curriculum which:

• Allows children to be a part of creative and engaging lessons that will give them a range of opportunities to explore mastery curriculum approach.
• Gives each pupil a chance to believe in themselves as mathematicians and develop the power of resilience and perseverance when faced with mathematical challenges.
• Recognises that mathematics underpins much of our daily lives and therefore is of paramount importance in order to be successful in the next stages of their learning.
• Engages all children and entitles them to the same quality of teaching and learning opportunities, striving to achieve their potential.
• Makes rich connections across mathematical ideas to develop fluency, mathematical reasoning and competence in solving increasingly sophisticated problems.
• Provides equal opportunities for children to apply their mathematical knowledge to other subjects.

Implementation

Our mastery approach to the curriculum is designed to develop children’s knowledge and understanding of mathematical concepts from the Early Years through to the end of Year 6.

In school we follow the national curriculum and use White Rose Schemes of Work as a guide to support teachers with their planning and assessment. Alongside this, resources from Deepening Understanding, the White Rose Premium Scheme and Classroom Secrets. At Plymtree, children study mathematics daily covering a broad and balanced curriculum including elements of number, calculation, geometry, measures and statistics. 

At the start of a new topic, the children will complete a class knowledge gather to gain understanding of the children’s prior knowledge. This is used rather than the previously used elicitation task due to the mental health of the children; the unnecessary stress the elicitation task was producing meant the children were less engaged and didn’t develop their love of learning. This knowledge gather will be displayed in the classroom and added to in a different colour throughout the topic.

Children are taught through clear modelling and have the opportunity to develop their knowledge and understanding of mathematical concepts. The mastery approach incorporates using objects, pictures, words and numbers (concrete, pictorial and abstract – CPA approach) to help all children explore and demonstrate mathematical ideas, enrich their learning experience and deepen understanding at all levels. This method allows for children to ensure efficiency in their learning of the formal methods as well as ensuring the children are confident to use their learning across the curriculum. 

Throughout lessons the children will work on an appropriate objective, with the focuses being to acquire the skill, apply the skills and deepen their understanding. Each child will move through these different stages at their own pace of learning. Children, who have shown a deep level of understanding within the unit, will have opportunities to apply these skills in greater depth activities. These tasks should be challenging and ensure that the children are using more than one skill to develop their mathematical problem solving.

Reasoning and problem solving are integral to the activities children are given to develop their mathematical thinking. These activities are used for all children including children with additional needs. Children with additional needs are included in whole class lessons and teachers provide scaffolding and relevant support as necessary. For those children who are working outside of their year group curriculum, individual learning activities are provided to ensure progress.

In the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), we relate the mathematical aspects of the children's work to the Development Matters statements and the Early Learning Goals (ELG), as set out in the EYFS profile document. Mathematics development involves providing children with opportunities to practise and improve their skills in counting numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems, and to describe shapes, spaces, and measures. The profile for Mathematics areas of learning are Number (ELG 11) and shape, space and measures (ELG 12). We continually observe and assess children against these areas using their age-related objectives, and plan the next steps in their mathematical development through a topic-based curriculum.

There are opportunities for children to encounter Maths throughout the EYFS (both inside and outside) – through both planned activities and the self-selection of easily accessible quality maths resources. Whenever possible, children’s interests are used to support delivering the mathematics curriculum.

A love of maths is encouraged throughout the school via links with other subjects, applying an ever growing range of skills with growing independence.

Impact

The impact of our mathematics curriculum is that children understand the relevance of what they are learning in relation to real world concepts. We have fostered an environment where Maths is fun and it is OK to be ‘wrong’ because the journey to finding an answer is most important. Our children have a growth mind-set and they make measurable progression against their own targets

Our maths books are packed with a range of activities showing evidence of fluency, reasoning and problem solving. Our feedback and interventions are supporting children to strive to be the best mathematicians they can be ensuring a greater proportion of children are on track.

Children ‘have a go’ and choose the equipment they need to help them to learn along with the strategies they think are best suited to each problem. Children are developing skills in being articulate and are able to verbally, pictorially and in written form reason well.

Throughout each lesson formative assessment takes place and feedback is given to the children through marking and next step tasks to ensure they are meeting the specific learning objective. Teacher’s then use this assessment to influence their planning and ensure they are providing a mathematics curriculum that will allow each child to progress. The teaching of maths is also monitored on a termly basis through book scrutinies, learning walks and lesson observations.

Each half term children from Year 1 to Year 5 complete a summative assessment to help them to develop their testing approach and demonstrate their understanding of the topics covered. These summative assessments are provided by White Rose Maths. In year 6, past SATs papers are used to assess the children’s understanding as well as the White Rose assessments. The results from both the formative assessment and summative assessment are then used to determine children’s progress and attainment.