Mathematics at St Anne's Copp CE Primary School

NCETM

EYFS

The EYFS Statutory Framework 2021 (from birth to 5) sets standards for the learning, development and care of children from birth to five years old and supports an integrated approach to early learning. This is supported by the ‘Development matters’ non-statutory guidance.

EYFS Statutory Educational Programme: 

Developing a strong grounding in number is essential so that all children develop the necessary building blocks to excel mathematically.  Children should be able to count confidently, develop a deep understanding of the numbers to 10, the relationships between them and the patterns within those numbers. 

Children in our Pre-School and Reception class will develop mathematical skills through outdoor play, stories/rhymes/songs, using natural materials, small world objects, playing games and many more engaging activities. 

YEARS 1-6

The National Curriculum sets out year-by-year programmes of study for Key Stages 1 and 2. This ensures continuity and progression in the teaching of mathematics.

Teaching 

The school uses a variety of teaching and learning styles in mathematics lessons. Our aim is to develop children’s knowledge, skills and understanding in mathematics. We do this through a daily mathematics lesson where children are given opportunities for:

• Practical activities and mathematical games
• Problem solving
• Open and closed tasks
• Individual, group and whole class discussions and activities
• A range of methods of calculating e.g. mental, pencil and paper and using a calculator
• Working with computers as a mathematical tool
• Using a wide range of support resources e.g. number squares, digit cards and number lines
• Using and applying their learning in everyday situations

Through our creative approach to teaching and learning we also seek to explore and utilise further opportunities to use and apply mathematics across all subject areas

Teachers Planning and Organisation

These schemes provide teachers with exemplification for maths objectives and are broken down into fluency, reasoning and problem solving, key aims of the National Curriculum. They support a mastery approach to teaching and learning and have number at their heart. They ensure teachers stay in the required key stage and support the ideal of depth before breadth. They support pupils working together as a whole group and provide plenty of time to build reasoning and problem solving elements into the curriculum.

MATHS READINESS

We are in the third year of our mastery journey.  It is a 4 year program split into 4 phases:

Preparatory Phase

Development Phase

Building Phase

Refinement Phase

We are excited to continue this journey and believe that teaching maths through the mastery approach is what our children need. 

Underpinning principles

• Mathematics teaching for mastery assumes everyone can learn and enjoy mathematics.
   
• Mathematical learning behaviours are developed such that pupils focus and engage fully as learners who reason and seek to make connections.
   
• Teachers continually develop their specialist knowledge for teaching mathematics, working collaboratively to refine and improve their teaching.
   
• Curriculum design ensures a coherent and detailed sequence of essential content to support sustained progression over time.

Lesson design

• Lesson design links to prior learning to ensure all can access the new learning and identifies carefully sequenced steps in progression to build secure understanding.
   
• Examples, representations and models are carefully selected to expose the structure of mathematical concepts and emphasise connections, enabling pupils to develop a deep knowledge of mathematics.
   
• Procedural fluency and conceptual understanding are developed in tandem because each supports the development of the other.
   
• It is recognised that practice is a vital part of learning, but the practice must be designed to both reinforce pupils’ procedural fluency and develop their conceptual understanding.

In the classroom

• Pupils are taught through whole-class interactive teaching, enabling all to master the concepts necessary for the next part of the curriculum sequence.
   
• In a typical lesson, the teacher leads back and forth interaction, including questioning, short tasks, explanation, demonstration, and discussion, enabling pupils to think, reason and apply their knowledge to solve problems.
   
• Use of precise mathematical language enables all pupils to communicate their reasoning and thinking effectively.
   
• If a pupil fails to grasp a concept or procedure, this is identified quickly, and gaps in understanding are addressed systematically to prevent them falling behind.
   
• Significant time is spent developing deep understanding of the key ideas that are needed to underpin future learning.
   
• Key number facts are learnt to automaticity, and other key mathematical facts are learned deeply and practised regularly, to avoid cognitive overload in working memory and enable pupils to focus on new learning.

(NCETM 2022)

AGT VISIT

Mr Thistlethwaite, our school governor, comes into school to work with students in different classes. As he is a high school teacher, they enjoy the challenges he sets them. 

MATHS IN ACTION

What our children say about Maths!

“I like sorting out numbers when they are big and small and watching NumberBlocks.”

Poppy (Reception)

“What I like about maths is numbers because they make me happy.”

Aurora (Reception)

“I love maths. I would give it 100 out of 10. I like adding and subtracting bigger numbers.” 

George  (Year 1)

“I like doing different multiplication, division and addition problems. There is also lots of reasoning involved in maths and I like explaining how I reached my answer and proving it in different ways.”

Luke (Year 3)

“I like learning about the different areas of maths such a doing times tables. I also like completing the challenge at the end of the lesson because it gets my brain ready to go for the day!”

Aria (Year 3)

“I like all the hard work in maths, it makes your brain focused and helps us learn.”

William (Year 4)

“I like that maths is good for your brain and it keeps you busy.”

Edwin (Year 4)