Mathematics

At Cronton CE Primary School our KEYS Curriculum is built around the National Curriculum, enriched to reflect the children and community we teach in. As a church school our Christian ethos and school values are the heart of everything we do.

We believe every child can be their BEST with our Vision statement reflecting this.

“I can do everything through God who gives me strength” Philippians 4:13

How Math links with our Keys Curriculum

Our Core curriculum focuses on the knowledge and skills we need to succeed in life. The core areas of the curriculum aims are;

• To equip children with the tools to solve problems and reason about maths through learning about number, algebra, geometry and statistics.
• To learn to calculate efficiently using a range of mental and formal written methods.
•  A clear purpose for learning
• Well-planned lessons that provide children opportunities to embed learning and allow them to develop their knowledge Skills and vocabulary.

The KEY attributes for our mathematicians:

• Curiosity to make mathematical statements and investigate them 
• The ability to reason and problem solve about mathematics 
• Have a good understanding of all the different concrete materials and 'choose to use' them to help with independent work
• A good understanding of the correct mathematical vocabulary correctly and the ability to use it effectively to explain ideas, thinking and solutions
• Resilience to be able to see the challenge of overcoming mistakes as important and exciting steps to learning and discovery
• Perseverance in finding an answer by trying different strategies until the correct answer is found
• Fluency in number bonds and times tables 
• The ability to make links and apply basic math skills to all areas of the curriculum and beyond

Intent

At Cronton CE Primary school our maths is accessible to all in order to ensure all children have access to a rich, deep, varied and enjoyable mathematical experience. We believe that a high quality mathematical experience is essential.

 Our maths curriculum aims to develop children's ability to calculate, reason, problem solve and have a good understanding of the basic fundamentals in every year group

Our main aims in teaching Mathematic

• To secure the three main aims of the national Curriculum by showing an ability to show fluency in their work, solve problems, to reason, to think logically and to work systematically and accurately.

• To encourage all pupil's competence and confidence in their mathematical abilities in using and applying mathematical knowledge, concepts and skills and ensure progress in their knowledge and understanding as they move through the school.

• To develop personal qualities such as cooperation, independence in thought and action, persistence, logical and systematic thinking, imagination, creativity and flexibility.

• To give the pupils the opportunity to use and apply mathematics in a variety of everyday contexts, in practical tasks and as a powerful tool in other subjects.

• To allow the pupil to develop mathematical language, so that they can communicate ideas, solve problems and explain results.

• Confident communication of maths where pupils ask and answer questions, openly share work and learn from mistakes.

Implementation

Long term planning

The National Curriculum for Mathematics 2014, Development Matters and the Early Learning Goals (Number, Shape Space & Measure) provide the long term planning for mathematics taught in the school.

We use the White Rose Long term plans for each year from Reception to Year 6

Medium term planning

Years R - 6 use the White Rose Maths Hub schemes of learning as their medium term planning documents.

These schemes provide teachers with exemplification for math’s objectives and are broken down into fluency, reasoning and problem solving, key aims of the National Curriculum. We use the Small Steps Planning to ensure that key mathematical concepts are given to support learning. They support a mastery approach to teaching and learning and have number at their heart.  Other mastery resources are used to supplement lessons such as NCTEM and Deepening Understanding.

In maths at Cronton, we follow the White Rose progression. This is a scheme of learning that has been carefully planned and developed over several years to meet the national curriculum aims. This is a widely adopted scheme nationally and one that encourages children to become fluent in a concept, before learning and applying reasoning and problem solving skills.                                                                                                               

What is the intent of the White Rose Maths curriculum?            
The long-term aim is to produce an ambitious, connected curriculum accessible to all pupils’ right through from Reception to the end of Year 6. The curriculum covers all of the content set out within the National Curriculum, and also provides advice and suggestions to teachers.
 
How is the White Rose Maths curriculum different to any other? What skills does it develop?
We want pupils to become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, to be able to reason and to solve problems. The White Rose curriculum embraces these National Curriculum aims, and provides guidance to help pupils to become confident mathematicians.
 

We use the CPA (Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract) approach to help pupils understand mathematics and to make connections between different representations.

 We place great emphasis on mathematical language and questioning so pupils can discuss the mathematics they are doing, and so support them to take ideas further.

As well as being fluent mathematicians, we want pupils to love and learn more about mathematics.

Why is the White Rose Maths curriculum ordered in the way it is?
To learn mathematics effectively, some things have to be learned before others, e.g. place value needs to be understood before working with addition and subtraction, addition needs to be learnt before looking at multiplication (as a model of repeated addition). There is an emphasis placed on number throughout the curriculum, as this is the foundation that everything else is based on. For some other topics, the order isn’t as crucial, e.g. Shapes and Statistics need to come after number, but don’t depend on each other. We try to mix these so pupils have as wide a variety of mathematical experiences as possible in each term and year.

Lesson Structure

This five part lesson has been designed to ensure that the children develop all the three main aims of the maths curriculum. These main aims of the curriculum are Reasoning, problem solving and fluency 

Concrete - Pictorial - Abstract

The Concrete Pictorial Abstract (CPA) approach is a system of learning that uses physical and visual aids to build a child’s understanding of abstract topics. Pupils are introduced to a new mathematical concept through the use of concrete resources (e.g. fruit, Dienes blocks etc). When they are comfortable solving problems with physical aids, they are given problems with pictures – usually pictorial representations of the concrete objects they were using before moving onto a more abstract method.

In order to support the children with their learning, we regularly use physical resources to ensure concepts are fully embedded. We use a range of manipulatives, including place value counters, base ten, multi-link cubes and other practical resources.

Building these steps across a lesson can help pupils better understand the relationship between numbers and the real world, and therefore helps secure their understanding of the mathematical concept they are learning.

As well as the White Rose lessons, we complete an arithmetic lesson to develop fluency and practise strategies and methods. A stand alone maths meeting also takes place daily to consolidate basic skills and recap on previous taught work.

Home learning

Knowing the times table is extremely important. 

To help children recall these facts we have subscribed to Times Tables Rock Stars. 

Usernames and passwords are the same for Times Tables Rock Stars and Numbots. https://play.ttrockstars.com/auth/school/student/16463

We recommend:

• EYFS and year 1 to use Numbots 
• Year 2 to start with Numbots and then move onto TTRS
• Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 to use TTRS. 

White Rose now have a free app called 1 Minute Maths which will help support children in KS1 build greater number confidence and fluency. It’s all about targeted practice in engaging 1 minute chunks. Download and try today.

The free mobile app is available for Apple/iOS, Android and Kindle. 

Impact

Impact will show through formative assessment throughout the maths lessons and marking of books. This will be used to support and identify specific areas children need to develop. This knowledge will then impact on the daily planning of lessons to support and develop these specific areas.

Summative test will also be given at the end of each term. Year 2 and 6 will complete Year group specific test papers. Year groups 1, 3, 4 and 5 will complete NFER test. These will be placed onto the system AskEddi which will give each class a closer question analysis to support the specific areas.

The development of the lesson ensures that all children have the opportunity at working within the expected level and at greater depth.  The impact of the maths lesson will ensure that all children make good progress from their starting point. This will be shown at the end of key stage test where progress and attainment are shown to be above national.