St. Richard’s Roman Catholic Primary School

Mathematics

Mathematics Curriculum Statement

Intent

The intent of our mathematics curriculum is to develop a love of mathematics within our children and to develop minds that are curious about mathematics in the world around them. The intention is to design a curriculum which is accessible to all and which will maximise the development of every child’s ability and academic achievement. Due to its very nature, mathematics is a highly interconnected discipline which has, over the centuries, provided solutions to many of the world’s greatest puzzles. We strive to develop this curiosity and application aptitude in our own pupils so that they are prepared for the world in which they will be adults and can solve the puzzles of the future. We want our children to make rich connections across different strands of mathematics to develop fluency, mathematical reasoning and competence in solving increasingly sophisticated problems. It is our intention that our children will be able to apply their mathematical knowledge across the curriculum subjects and understand the importance of mathematics in everyday life, making links to science, financial literacy, technology and engineering as well as many other areas. As our pupils become more proficient it is our intention to develop a curiosity about the subject so that they can develop an awe of its power and beauty and a love of the subject itself.

Implementation

At St. Richard’s our long-term mathematics plans come directly from the National Curriculum Objectives. Each Year Group has a long-term plan which is based on the White Rose Maths Hub planning framework which are arranged to cover the concepts of place value and the four operations first within each year group. Our children come from an area of high socio-economic deprivation and as such some of our children enter school with lower than expected levels in mathematics. In addition to this, we ensure that children experience a rich variety of problem solving and reasoning activities within these strands to develop communication and language in a mathematical context – an area identified as below average in our school’s data. This is especially important as many of our children have parents who have not accessed higher education and for whom mathematics is an area in which they themselves are not confident. As we teach these concepts, we ensure that children encounter links to other areas of mathematics for example money and measures so that they are able to connect their learning with real life situations. In addition to this, as we cover other areas of mathematics, we make clear links to the concepts taught in relation to the four rules. For example, as we cover perimeter and area, we will make links to the work done when teaching addition and multiplication. Through this we ensure that children make connections between different areas of mathematics and become increasingly competent at solving problems and reasoning. We identify the small steps needed to achieve the main objectives for each year group and we encourage staff to follow these. However, it is expected that staff will be reactive to the needs of the pupils in their classes and to use their knowledge of the needs of the children at St Richard’s to plan the sequence of lessons.

We teach mathematics at St Richard’s in 5 sessions per week with each session lasting at least an hour.

As teachers we have the flexibility to consider the way we wish to teach a concept to the children in our class. This may be done in a variety of different ways and lessons will be designed in ways which engage the children. Lessons at St Richard’s may demonstrate one or more of the following approaches –

Differentiated Lessons – these lessons will demonstrate differentiation across the  class and this will include the differentiation of questions, support materials given and the tasks expected of the children.

Group Task – these activities will involve the children discussing and solving problems and explaining their reasoning. Often, they will record their ideas on stick-it notes and discuss their ideas working towards a solution.

Destination Question Sessions – in these sessions children are given a question that they will be expected to answer by the end of the session. Flexible groupings are used and children who can answer the question at the beginning of the session are given activities to deepen their understanding. Children who find the question difficult will be given input by the class teacher or teaching assistant and will then attempt the question a second time. If they are not successful on their second attempt, they will be given additional support in a follow-up session

Mastery Approach Lessons – activities which have a built-in progression of difficulty are given to the children and the children work through them. The start questions provide consolidation for some pupils and as pupils progress, they are able to grow their understanding of the concept.

Investigation Lessons – children will be given a question at the start of the session and will explore solutions through a variety of methods. Pupils will explore different concepts and will often discuss and develop solutions and ideas together. As they work towards a solution children will record their ideas using different models and images. Teachers and teaching assistants will work as facilitators during these sessions questioning pupils in order to develop their thinking.

Concept Lessons – during these lessons children are often introduced to new ideas and will explore these in a variety of different ways

Reshaped Lessons – sometimes we find that as we begin teaching children have a misconception. At this point teachers are expected to react and reshape the lesson to address the misconception before moving on with a new concept.

Guided Mathematics Sessions- during these sessions children will work with an adult to explore a concept and answer structured questions to develop understanding,

Continuous Provision – in some classes we have continuous provision areas where children explore mathematical concepts in different areas of learning. Practitioners observe learning taking place interacting appropriately and record learning outcomes

Small Group Work – in some cases mathematical concepts are taught in small groups and concepts are explored in a way which will maximise learning

In addition to the above activities mathematics is also taught using –

Estimation Stations – an area in the classroom is dedicated to the development of estimation skills. Teachers will present estimation opportunities to the children and give pupils time to respond. Most of the time children will be given a comparison estimation to help them be more accurate. Teachers model how to estimate the answer explaining their own mathematical thinking

Captain Conjecture – this is used to develop the children’s reasoning skills. Teachers pose a question and children respond using stick-it notes. The responses are gathered and discussed during a mathematics session

TT Rockstars – all children have a log in to TT Rockstars and can access this at home or in school to practise times tables.

Vocabulary

Vocabulary is explicitly taught at the start of each unit of learning.   All pupils have access to the vocabulary as it is displayed on the working wall, in books and in lessons.  The definition and application of the vocabulary is modelled continuously by the teachers and teaching assistants throughout the unit of work.  There is a high expectation for pupils to use, model and apply the vocabulary in their verbal and written reasoning.

Marking and Feedback

Targeted written marking, questioning and verbal feedback takes place by the class teacher daily.

Children are given RAR time to respond to teacher’s comments

Verbal feedback is constantly used to progress the learning in the lessons.

Mini-plenaries and modelled intervention are used to address misconceptions.

There is a high focus on self-assessment and peer-assessment across the school

Scaffolded and targeted questioning is used by teachers and teaching assistants to enhance learning outcomes for all.

Impact

We are constantly evaluating the work we do and reacting to feedback from our pupils, parents, governors and teachers. We regularly evaluate our data and identify trends to inform the teaching we do and the CPD we deliver. Our results demonstrate that mathematics is taught effectively. Within school there is a supportive ethos and through professional discussion we help our pupils to develop their mathematical reasoning and problem solving. When children are identified as below age expected attainment or below expected progress, we ensure that they are offered intervention and boosters to help them to close learning gaps. The end of Key Stage data shows an increasing number of pupils achieving greater depth. Each year we evaluate our outcomes and interrogate data to identify the steps we need to take to improve the work we do in mathematics.