Intent:

At The Kennet Federation, encompassing Southcote and Katesgrove Primary Schools, we aim to support all pupils in acquiring a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of mathematics which will help them to:

-Become enthusiastic, self-confident and motivated mathematicians.

-Acquire a solid understanding of core declarative mathematical facts and concepts, to give them the best chance of developing proficiency in the subject.

-Develop confidence and competence with efficient, systematic and accurate mathematical methods.

-Develop their conditional knowledge and ability to solve problems, using linked facts and methods to develop core, systematic strategies that can be applied in appropriate contexts.

-Understand the importance of mathematics in everyday life.

Implementation:

Our maths curriculum, from EYFS to Year 6, is a systematic, research-based and progressive sequence of learning that encompasses the statutory requirements of Development Matters and the National Curriculum.

Across the Federation, we follow and utilise the long term plan and small steps sequencing provided by White Rose, coupled with their supporting resources in order to implement a mastery approach to the teaching and learning of mathematics.

We aim to incorporate the five big ideas of teaching for mastery within our day to day maths teaching.

Coherence - lessons are broken down into small connected steps that gradually unfold the concept, providing access for all children and leading to a generalisation of the concept and the ability to apply the concept to a range of contexts.

Representation and Structure - representations used in lessons expose the mathematical structure being taught, the aim being that students can do the maths without recourse to the representation.

Mathematical Thinking - if taught ideas are to be understood deeply, they must not merely be passively received but must be worked on by the student: thought about, reasoned with and discussed with others.

Fluency - quick and efficient recall of declarative facts and procedures and the flexibility to move between different contexts and representations of mathematics.

Variation - variation is twofold. It is firstly about how the teacher represents the concept being taught, often in more than one way, to draw attention to critical aspects, and to develop deep and holistic understanding. It is also about the sequencing of the episodes, activities and exercises used within a lesson and follow up practice, paying attention to what is kept the same and what changes, to connect the mathematics and draw attention to mathematical relationships and structure.

Our mastery curriculum is therefore sequenced to include opportunities for all children to practice and recall core declarative and procedural knowledge so that this becomes secure in their long term memory. This focus on depth of understanding of key concepts helps children to build schema and gain automaticity, allowing them to make strong links between facts and methods and apply this knowledge when developing problem solving strategies.

We also believe that all pupils, when introduced to a key new concept, should have the opportunity to build competency in this topic by taking the concrete-pictorial-abstract approach.

• Concrete – students should have the opportunity to use concrete objects and manipulatives to help them understand what they are doing.
• Pictorial – students should then build on this concrete approach by using pictorial representations. These representations can then be used to reason and solve problems.
• Abstract – with the foundations firmly laid, students should be able to move to an abstract approach using numbers and key concepts with confidence.

Our calculation policy encompasses this approach and ensures continuity of representations and procedural methods across all year groups. This supports children’s progression as they move up the school.

Outside of maths lessons, we ensure that children have the opportunity to revisit prior learning in each year group by engaging in daily fluency sessions to promote recall of core declarative and procedural knowledge and ensure that this is embedded in children’s long term memories. These sessions include: oral rehearsal and practice of times tables and core number facts; using the four operations with mental strategies and written methods; activities to promote number sense – children’s flexibility with number.

Intended impact:

• Enable children to acquire the core facts, methods and strategies so that they will become fluent, confident and able mathematicians by the end of KS2 and go on to succeed at KS3.
• Children will become positive and resilient mathematicians, who are keen to seek out challenge and persevere through more complex problem solving using learned strategies.
• Children will have a holistic understanding of maths, making links between related concepts as well as being able to apply their mathematical skills in other contexts across the curriculum.
• Children of all abilities will be able to succeed in all maths, gaining confidence from early successes.
• The % of children working at ARE within each year group will be at least in line with national averages.
• The % of children working at Greater Depth within each year group will be at least in line with national averages.
• There will be no significant gaps in the progress of different groups of pupils (e.g. disadvantaged vs non-disadvantaged, SEND).

1-Minute Maths aimed at Key Stage 1 pupils focusses on 'subsitising' (the ability to recognise a number of objects without counting them), adding, subtracting and multiplying.   Although it is aimed at Key Stage 1 pupils, Key Stage 2 pupils would also benefit from practising for speed and accuracy.

When you chose a topic, each user answers a series of randomly generated questions.  When the one minute’s up, the questions are automatically marked and presented on a breakdown screen, giving instant feedback on how they’ve done. 

Click on the link below to download the app from White Rose:

https://whiterosemaths.com/resources/1-minute-maths#download

Lots of different maths games: Topmarks and Maths Frame

Practice for the Multiplication check: Talking Times Tables