Mathematics Curriculum

Mathematics at St. Agnes Primary School

Coordinator: Mrs M. Stapleton

Intent
Maths is an essential part of everyday life. It is a skill that we use on a daily basis. Here at St Agnes, Maths forms an important part of our broad and balanced curriculum. We believe that every child can succeed in Maths and we aim to instil this belief in the children themselves. We aim to show children the relevance Maths has in the real world.
We plan for progression from where children start when they enter Nursery to when they are ready to leave in Y6, preparing them for their next stage of learning in Year 7 and beyond. We are clear that the knowledge and skills the children acquire in our curriculum build towards clearly defined end points. Our aim is to ensure that children have the skills they need to progress to the next stage of their learning - EYFS to KS1, KS1 to KS2 and at KS2, our curriculum is designed to develop competencies to equip pupils for KS3.

Unlocking mathematical fluency is an essential life skill for all learners and is a prerequisite to being able to reason and solve problems mathematically. As a school, we recognise that the key to unlocking the potential in our children is through the development of basic mathematical skills and the understanding of mathematical concepts. Our aim is to develop a positive culture of deep understanding, confidence and competence in maths that produces strong, secure learning. We therefore place great emphasis on the use of concrete resources and pictorial representations at all ages, to enable children to fully understand the concepts and principals, when presented with abstract calculations and questions. We endeavour to ensure that children develop an enjoyment and enthusiasm for maths that will stay with them throughout their lives and empower them in the future. In addition to daily Maths lessons, our aim is to give children wider experiences of Maths outside of the Maths lesson.
We understand the importance of the Early Years for giving our children the best possible start in life and ensuring they get the support that enables them to fulfil their potential. Building the mathematical foundations in the Early Years has a major impact on their future life chances. Our educational programme ensures that our children:

Have a secure grounding in number
Develop a secure base of knowledge and vocabulary to describe relationships and connections they find in their learning
Develop their spatial reasoning across all areas of mathematics
Have positive attitudes towards mathematics, talk to adults about what they notice and are not afraid to make mistakes

Through our Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 Mathematics curriculum, we aspire that all learners will:

Become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.
reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language
Have the opportunity to solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and nonroutine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.

At St Agnes, we endeavour to support all children so they are ready for the next stage of their learning and will have met their end points as identified in the Ready to Progress Criteria. Our children will be equipped with:

An understanding of the important concepts and an ability to make connections within mathematics.
A broad range of skills in using and applying mathematics.
Fluent knowledge and recall of number facts and the number system.
The ability to show initiative in solving problems in a wide range of contexts, including the new or unusual.
The ability to think independently and to persevere when faced with challenges, showing a confidence of success.
The ability to embrace the value of learning from mistakes and false starts.
The ability to reason, generalise and make sense of solutions.
Fluency in performing written and mental calculations and mathematical techniques.
A wide range of mathematical vocabulary.
An enjoyment and enthusiasm for the subject.

Implementation
A whole class teaching approach is adopted, keeping the class working together, with no acceleration to new content. This is to avoid superficial, surface learning and foster a deeper, more secure understanding of all concepts taught. As Debbie Morgan from NCETM says, ‘Go slow to go fast.’ Our aim is to ensure that concepts are well embedded and children have a secure understanding so they can go faster later on. The learning needs of every child are addressed through skilful questioning and appropriate intervention – this provides the necessary scaffolding or challenge for all.

From Nursery to Year 6, there is a daily whole class lesson for Mathematics. We also use the Mastering Number programme from Reception to Year 2 to support children’s learning of the structures of numbers and to develop their use of language when trying to explain their thinking.

In our Reception class, children work towards the Early Learning Goals for Number and Numerical Patterns. We use White Rose Maths as our long term planning which covers counting, subitising, composition, comparing and ordering numbers, with links to shape, space and measure and spatial reasoning skills.

The Key Stage One and Key Stage Two curriculum focuses on four areas: number, measurement, geometry and statistics across the year. Within these areas, concepts are taught slowly and at great depth to ensure the learning is secure and sustainable. We build on prior learning through Assessment for Learning, review learning achieved and children’s retrieval of concepts. Each lesson includes a starter, sequence of modelled learning, independent learning and a plenary if appropriate. Included in our lessons are fluency, reasoning and problem solving tasks, giving the children the opportunity to explore the concept being taught extensively before moving on to the next. Questions are designed carefully by the teachers to provide intelligent practice, developing and embedding conceptual fluency. We believe in exposing the children to multiple representations of a concept, using concrete, pictorial and abstract examples simultaneously to support the children’s understanding. We tailor our interventions to the needs of each class, with teachers making decisions based on what the children’s needs are.

At St Agnes, we place high importance on mathematical talk. As a result, lessons (and learning in the Early Years) include regular opportunities for the children to discuss their understanding and explain their thinking, both with the adults and their peers. Accurate use of vocabulary and terminology features prominently in our lessons, with teachers both modelling and expecting it from the children. We believe this will support our children when faced with a range of mathematical problems.

Children are given maths homework weekly at St Agnes including a fluency task to be completed each night and a weekly Maths task for KS2. These activities link to the learning done in class that week and encourage the children to practise and embed their skills further.

Impact

Our math’s curriculum and the teaching strategies we employ have promoted progress in our attainment scores in KS1 since 2017 and maintaining above national averages in KS2.
Monitoring of Maths’s lesson design shows strong evidence of staff subject knowledge and understanding of the mathematical concepts being taught.
All learning is matched appropriately to the age group being taught.
Our pupils’ work in books increasingly shows evidence of opportunities for fluency, reasoning and problem solving.
Children are prepared year on year for the next step in their mathematics education.

If you were to walk into mathematics lessons at St Agnes, you would see:

Small steps between and within lessons.
Questions are carefully planned and used throughout the lesson to target children’s fluency and reasoning skills.
Ping pong style teaching where ideas and activities regularly move from teacher to children and back again.
Children are given opportunities to share and critique answers or strategies.
A CPA approach where concrete, pictorial and abstract representations are used fluidly to allow deep, sustainable learning for all
Children are expected to understand and use the correct, precise mathematical vocabulary when explaining their maths. Due to a consistent approach across the school, the children are confident to do this both verbally and in written work.
Children will be given opportunities to practise and use their number skills, and apply them in different contexts.
Adults in lessons will quickly identify children who are struggling within the lesson. Adults will move between tables to support and question children to deepen their understanding.

We know that, during school closures, some pupils have fallen behind their peers, so we are using the WRM and accompanying resources from Rec – Y6 flexibly, adapting the curriculum to meet the needs of our children. We are also using the NCETM’s Ready to Progress criteria to track coverage and identify gaps in learning and attainment. These are designed to enable us to support all our pupils with the gaps they may have in their knowledge. These materials and resources are intended to ensure that we, as teachers, have the knowledge and confidence to continue to give our pupils the best possible support for learning maths. We are identifying gaps through our ongoing summative and formative assessment and have built opportunities into our school day where additional support is provided to close these gaps as soon as possible.