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Maths

Intent, Implementation and Impact

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Philippians 4:13 

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

NTENT:

At St Michael’s, we want every child to be successful, fluent mathematicians and individuals who can apply these skills into problem solving and reasoning situations. We want the children to see mathematics as being relevant to their world and applicable to everyday life as well as being something that they will need as they move on through their school life; ultimately to the world of employment. To that end, a high-quality, inter-related and creative mathematics experience should be one that develops the children’s ability to think mathematically and one which allows them to apply the tools to which they have been exposed in a variety of ways.

Following the introduction of the National Curriculum in 2014 the emphasis has been to ensure that all children:

  • Become fluent

  • Reason and explain mathematically

  • Can solve problems.

This means that children need to be regularly exposed to opportunities involving increasingly complex problem solving which allows them to apply their mathematical knowledge. In doing so, they should be encouraged to develop an argument and line of enquiry which they can prove and justify using mathematical vocabulary. This includes the ability to break down problems, both routine and non-routine, into a series of steps.

Fluency involves:

  • Quick recall of facts and procedures

  • The flexibility and fluidity to move between different contexts and representations of
    mathematics.

  • The ability to recognise relationships and make connections in mathematics

Representation and Structure involves:

  • Mathematical structures are the key patterns and generalisations that underpin sets of numbers – they are the laws and relationships that we want children to spot. Using different representations can help children to ‘see’ these laws and relationships.

Variation involves:

  • Procedural variation – This is a deliberate change in the type of examples used and questions set, to draw attention to certain features.

  • Conceptual variation – When a concept is presented in different ways, to show what a concept is, in all of its different forms.

Mathematical Thinking involves:

  • Looking for pattern and relationships

  • Logical Reasoning

  • Making Connections

Coherence involves:

  • Teachers should develop detailed knowledge of the curriculum in order to break the mathematics down into small steps to develop mastery and address all aspects in a logical progression. This will ensure deep and sustainable learning for all pupils.

IMPLEMENTATION:

How is Maths taught in KS1 and KS2? 

The school has implemented the White Rose Scheme of learning where mathematical areas of the curriculum are blocked. This ensures that children are able to focus for longer on each specific area of mathematics and develop a more secure understanding over time. This approach is also designed to enable children to progress to a greater depth of understanding.

g the mathematical concept to the class through the worked examples. This is supported by whiteboards and physical resources, exposing and explaining concepts to the children as they work. Teacher modelling is key to our children using and applying this language. Teachers are expected to use a variety of strategies such as cold-calling, talk partners and no opt outs  on children throughout their input, as assessment for learning, creating a ping-pong effect within the lesson. 

Children then work in small groups, pairs or independently to answer the White Rose Maths worksheets. Children are expected to use objects (concrete manipulatives) across the school to aid understanding of mathematical concepts, following a CPA approach. Teachers use careful questions to draw out children’s discussions and their reasoning and the children learn from misconceptions through whole class reasoning. 

Reasoning and problem solving is embedded in all lessons, through the use of White Rose Maths. As a result, these types of questions are accessible to every child helping to stretch thinking and deepen understanding. Children are encouraged to answer these questions in their maths books, showing their workings, and using the key stem sentences associated with each White Rose Maths block. 

The use of mathematics resources is integral to the concrete – pictorial – abstract (CPA) approach and thus planned into teaching and learning. The school has a wide variety of good quality equipment and resources, both tangible and ICT based, to support our learning and teaching.

These resources are used by our teachers and children to demonstrate or model an idea, an operation or method of calculation. The progression is then broken down into small steps which give more detailed guidance on how to approach adult-led teaching of concepts, and how to enhance your provision areas to support teaching. Within the small steps, White Rose Maths have focused on key questions to support all adults within the setting to unpick children’s understanding and to enable them to move forward with their learning. The suggestions for learning could be used for short adult-led inputs or group activities with the children.

 

Taking a mastery approach, differentiation occurs in the support and intervention provided to different pupils, not in the topics taught, particularly at earlier stages. There is no differentiation in content taught, but the questioning and scaffolding individual pupils receive in class as they work through problems will differ, with higher attaining children, or those pupils who grasp concepts quickly, challenged through more demanding problems which deepen their knowledge of the same content. Those children who are not sufficiently fluent are provided additional support to consolidate their understanding before moving on. Pupils’ difficulties and misconceptions are identified through immediate formative assessment and addressed with intervention.

 

End of unit assessments are taken at the end of each WRM block, with the exception of Year 6, who use SATs assessments to inform teaching. These assessments are used alongside outcomes of day-day work, to inform day-to-day teaching and the whole school tracking of attainment and progress for each child. 

Assessment data in maths is reviewed throughout the year, usually on a termly basis, to inform interventions and to also ensure that provision remains well-informed to enable optimum progress and achievement. End of year data is used to measure the extent to which attainment gaps for individuals and identified groups of learners are being closed. This data is used to inform whole school and subject development priorities for the next school year.

 

IMPACT:

The impact of our mathematics curriculum is that children understand the relevance and importance of what they are learning in relation to real world concepts. Children know that maths is a vital life skill that they will rely on in many areas of their daily life. Children have a positive view of maths due to learning in an environment where maths is promoted as being an exciting and enjoyable subject in which they can investigate and ask questions; they know that it is reasonable to make mistakes because this can strengthen their learning through the journey to finding an answer. Children are confident to ‘have a go’ and choose the equipment they need to help them to learn along with the strategies they think are best suited to each problem. Our children have a good understanding of their strengths and targets for development in maths and what they need to do to improve. Our maths books evidence work of a high standard of which children clearly take pride; the components of the teaching sequences demonstrate good coverage of fluency, reasoning and problem solving. Our feedback and interventions support children to strive to be the best mathematicians they can be, ensuring a high proportion of children are on track or above.

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