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Mathematics at Waterfield
Intent
Mathematics is an interconnected subject in which pupils need to be able to move fluently between representations of mathematical ideas. Therefore, as mathematicians, the children at Waterfield Primary School are exposed every day to carefully planned mathematics sessions, during which they take part in challenging but also accessible, stimulating and engaging practical activities. The aim of our curriculum is to ensure our children are determined, passionate and curious mathematicians who are ready to take the next step into their life.
At Waterfield, we want:
- To build a mathematics curriculum which develops learning and results in the acquisition of knowledge and skills so that all pupils know more, remember more and understand more;
- To build a curriculum, which enables pupils to make rich connections across mathematical ideas to develop fluency, mathematical reasoning and competency in solving increasingly sophisticated problems;
- To provide opportunities across all curricular areas for the development and application of mathematic skills.
We want our children:
- To develop deep contextual understanding of mathematics;
- To reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing justification or proof using mathematical language;
- To make rich connections across mathematical ideas to develop fluency, mathematical reasoning and competence in solving increasingly sophisticated problems;
- To be able to apply their mathematical knowledge to science and other subjects;
- To develop their stamina, critical thinking, and problem solving skills, as well as resilience, perseverance and collaboration skills;
- To have an appreciation of the power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.
Implementation
The content and principles underpinning the 2014 Mathematics curriculum and the Maths curriculum at Waterfield convey how our curriculum is implemented:
- Teachers reinforce an expectation that all children are capable of achieving high standards in Mathematics;
- The large majority of children progress through the curriculum content at the same pace;
- Differentiation is achieved by emphasising deep knowledge and through individual support and intervention;
- Practice and consolidation play a central role. Carefully designed variation within this builds fluency and understanding of underlying mathematical concepts;
- Teachers use precise questioning in class to test conceptual and procedural knowledge and assess children regularly to identify those requiring intervention, so that all children keep up.
To ensure consistency and progression, at Waterfield we follow the White Rose approach and the TCT Framework. This way we ensure that staff at all levels understand the pedagogy of the approach. Across the school, children are encouraged to use a variety of manipulatives during mathematics sessions. Teachers use careful questioning to draw out children’s discussions and their reasoning. Independent work provides opportunities for all children to develop their fluency further, before progressing to more complex related problems. Mathematical topics are taught in blocks, to enable the achievement of ‘mastery’ over time. Children are given opportunities to revisit, refine and develop their knowledge; and, as teachers we adapt our curriculum to ensure that it evolves giving children the skills to face the challenges of tomorrow.
Alongside daily maths sessions, an additional 15 minutes a day is spent focusing on revisiting previously taught units; pre-teaching upcoming areas of mathematics and developing fluency and precision in the key areas: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and fractions. This is achieved through short discrete sessions as well as Maths Minutes. In addition, at Waterfield we promote TT Rock Stars, an online platform where children develop their quick recall of multiplication and division facts through friendly but competitive and engaging activities.
All children are expected to complete mathematics homework which focuses on place value and the four main operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. This allows the children regular practice building up key skills and fluency.
Early Years
In Early Years, pupils’ fluency is developed by using a visual, practical base to develop conceptual understanding and recall. Children’s mathematical reasoning is developed through the use of concrete objects and spoken language to explain and justify.
At Waterfield we make sure that our setting is full of rich mathematical opportunities for children to explore and develop their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems; and to describe shapes, spaces, and measure.
Key Stage One
The teaching in Key Stage One ensures that children at Waterfield are confident to manipulate numbers up to 100 and beyond. The curriculum builds on the knowledge, skills and vocabulary taught in EYFS and provides opportunities for children to develop their competency in place value and the four operations. A high focus is placed on concrete, pictorial and mental strategies to equip children with a readiness for more abstract concepts. Teachers model correct mathematical vocabulary which children are expected to use when articulating their ideas.
Children will develop their ability to recognise, describe, draw, compare and sort different shapes and use the related vocabulary. Teaching also involves a range of measures to describe and compare different quantities such as length, mass, capacity/volume, time and money.
By the end of Year 2, pupils should be precise in using and understanding place value and be able to use this when working on the four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division). They should be able to fluently recall number bonds to 20.
Pupils should be able to read and spell mathematical vocabulary, at a level consistent with their increasing word reading and spelling knowledge at key stage 1.
Key Stage Two
The principal focus of mathematics teaching in Key Stage 2 is to ensure that pupils extend their understanding of the number system and place value to include larger integers. This should develop the connections that pupils make between multiplication and division with fractions, decimals, percentages and ratio.
At this stage, pupils should develop their ability to solve a wider range of problems, including fractions and decimal place value. Teaching also ensures that pupils draw with increasing accuracy and develop mathematical reasoning so they can classify and analyse shapes and their properties, and confidently describe the relationships between them. It also ensures that they can use measuring instruments with accuracy and make connections between measure and number.
By the end of Year 4, pupils should have memorised their multiplication tables up to and including the 12 times table and be able to recall these facts fluently.
By the end of Year 6, pupils should be fluent in written methods for all four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) as well as when working with fractions, decimals and percentages.
Pupils should read, spell and pronounce mathematical vocabulary correctly.