Mathematics

The purpose of maths from the national curriculum programme of study: ‘mathematics is a creative and highly interconnected discipline that has been developed over centuries, providing the solution to some of history’s most intriguing problems. It is essential to everyday life, critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial literacy and most forms of employment. A high-quality mathematics education therefore provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the beauty and power of mathematics, and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject’.

Our ambition for maths education:

We want our students to develop a love of maths, to appreciate the beauty of mathematics as Richard Feynman put it. Being fluent and proficient in maths provides a gateway to understanding in many aspects of the curriculum and offers students exciting career pathways. We want our students to enjoy working with number and shape. We want them to see the relevance of maths to other areas of the curriculum and develop confidence in applying their subject knowledge. 

Our aims are closely aligned with those of the National Curriculum, which aims to ensure that: ‘all pupils 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; can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.

Mathematics is an interconnected subject in which pupils need to be able to move fluently between representations of mathematical ideas. The programmes of study are, by necessity, organised into apparently distinct domains, but pupils should make rich connections across mathematical ideas to develop fluency, mathematical reasoning and competence in solving increasingly sophisticated problems. They should also apply their mathematical knowledge to science and other subjects’.

White Rose Maths

Our core scheme for the teaching of mathematics across the school is White Rose Maths. The White Rose curriculum provides us with a coherent and carefully sequenced scheme that builds in the regular revisiting of curriculum content and breaks down learning into small steps. 

The units of learning can be found here: Free and premium Maths resources for teachers | White Rose Maths

Teachers use their expertise and knowledge of the students to create bespoke lessons using the scheme. They deploy Learning Support Assistants to help meet the needs of all learners. 

The progression of skills can be viewed here: National-Curriculum-Progression-Primary.pdf

The ‘ready to progress’ documents can be viewed here: Ready-to-progress-criteria-links-FINAL.pdf and here: Maths_guidance_year_6.pdf

Calculation policies can be viewed here: Multiplication and Division calculation policy V2.pdf Addition and subtraction calculation policy (1).pdf

Assessment

Teachers assess students regularly throughout the term. We consider whether or not students are 'on track' to meet end of key stage standards or not as well as tracking progress through units of learning. Sometimes we administer standardised tests or other more formal assessments to support our judgements. 

We hold meetings each term to discuss assessment outcomes and put in place additional support where it is needed.

We hold parents meetings each term to feedback and inform parents about how well their children are doing.

the skylark federation curriculum intent for maths.pdf