Intent

At Westhouses Primary, we know that it is important to develop children’s mathematical confidence and fluency in a range of engaging and meaningful ways to ensure they are equipped to succeed in the future and in later employed life.

The aims of our provision are in line with those of the national curriculum for mathematics which 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, investigating relationships and making generalisations, as well as providing a 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.

Key Elements of Learning:

As a school, we teach mathematics following a mastery approach. Lessons focus on developing depth of learning, ensuring that children have the opportunity to work in smaller steps to develop a secure understanding of the concepts outlined in the National Curriculum. Lessons use parts of the big ideas of maths mastery:

Implementation

We follow the Programmes of Study in the national curriculum for Mathematics which breaks learning initially into four strands. These are: number, measurement, geometry and statistics. By year 6, the additional strands of algebra and ratio & proportion are build into the Programmes of study. We teach a mastery curriculum focusing on firstly embedding understanding, delivered through the teaching of concrete, pictorial and abstract skills. Further practice ensures fluency in the skills. The skills are then mastered in deeper-thinking activities; this requires the application of skills to problem-solving, investigation and reasoning. Integral to all maths lessons is the teaching of efficient mental maths strategies.

As a school, we follow the White Rose Maths Scheme. Pupils in KS1 and KS2 follow the mixed-age planning, these plans are specifically designed to ensure coverage for each year group within the class and follow the strands mentioned above. Maths lessons are delivered daily, for an hour. Where applicable, elements of maths are taught in other areas of the curriculum. Learning is recorded in maths books and aims to showcase the progression of learning in each unit through a range of fluency, reasoning and problem solving tasks.

Pupils in both Nursery and Reception encounter maths in a variety of ways. Each day, they will experience an adult-led maths session which follows the White Rose Scheme. This is then supported further by the use of continuous provision, adults plan for and organise a range of activities that support and nurture their mathematical understanding.

We recognise that being able to recall key number facts is an essential element of becoming a successful mathematician. Pupils in KS1 use ‘Numbots’ to improve their recall of number bonds while pupils in KS2 use ‘Times Table Rockstars’ to improve their times tables reall. Furthermore, pupils in Year 6 take part in weekly arithmetic tests to address some of those more challenging number skills ahead of them completing their end of key stage assessments. Pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 take part in daily Mastering Number sessions to secure firm foundations in the development of number sense.

Manipulatives are used to embed learning from Nursery all the way through to Year 6. Children are encouraged to use these to help visualise the maths and make their mathematical processing easier. Teachers also present a range of representations within their lesson slides to support the use of these.

Impact

We hope that children leave Westhouses with a positive attitude towards maths and the confidence to be problem solvers and mathematical thinkers as the progress through their lives.

We continually assess children’s understanding through daily marking and verbal feedback. This ensures that children are able to receive support as and when they need it, as well as providing challenge for children who grasp concepts quicker. Each unit within White Rose is assessed with an end of unit quiz. We also use the NFER assessments each term and the end of key stage tests (SATs) to identify gaps in knowledge and skills.

Role of parents:

We recognise the importance of parental involvement. To enable parents to support their children, we adopt the following activities:

• Help videos are uploaded to the website to support parents when helping their children to answer problems involving the four operations: these aim to model how different methods are carried out and can be found here:

https://www.westhouses.derbyshire.sch.uk/maths-calculations/

• Meetings and workshops which explore ways to support children, demonstrating how to use the various methods and resources available.
• Calculation Policy – this documents is also used by the teachers and support staff and outlines the methods expected for each year group and phases of the school. This can be found on the policies page of the website here:

https://www.westhouses.derbyshire.sch.uk/maths-1/