We are Mathematicians

Intent

At Asquith Primary School, we believe that mathematics is an essential life skill that empowers children to understand the world, solve problems and unlock future opportunities. Our curriculum is designed to ensure that all pupils become confident, fluent mathematicians who can think logically, reason effectively and communicate their ideas clearly.

Our mathematics curriculum aims to:

Deliver the National Curriculum by ensuring that all pupils:

• Develop fluency in fundamental mathematical skills
• Become skilled in reasoning mathematically
• Apply mathematics to solve problems in real-life contexts

Promote Wonderful Words

• Develop children’s oracy skills and allows them to verbally discover, question, debate, reason and investigate in cooperation with their peers.
• Encourage precise communication using correct mathematical terminology
• Support pupils in explaining their reasoning clearly and confidently

Develop Readers for Life

• Use high-quality problem-solving scenarios
• Encourage pupils to read, interpret and make meaning from a range of mathematical representations
• Foster resilience and curiosity when reading and tackling challenging questions

Provide Opportunities

• Give children hands-on, practical and investigative learning experiences
• Allows children to develop understanding and reasoning through a Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract (CPA) approach.
• Ensure access to a wide range of tools, technology and real-world applications
• Support all learners, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, to achieve success

Encourage Pupils to Dream Big

• Engages all children and entitles them to the same quality of teaching and learning opportunities, allowing them to achieve their potential.
• Gives each pupil a chance to develop confidence in themselves as mathematicians and develop the power of resilience and perseverance when faced with mathematical challenges.

• Celebrate progress and effort, nurturing confidence and ambition

Rooted in Our School Values

Through the teaching of mathematics, we embed our core school values:

• Determination – developing perseverance in overcoming challenges
• Honesty – encouraging self-reflection and accuracy in work
• Responsibility – taking ownership of learning and using resources effectively
• Respect – valuing the ideas and methods of others
• Understanding – showing patience and empathy when learning collaboratively
• Cooperation – solving problems and sharing knowledge as a team

Implementation

As a school, we are developing our teaching into a mastery approach using CPA to build understanding. The curriculum is designed to develop children's knowledge and understanding of mathematical concepts through a small step approach from the Early Years through to the end of Y6.

Teaching and Learning, Content and Sequence

In school, we follow the national curriculum and use White Rose Schemes of Work, supplemented with a subscription to White Rose Premium resources and White Rose CPD videos to support teachers with their planning and assessment.

The calculation policy is used within school to ensure a consistent approach to teaching the four operations over time.

All lessons start with a ‘pre-load’ activity that reviews prior learning that will be applicable to that topic/lesson. This is then followed by a ‘discover task’ which provides a visual stimulus, usually a real world problem, for the children to ‘notice’ maths.

At the start of each new topic, key vocabulary is introduced and revisited regularly to develop language acquisition, embedding as the topic progresses. The use of STEM sentences is beginning to develop across the school to aid children with the recall/ skill of reasoning tasks.

Children are taught through clear modelling and have the opportunity to develop their knowledge and understanding of mathematical concepts. The mastery approach incorporates using objects, pictures, words and numbers to help children explore and demonstrate mathematical ideas, enrich their learning experience and deepen understanding at all levels.

Use of the part-part whole model is introduced in foundation stage, allowing children to develop their understanding of number sense. This develops into using this model alongside the bar model in KS1/KS2.

Reasoning and problem solving are integral to the activities children are given to develop their mathematical thinking. The opportunity to reason mathematically is intertwined throughout our curriculum and is a key feature of lessons.

Concrete resources are readily available to assist demonstration of securing a conceptual understanding of the different skills appropriate for each year group.

Children are encouraged to explore, apply and evaluate their mathematical approach during investigations to develop a deeper understanding when solving different problems / puzzles.

Children with additional needs are included in whole class lessons and teachers provide scaffolding and relevant support as necessary. For those children who are working outside of the year group curriculum, learning activities are provided to ensure their progress. TA support may be used to support these children where needed.

Timestable Rockstars/ Numbots is used in the classroom to develop fluency and fact recall as well as developing number sense in KS1.

Leadership, Assessment and Feedback

·Assessment informs the teaching and learning sequence, and children work on the objectives they are assessed as being at. The use of the feedback sheets allows teachers to look back at previous units, which inform AfL.

Feedback is given on children’s learning in line with our feedback policy.  We recognise that the use of live, verbal feedback is the most effective response, therefore long written comments in Maths books should not be seen.

In order to support teacher judgments, children are assessed using current and reliable tests in line with the national curriculum for maths.

Summative assessments are decided in planning teams to ensure consistency across the year groups. These results are used as part of teacher assessment.

The maths leader has a clear role and overall responsibility for the progress of all children in maths throughout school. Regular monitoring is undertaken to ensure the implementation of the mathematics curriculum is consistent across school, with support given where necessary.

Asquith is a part of a NCETM maths hub work group for developing the mastery approach in school.

Impact

• Children are confident in applying mathematics outside of the classroom in real-life situations.
• Children demonstrate a quick recall of facts and procedures. This includes the recollection of the times tables.
• Children understand the value of numbers and how to manipulate them.
• Children show confidence in tackling different maths challenges.
• Each child is given chance to develop the ability to recognise relationships and make connections in maths lessons.
• Children have a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts taught in their year group.
• Mathematical concepts or skills are mastered when a child can show it in multiple ways, using the mathematical language to explain their ideas, and can independently apply the concept to new problems in unfamiliar situations.
• Children can talk freely about their maths work and how they work out/ know certain facts.
• Children show a high level of pride in the presentation and understanding of the work

Curriculum Documents

Calculation Policies

These documents have not been published by Asquith Primary School. Full credit is given to White Rose Maths for the publication of the calculation policies used at Asquith. Our thanks is also given to White Rose Maths for giving permission for us to use these policies and upload them to the website. No White Rose Maths logos have been removed.