Maths

MATHS AT ELBURTON

Intent

 

The 2014 National Curriculum for Maths aims to ensure that all children:

  • Become fluent in the fundamentals of Mathematics.
  • Are able to reason mathematically. 
  • Can solve problems by applying their Mathematics.

At Elburton Primary School, we are committed to ensuring that children are able to recognise the importance of Maths in the world around them in order to build their own cultural capital through enrichment activities, learning about Maths within the wider world as well as within daily Maths lessons.

It is essential children are able to use their mathematical skills and knowledge confidently in their lives in a range of different contexts. We want all children to enjoy Mathematics and to experience success in the subject, with the ability to reason mathematically. We are therefore committed to developing children’s curiosity about the subject, as well as an appreciation of the beauty and power of Mathematics in the wider world – thus reflecting the school’s mission statement: ‘Inspiring today’s children for tomorrow’s world.’

 

Implementation

 

The content and principles underpinning the 2014 Mathematics curriculum and the Maths curriculum at Elburton Primary School reflect those found in the pedagogic thinking of high-performing education systems internationally, particularly those of east and south-east Asian countries such as Singapore, Japan, South Korea and China.

The following principles and features characterise this approach and convey how our curriculum is implemented at Elburton Primary School:

  • Teachers reinforce an expectation that all children are capable of achieving high standards in Mathematics thus instilling a growth mindset towards the subject.
  • The large majority of children progress through the curriculum content at the same pace. Differentiation is achieved by developing greater depth knowledge and through individual support and intervention where deemed appropriate.
  • Teaching is underpinned by a methodical spiral curriculum design and supported by carefully crafted lessons and resources to foster conceptual and procedural knowledge. Objectives, although taught in blocks, are revisited and interleaved throughout a carefully structured progression of objectives which Elburton have adapted to suit their needs.
  • To ensure whole school consistency and progression, the school uses the White Rose Maths Schemes of work and the school’s engagement with the DFE funded Maths Hubs programme continues to ensure that staff at all levels understand the pedagogy of the mastery approach to Maths. Mathematical topics are taught in blocks, to enable the achievement of ‘mastery’ over time. Each lesson phase provides the means to achieve greater depth, with more-able children being offered rich and sophisticated problems, as well as exploratory, investigative tasks, within the lesson as appropriate. Children work with their talking partners to support their reasoning and new concepts are delivered through a series of CPA – Concrete, Pictorial and Abstract methods which relate closely to our Maths Calculation Policy.
  • 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 informally on a regular basis as well as termly to identify those requiring intervention, so that all children ‘Keep up not catch up’.
  • Maths is linked to relatable real-life contexts which also link to other areas of learning in order to build children’s cultural capital. Independent work provides the means for all children to develop their fluency further, before progressing to more complex related problems.

Impact

 

The school has a supportive ethos and our approaches support the children in developing their collaborative and independent skills, as well as empathy and the need to recognise the achievement of others. Students can underperform in Mathematics because they think they can’t do it or are not naturally good at it. White Rose, alongside other resources, help to address these preconceptions by ensuring that all children experience challenge and success in Mathematics by developing a growth mindset.

Regular and ongoing assessment from White Rose assessments, NFER assessments as well as teacher assessment as an ongoing tool, informs teaching across the year.

We target intervention as a result of these assessments to support and enable the success of each child through daily point of need interventions and carefully differentiated activities if deemed necessary.

These factors ensure that we are able to maintain high standards, with achievement at the end of Key Stage 1 and Key stage 2 above the national average and we strive to ensure a high percentage of children demonstrating greater depth, at the end of each key stage.

For more detailed information on maths at Elburton please click on the tabs below.
Mr Peter Agnew

Maths Lead

MATHS POLICIES AND KEY DOCUMENTS
MATHS IN THE EYFS
MATHS PROGRESSION MAPS
Maths Workshops to Support Parents with Home Learning