World Aware

Children are encouraged to make links with the real world in Mathematics. Through applying their learning to reasoning and problem solving questions they are able to see how mathematics works in the real world.  

Belonging

Whole year group teaching means it is extremely rare that children are taught outside of their age group. This allows children to discuss their Maths learning which is a key part of developing correct mathematical vocabulary. Children use practical equipment with their talk partners for investigation activities.  

Well-being

Children are encouraged through a ‘can do’ attitude towards Maths. We focus on developing resilience and a growth mindset. We use mistakes as a learning tool in Maths and children are always encouraged to have a go and explain their thinking. Small, progressive steps of learning help children to build on their knowledge across a unit of work and therefore experience success.  

Spirituality

Children are encouraged to think about the wonderful world of Maths. We look at number patterns as well as shape and repeating patterns as part of our learning in Maths. This instils a sense of awe at how large numbers can be, how beautiful mathematical shape patterns are and more scientific concepts such as mass and capacity.  

Possibilities

Maths opens up many possibilities in children’s lives as a core subject which runs through all that we do. Reasoning and problem solving activities encourage children to spot patterns and find a solution. Children are encouraged to ‘draw their way out’ of a problem meaning they can solve anything through this method. We use a range of representations to show real-world problems that Maths can be used to solve.    

The vision for Maths across our schools embraces the aims of the national curriculum and promotes a ‘can do’ attitude.  We strongly believe that ability is not fixed and everyone is able, and expected, to achieve age-related expectations (ARE). This belief is passed onto the children in our schools. The mastery approach also instils in our staff that we do NOT label children as most/least able or can/can’t do Maths and the dynamics of the Maths class can change daily. We see time and time again that children that would have previously not been exposed to Maths of their year group are able to flourish in the mastery classroom.

Staff actively promote the ‘Can do’ attitude in Maths and use the word ‘yet’ when children need to be reminded of this. We use mistakes as learning opportunities and develop and celebrate perseverance to help pupils overcome challenges. Pupils are encouraged to ask questions during teacher input and to explain and discuss their thinking with talk partners when faced with challenges. We value this depth of understanding over speed. Teaching assistants are encouraged to work with children of all abilities depending on their need for a particular ‘small step’.  Fluency, reasoning and problem solving tasks provide opportunities for ALL children to achieve which is the essential idea behind the ‘teaching for mastery’ in mathematics. The design of the tasks allows pupils to develop the depth and rigor they need to make secure and sustained progress over time. Stem sentences enable children to develop their mathematical vocabulary and encourage them to use this when reasoning. We use White Rose maths resources to support teachers with planning for progression, skills and knowledge.

White Rose Maths matches the National Curriculum closely, and breaks it down into small, manageable steps. The steps are carefully sequenced to ensure curriculum coverage and so that children build upon knowledge throughout the unit of work. There is also an emphasis on mathematical talk, and precise use of vocabulary and use of manipulatives. Our school long-term plans coincide with the White Rose overview to ensure curriculum coverage over the year. This provides teachers with termly mapping of units of work that are to be taught and the order in which to teach them. This ensures that there is consistency across the school and that children acquire a sufficient grasp of mathematics relevant to their year group. We also use the White Rose calculation policy to ensure consistency of the four operations.  

The importance of Maths is emphasised across many of the foundation subjects we teach. This may be in Science when children measure the growth of plants, use bar charts to plot data, pictographs to represent data, using non-standard units to compare strength of magnets;  DT when we weigh ingredients, calculate times for cooking, measuring length for bridges; History such as chronology of events in Victorian Britain; Geography such as line graphs and bar charts to compare temperature, rainfall and daylight hours between countries; Art when we explore patterns, symmetry and so on. This ensures that links are not tenuous and that skills are practiced across the foundation subjects.  

Chestnut Class Maths