Mathematics

Rationale/Purpose of Study

 

Mathematics is an interconnected subject in which pupils need to be able to move fluently between representations of mathematical ideas. Pupils should make rich connections across mathematical ideas, across the whole breadth of the curriculum, to develop fluency, mathematical reasoning and competence in solving increasingly challenging problems.

 

 

Key Stage 1

 

The principal focus of mathematics teaching in key stage 1 is to ensure that pupils develop confidence and mental fluency with whole numbers, counting and place value. This should involve working with numerals, words and the four operations, including with practical resources [for example, concrete objects and measuring tools]. At this stage, pupils should develop their ability to recognise, describe, draw, compare and sort different shapes and use the related vocabulary. Teaching should also involve using a range of measures to describe and compare different quantities such as length, mass, capacity/volume, time and money. By the end of year 2, pupils should know the number bonds to 20 and be precise in using and understanding place value. An emphasis on practice at this early stage will aid fluency. Pupils should read and spell mathematical vocabulary, at a level consistent with their increasing word reading and spelling knowledge at key stage 1

 

Lower Key Stage 2

The principal focus of mathematics teaching in lower key stage 2 is to ensure that pupils become increasingly fluent with whole numbers and the four operations, including number facts and the concept of place value. This should ensure that pupils develop efficient written and mental methods and perform calculations accurately with increasingly large whole numbers. At this stage, pupils should develop their ability to solve a range of problems, including with simple fractions and decimal place value. Teaching should also ensure that pupils draw with increasing accuracy and develop mathematical reasoning so they can analyse shapes and their properties, and confidently describe the relationships between them. It should ensure that they can use measuring instruments with accuracy and make connections between measure and number. By the end of year 4, pupils should have memorised their multiplication tables up to and including the 12 multiplication table and show precision and fluency in their work. Pupils should read and spell mathematical vocabulary correctly and confidently, using their growing word reading knowledge and their knowledge of spelling.

 

Upper Key Stage 2

The principal focus of mathematics teaching in upper key stage 2 is to ensure that pupils extend their understanding of the number system and place value to include larger integers. This should develop the connections that pupils make between multiplication and division with fractions, decimals, percentages and ratio. At this stage, pupils should develop their ability to solve a wider range of problems, including increasingly complex properties of numbers and arithmetic, and problems demanding efficient written and mental methods of calculation. With this foundation in arithmetic, pupils are introduced to the language of algebra as a means for solving a variety of problems. Teaching in geometry and measures should consolidate and extend knowledge developed in number. Teaching should also ensure that pupils classify shapes with increasingly complex geometric properties and that they learn the vocabulary they need to describe them. By the end of year 6, pupils should be fluent in written methods for all four operations, including long multiplication and division, and in working with fractions, decimals and percentages. Pupils should read, spell and pronounce mathematical vocabulary correctly.

 

At Crossacres, we believe that mathematics is a creative and complex subject that has provided the solution to some of the world’s most intriguing problems. It is essential to everyday life; critical to science, technology and engineering, and necessary for financial understanding and responsible citizenship.

 

Through the mathematics curriculum, we aim to promote the British values of tolerance and resilience through problem solving and understanding of complex concepts, encouraging students to persevere and try different methods to arrive at a correct solution. Pupils are encouraged to build on and learn from their mistakes in maths lessons. Our high quality mathematics education, therefore, provides a foundation for understanding the world, the ability to reason mathematically, an appreciation of the wonder and power of mathematics and a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.

 

The mathematics teaching at Crossacres Primary Academy is aspirational as we aim to equip all pupils with the skills required to not only be successful during their time at school but also within the wider world.

In line with the National Curriculum (revised 2014), we expect all pupils to:

  • Become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics
  • Reason mathematically
  • Solve increasingly sophisticated problems. We also expect that the majority of pupils progress through the curriculum at broadly the same rate.

Planning is supported by the use of the ‘Maths – No Problem! Primary Series’ which uses an approach first developed in Singapore. The scheme addresses the aims of the mastery curriculum and provides lessons that have been carefully crafted as a result of mathematical research. The mastery approach is based on pupils being taught longer units of work over the course of the year to ensure that they have the time to cover the different areas of mathematics in more depth.

The Maths — No Problem! Primary Series is fully aligned to the 2014 English National Curriculum. The Programme provides all the elements that teachers need to teach maths mastery with confidence:

  • Textbooks and workbooks that allow teachers and pupils to explore and master each topic in depth
  • An online and interactive teachers’ guide which provides everything you need to plan a lesson
  • On-demand video training library
  • Support videos for teaching assistants and parents

We have developed a mastery approach to the curriculum and this is explained below.

The key ideas of a mastery curriculum include:

  • Coherence – small steps of coherent development are planned for within lessons.
  • Representation and structure – mathematical concepts and problems are shown through the use of concrete, pictorial and abstract representations and attention is drawn to patterns and relationships.
  • Variation – questions asked within a lesson are structured carefully to draw attention to the patterns and relationships
  • Fluency – planning enables pupils to become fluent by making sense of mathematical concepts rather than simply learning facts
  • Mathematical thinking – lessons are planned with opportunities for pupils to reason, solve problems and work collaboratively

 

National Curriculum Aims

 

The National Curriculum for mathematics 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.

 

 

 

Yearly Overviews

Year 1 Maths Yearly overview

Year 2 Maths Yearly overview

Year 3 Maths Yearly overview

Year 4 Maths Yearly overview

Year 5 Maths Yearly overview

Year 6 Maths Yearly overview

 

Learning At Home

Have a go at some of the challenges on the nrich website here:

http://nrich.maths.org/frontpage

There are lots of games and resources on the mathsframe website:

http://mathsframe.co.uk

 

 

 

At Crossacres Primary Academy we follow the National Curriculum for Mathematics, which can be found here.