Mathematics
Maths
Intent:
The intent of our mathematics curriculum is to ensure that every child enjoys mathematics and becomes enthusiastic about developing their skills, knowledge and understanding through practical experiences that have relevance and purpose in everyday situations. It is important that children develop the skills of numeracy to become lifelong learners, so that they can make connections in order to develop their fluency, reasoning and problem solving skills. They should be able to apply these skills in different situations across the curriculum and in their daily lives outside of school.
Implementation:
Maths at Folkestone Primary is taught creatively and effectively following the planning and support from White Rose Maths and various other resources.
Our planning allows all pupils to access the maths curriculum through use of concrete, pictorial and abstract representations.
Children are taught using a wide range of manipulatives which are then accessible to be self-selected during independent learning.
A large proportion of time is spent reinforcing number to consolidate pupils’ competency.
Children practise their arithmetic skills at the start of each lesson, to build fluency in key mathematical concepts.
Additionally, age appropriate times tables practise is built into lessons frequently across the week using ‘Rolling numbers’ times table songs and the online ‘Times Tables Rockstars’ programme.
Daily retrieval practice provides opportunities for children to secure their understanding of previous subject areas taught.
Mathematical procedures are explicitly modelled using a ‘my turn, your turn’ approach.
Children are given opportunities to apply their mathematical understanding regularly through reasoning and problem solving questions. Pupils can also access open ended investigations in each lesson, to further challenge their mathematical thinking.
Mathematical talk is encouraged through the use of reasoning and problem solving sentence stems.
Children are encouraged to choose their independent starting point in a lesson, based on their level of knowledge and confidence, whilst ensuring all pupils have the opportunity to stay together as they work through the scheme as a whole class.
Impact:
Teachers use assessment as an integral part of the teaching and learning process and link it clearly to the children’s next steps. Daily arithmetic practice is self-marked and reviewed by the class teacher to provide a gap analysis and inform future planning. Effective feedback marking (either written or verbal) with actionable ‘next steps’ and ‘modelling’, where appropriate, ensure that children know exactly what they need to do next to make progress. Whiteboards are used frequently to formatively assess pupils' understanding of mathematical concepts during inputs, mini-plenaries and plenaries. NFER summative assessment and previous SATs papers are used three times a year to assess progress, to identify gaps in learning that need to be addressed, to identify any children needing additional support and to plan any additional support that they need.