INTENT

At Newton Leys Primary School, we are committed to provide a curriculum which caters for the needs of all individuals and sets them up with the necessary skills and knowledge for them to become successful in their future adventures. We follow the White Rose maths scheme, with a focus on fluency, reasoning and problem solving. The expectation is that the majority of pupils will move through the programmes of study at broadly the same pace. However, decisions about when to progress should always be based on the security of pupils’ understanding and their readiness to progress to the next stage. Pupils who grasp concepts rapidly should be challenged through being offered rich mastery and sophisticated problems. Those who are not sufficiently fluent with earlier material should consolidate their understanding, including through additional practice, before moving on. Our main area of interventions is focused on children consolidating their understanding on the units that primarily focus on number.

Mastery

Pupils are required to explore maths in depth, using mathematical vocabulary to reason and explain their workings. A wide range of resources are used and pupils are taught to show their workings in a concrete, pictorial and abstract form wherever suitable. They are taught to explain their choice of methods and develop their reasoning skills. We encourage resilience, adaptability and acceptance that struggle is often a necessary step in learning. Our aim is that our children develop the ability to relate the pattern between mathematics and everyday life to help them grasp a greater sense of the world around them.

Aims

• Expectations: All children are expected to succeed and make progress from their starting points from the beginning of the academic year.
• Modelling - Teachers teach the skills needed to succeed in mathematics providing examples of good practice and having high expectations.
• A Vocabulary Rich Environment - We intend to create a vocabulary rich environment, where discussion is a key learning tool for all pupils. Teaching key vocabulary is a driver for pupil understanding and develops the confidence of pupils to explain their reasoning mathematically.
• Making connections - All children will have opportunities to identify patterns and connections in their maths; they can use this to predict and reason as well as develop their own patterns or links in maths and other subjects.
• The Teaching of Fluency – We intend for all pupils to become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practise with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.
• The Teaching of Reasoning – We intend for all pupils to reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, forming connections, making generalisations and develop arguments to justify or prove their answers. Reasoning is underpinned through mathematical language.
• The Teaching of Problem Solving – We intend for all pupils to 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.
• Mastery – All children secure long-term, deep and adaptable understanding of maths which they can apply in different contexts.

Implementation

Every class from EYFS to Y6 follows the White Rose scheme of learning which is based on the National Curriculum and helps develop the children’s fluency, reasoning and problem-solving skills. Lessons may be personalised to address the individual needs and requirements for a class but coverage is maintained. Challenge activities are available for those children who need to stretch their learning further.

Home-learning

In order to advance individual children’s maths skills in school and at home, we utilise Times Tables Rock Stars for multiplication practise, application and consolidation. Also, from Reception to Year 6, half-termly Key Instant Recall Facts (KIRFS) are sent out at the beginning of each half-term to practise at home the key facts and information that children need to secure during their primary years.

Assessment

Through our teaching we continuously monitor pupil’s progress against expected attainment for their age. We make formative assessment judgements throughout daily maths lessons as well as our flashback 4, recap and intervention sessions. These are then used to inform our teaching as we move through the unit.

Summative assessments are completed during the term through our end of unit assessments, Times Table Tests, KIRF’s assessments and end of term White Rose Assessments. These results form discussions in termly Pupil Progress Meetings and update our summative school tracker. The main purpose of all assessment is to always ensure that we are providing excellent provision for every child.

Resources

We implement our approach through high quality teaching delivering appropriately challenging work for all individuals. To support us, we have a range of mathematical resources in classrooms including Numicon, Base10 and counters (concrete equipment). When children have grasped a concept using concrete equipment, images and diagrams may be used (pictorial) prior to moving to abstract questions. Abstract maths relies on the children understanding a concept thoroughly and being able to use their knowledge and understanding to answer and solve maths without equipment or images.

Continuing Professional Development

We continuously strive to better ourselves and frequently share ideas and things that have been particularly effective. We take part in training opportunities and regional networking events, such as the NCETM work group, White Rose and Pep:MK training sessions.

Whole school events

In Year 4 we have celebrated whole school maths themed days and planned year group maths competitions such as TTRS launch day. From the academic Year 2024-25 we plan on broadening this to a whole school celebration and competition. We will also be celebrating National Numeracy Day. We have termly maths awards for students – ‘Mathematician of the Term’ and welcome guests speakers to visit our school and talk all things maths outside of the classroom. This helps children to develop an understanding of the relevance of maths beyond a mainstream educational setting.

Impact

Evidence in Knowledge

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. Pupils should develop the knowledge for how and why maths is used in the outside world and in the workplace. They know about different ways that maths can be used to support their future potential. Children demonstrate a quick recall of facts and procedures. This includes the recollection of the times table.

Pupil Voice

Through discussion and feedback, children talk enthusiastically about their maths lessons and speak about how they love learning about maths. They can articulate the context in which maths is being taught and relate this to real life purposes. Children show confidence and believe they can learn about a new maths area and apply the knowledge and skills they already have.

Evidence in skills

Pupils use acquired vocabulary in maths lessons. They have the skills to use methods independently and show resilience when tackling problems. They have flexibility and fluidity to move between different contexts and representations of maths.

Children show a high level of pride in the presentation and understanding of the work.

Outcomes

At the end of each year we expect the children to have achieved Age Related Expectations (ARE) for their year group. Some children will have progressed further and achieved greater depth (GD). Children who have gaps in their knowledge receive appropriate support and intervention.