Maths

Maths Lead - Miss M Williams

 

At Laughton All Saints’, we firmly believe that every child is a mathematician, and through supportive, engaging and creative teaching, we strive to help children realise this quality in themselves. We foster a love of ‘thinking mathematically’, which enables pupils to reason, solve problems and assess risk in a range of contexts. The basic skills of mathematics are vital for the life opportunities of our children and we want every child to achieve excellence in mathematics. Children can experience a sense of excitement and achievement as they solve a problem for the first time, discover different solutions and make links between different areas of mathematics.

Achieving mastery of a skill can’t be rushed, so we take time to deliver new concepts to the children, ensuring that they master the necessary areas before moving on to new content; this ensures deeper learning. Pupils constantly revisit and build upon prior learning so that they can recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately. We recognise that the quality and variety of language that pupils hear are key factors in developing their mathematical vocabulary. Pupils are encouraged to follow lines of enquiry, make links and justify their ideas. We create classroom environments where pupils feel safe to have a go and make mistakes. Developing this resilience enables them to reason and problem solve with increased confidence.

We believe that enjoyment of maths is key to developing confidence in the subject, therefore, we value the impact of maths games, and utilise these to develop children’s fluency alongside more formal methods of recitation and questioning. We endeavour to make cross-curricular links to really enthuse the children and make maths a meaningful experience for them.

Maths at Laughton All Saints’ is about equipping every one of our children with the skills they need to solve problems in their everyday lives, both now, and in the future.

How is Maths taught at Laughton All Saints'?

Our Maths curriculum is based on the National Curriculum. Please see the document below.

Mathematics Program of Study: Key Stages 1 and 2

We believe that our Maths curriculum needs to ensure that all children know and remember more. Our curriculum is based on mastery principles using the White Rose scheme where pupils acquire a deep, long term, secure and flexible understanding of maths. We follow the Mixed Age Planning Cycle which allows our mixed age classes to be taught at the appropriate phase level but to build on their understanding each year with differentiated age learning opportunities. Our long term plan is based on a blocked curriculum to ensure children develop a strong understanding of the maths that has been taught so that they are able to move on to more advanced material. Underpinning this is planned spaced retrieval which consists of ‘Can I still?’ activities and deliberate practice. Using a Long Term Plan will ensure this is not left to chance. Sessions always include opportunities for retrieval. 

We encourage the use of the concrete, pictorial and visual approach and develop a knowledge of mathematical concepts as well as emphasise mental calculation and the use of correct mathematical vocabulary including Stem Sentences. We believe that applying mathematical knowledge is vital and as well as a daily mathematics lesson, children are encouraged to develop their mathematical reasoning in all activities in order to encourage connections within and between subjects. 

We understand the importance of both guided and independent practice so each class has a deliberate practice session every day to develop fluency. This is specific to the class and the curriculum area they are covering. For Key Stage 1 the Mastering Number Programme is supporting this whereas in Key Stage 2 the children will engage in times tables practise and arithmetic practise. Each Maths lesson in Key Stage 2 will begin with a Fluency Practise session for deliberate practise. 

Our Maths teaching starts in Early Years where foundations for numbers and mathematical concepts begin to be built. We aim to ensure that all children develop firm mathematical foundations in a way that is engaging, and appropriate for their age and teaching focuses on learning 6 main areas: Cardinality and Counting; Comparison; Composition; Pattern; Shape and Space; and Measures. Mathematics teaching in the foundation stage uses the structure of the Mastering Number Foundation Stage Programme to give the robust coverage of number sense and understanding. This is also developed into our provision. We also supplement the Mastering Number programme with the White Rose Foundation Stage programme to ensure that all areas of the foundation stage maths curriculum have been covered, including shape, space and measure. 

How do we teach mathematics at Laughton All Saints Planning Format

 Key Documents

Calculation Policy - Addition and Subtraction

Calculation Policy - Multiplication and Division

 

How is learning broken down into small steps?

Please click the link below to see how the small steps of the single aged teaching has been closely linked to the mixed age planning through White Rose: 

Documents/Single-age-links-with-mixed-age-document.pdf

 

How do we develop Problem Solving? 

Problem Solving skills are woven in through the White Rose Curriculum so children are faced with an element of Problem Solving and Reasoning every day. As a school we have made the decision to enhance these skills further by teaching discrete problem solving skills through Gareth Metcalf's Deconstructing Word Problems. We have carefully chosen units to teach which build on skills which we feel the children need first and that we can develop over time. 

How can I support my child at home?

We encourage children to practice their Maths little and often, in as many different contexts as possible. There is Maths everywhere in the world, so try practising their skills with money when shopping, or telling the time for bedtime, or during a family board game... The opportunities are endless!

Reflex- Home Learning

As a school we promote the use of the platform of Reflex (Explore Learning) as a way of securing key number facts and times tables. The platform is intuitive to the learner to the speed at which a pupil answers, how often they play and the amount of number facts they have secured. As a pupil moves on so do the games and the speed. It is a great platform for learning at home and in school. We actively encourage children to use this three times a week at home for 20 minutes to secure their green light. Children will have their own username and password sent home with them. Please speak to your child's class teacher if you need any assistance with this.